Thank you, pastor. I have in
the last few weeks begun working on a commentary on the book of
Leviticus. If you will, turn to Leviticus
chapter 25. Leviticus chapter 25. My subject is the year of Jubilee. The Lord God says concerning
this year of Jubilee, The year of my redeemed is come. God the Holy Spirit referring
to this year of jubilee again in Hebrews chapter four says,
there remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. Let's begin
tonight in Leviticus 25 verse eight. Leviticus 25 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 the 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 you shall
hallow, that is sanctify or make holy the 50th year and proclaim
liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.
And 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
thy vine undressed. For it is the jubilee. It shall be holy unto you. You
shall not eat the increase thereof out of the field. In the year
of this jubilee, you shall return every man unto his possession. As you read through the Old Testament
scriptures, it becomes obvious, if you read with any care and
thoughtfulness at all, that everything in the Old Testament, all the
ceremonies, all the services of the law, all the holy days,
revolved around Sabbath days. Throughout the Old Testament,
that which seems paramount to me is the keeping of Sabbath
days. But did you ever notice how many
Sabbath days God required the Jews to keep under Mosaic law? They were required to keep a
seventh-day Sabbath, a seventh-week or fiftieth-day Sabbath, a seventh-year
Sabbath, and this 50th year Sabbath called the year of Jubilee. This
50th year Sabbath is discussed in great length here in Leviticus
25. You read about it here and in
Leviticus 27. Read it, mention one more time
in the book of Numbers, and that's all you read about it. But Leviticus
25 is devoted entirely, these 55 verses, to this Jubilee Sabbath. This 50th year Sabbath was a
year long Sabbath called the Jubilee. But the 25th chapter
of Leviticus. And the year of Jubilee, every
time I read this chapter, study this subject, just gets bigger
and bigger and bigger. I'm not going to come close to
expanding the subject this evening. If you want to listen later,
there will be five or six, maybe seven messages posted on Free
Grace Radio that I'll be preaching at home from this chapter. Tonight
let me just call your attention to seven things clearly set before
us in this chapter and show you how this sabbatical year refers
to the gospel of God's grace and God's great salvation for
sinners in Christ Jesus the Lord and all the various laws given
concerning it. The year of Jubilee was an appointed
season by God during which the children of Israel were required
to adjust all their social affairs. Every 50 years, they were required
to set their brethren free from bondage, set them free from all
debts, and restore to them every lost possession, lost lands,
lost property, lost inheritances, and lost freedom. Everything
restored in the year of Jubilee. And this was, by divine design,
ordained of God to be a picture of God's grace and God's salvation
in Christ. Throughout the land, the year
of Jubilee was for many the accepted time, the day of God's salvation. The year of Jubilee was announced
by the blowing of a trumpet. Hold your hands here in Leviticus
25. In fact, I recommend that you put a bookmark there. We'll
be in this chapter through the evening. And turn to Isaiah chapter
27. The year of Jubilee was announced
by the blowing of the Jubilee trumpet. This trumpet portrayed
the preaching of the gospel. The trumpet sounded and proclaimed
liberty. It's referred to here in Isaiah
27 and verse 13. and it shall come to pass in
that day that the great trumpet shall be blown and they shall
come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria and the
outcast in the land of Egypt and shall worship the Lord in
the holy mount at Jerusalem. You don't need to turn there,
but David refers to this again in Psalm 89. He said, blessed
is the people that know the joyful sound. They shall walk, O Lord,
in the light of Thy countenance. Pause, O my soul, and give thanks
to God. He has caused me to know the
joyful sound, the glad tidings of free grace in His dear Son,
redemption and salvation by the blood and righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, there were numerous trumpets
given in Old Testament scripture, trumpets ordained by God for
various purposes. They had a trumpet that called
the people to worship whenever they would call them for their
solemn assemblies. There was a trumpet calling people
to battle, calling them to war, to do battle with the enemy when
the enemy approached them. The Apostle Paul tells us with
regard to gospel preaching, if the trumpet give an uncertain
sound, who shall prepare himself to battle? Your pastor preaches
to you week by week. And I know him well. He declares
a clear, clarion, crystal clear note on the gospel trumpet so
that anyone who listens understands what's spoken. He speaks with
simplicity. That's deliberate simplicity,
to speak with clarity so that men and women headed to eternity. They understand how it is that
God saves sinners. There are trumpets of alarm,
warning men of impending judgment. And then there's this jubilee
trumpet. The jubilee trumpet, though, was different from all
the others. The other trumpets could be heard at any time. The
jubilee trumpet was heard once every 50 years. One time every
50 years. That would mean a fella my age,
that's getting close to 63, would hear the trumpet one time in
his life. Just once. But the sound was
such that when he heard it the first time, He understood that
it was the jubilee trumpet so that without the loss of a moment's
thought, he understood this is the year of liberty proclaimed
in the land. So it is with the preaching of
the gospel. There comes a time when God,
by His grace, brings the sinner chosen from eternity and redeemed
at Calvary to hear the gospel. It's called the time of love
in Ezekiel 16. An appointed time when God Almighty
has ordained that chosen, redeemed sinners hear His voice and believe
on His Son. And when the sinner hears the
gospel, the first time he hears it, The first time, not with these
ears, but with ears given by God in his soul. The first time
God speaks to him, he understands the glad sound and understands
that redemption's accomplished. Turn to Isaiah 61, Isaiah 61. What a joyful sound, what a joyful
day when the gospel jubilee first sounds in the soul. Then the
acceptable year of the Lord begins, Isaiah 61. The spirit of the
Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to
preach good tidings unto the meek. He has sent me to bind
up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and
the opening of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim
the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our
God, to comfort all that mourn. The gospel is sounded, declaring
liberty to captive sinners, to bind up the brokenhearted, to
proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. Now look in chapter
63 of Isaiah, verse 4. For the day of vengeance is in
my heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. What? How does the Lord Jesus speak
both of the day of vengeance and the year of my redeem and
speak of them with joy? Because the time when he came
to redeem his people, God's vengeance fully was executed upon him,
our substitute, until vengeance is worn out and God declares,
fury is not in me. 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 prisoner free. His
blood has made the phallus clean. His blood avails for me. All
right, now let's look at Leviticus 25. Let me show you seven things
in this chapter concerning the year of jubilee and the gospel
of God's grace. Look at verse nine. Here's the
first thing. The year of jubilee began on the day of atonement. Then shalt thou cause the trumpet
of the 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. This is where gospel preaching
begins. People talk about preaching the
gospel and talk about the gospel in all kinds of ways. If you
listen to fellas on television, generally they'll have some papist
or some liberal talking about things, giving a religious perspective,
and they'll say, the gospel teaches. There is no gospel where atonement
is not clearly declared. Understand that? There is no
gospel preaching except as atonement is declared, declared with clarity. No gospel preaching except when
men and women are caused to hear, caused to see, caused to know
how it is that God saves sinners by the blood of his darling son.
The jubilee trumpet declared atonement blood shed. It declared
atonement blood accepted. The jubilee trumpet declared
atonement finished. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, was delivered up to death under the wrath of God. Our sins
were made his sins. Our guilt was made his guilt
Our sin and guilt was justly imputed to him because he was
made sin for us and he Suffered all the wrath of god being made
sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of god in him
Our lord jesus was raised again the third day according to the
scriptures because our justification was accomplished Because our
sins were forever put away this jubilee trumpet was to be blown
and In this day, I've got to say this it was to be blown by
a man Not by a woman I had a few weeks ago, some gal wrote to
me. Once in a while, I'll get some woman who wants to straighten
me out on something. And she was, I forgot what it
was. I don't even know what it was
she was correcting me on. But anyway, she was yacking about something.
And I don't normally respond to such letters except to say
I've got it and read it and it's gone. But I wrote her back and
I said, there are many reasons why God forbids women to be preachers. You're just one of them. God never called a woman to preach. Any woman, anywhere, anytime. None of them. None of them. Those who are called of God and
sent of God to preach the gospel are men. Not angels, but men. Men who are to his churches angels
of God, messengers of God to their souls. God uses men to
save men for whom Christ Jesus died at Calvary. You understand
that? We have a work to do. We as God's servants, we as God's
churches, he left us here in this world for the purpose of
proclaiming the gospel of his free grace to sinners in our
generation. Seize every opportunity God gives
you. I say that to your pastor, I
say that to you. Do whatever God puts in your
hand, the opportunity and the ability to do for the furtherance
of the gospel. Well, we can't go on television.
We can't do this. We can't do that. You can do
what God put in your hand to do. And you're responsible to
do what God puts in your hand to do. And God, by the foolishness
of preaching, saves sinners for the glory of his son. He doesn't
save them any other way. Now, listen to this. We have
this treasure. Imagine that. Here's Fairmont
Grace Church, Silicon Alabama, this little out of the way place,
this hole in the wall place in Southern Alabama. And God's planted
in your hands the treasure of his grace, the treasure of his
gospel, the treasure of his son's accomplishments. He's, we have
this treasure in earthen vessels, empty, dirty clay pots. And God saves sinners by using
such vessels as we are so that the glory may be given to God
alone and not to man. Let us cherish the gift God's
given us. This trumpet was to be proclaimed
and declaring the year of Jubilee. So that the trumpet was known
by this sound, Jubilee, freedom, liberty. All this sounded by
the blowing of that trumpet as a man put it to his lips to blow
it. And the trumpet was blown throughout
all the land. People often ask, well, you folks
believe in election. Why preach? I was going through
the airport security somewhere in Louisville. I forgot where
I was going. It had been sometime in the last six months or so. And one of
the guards happened to notice in my briefcase a Bible and asked
me where I was going. I said, I'm going to Whoever
it was, I think I was going to Alaska. I'm not sure. I said,
I'm going to preach the gospel. He said, what do you think about
predestination? But he said it kind of real quiet so the boss
wouldn't hear him. And I said, well, the book teaches
it. He said, well, why go preach?
I said, because the book teaches it. Because Book of Teachings,
we proclaim the gospel to men everywhere. We don't know who
God's elect are. We know God has an elect whom
he's going to call by his grace because Christ redeemed them
and he purposed their salvation. And he's going to call them by
the preaching of the gospel. And he sends us to preach the
gospel to all men everywhere. Proclaiming the gospel freely
everywhere. This means he calls out his elect. And we know who
they are when he calls them. Don't ever get the notion that
you, well, so-and-so, he's one of God's, there's no point in
talking to him, he's reprobate. No, we proclaim the gospel to
sinners everywhere. Proclaim free salvation to sinners
everywhere. Telling sinners everywhere, believe
on the Son of God and you have everlasting life. And we do so
with full confidence that his word will not return to him void.
It shall accomplish that which he is pleased to use it to accomplish. It shall prosper in the thing
whereto he sends it. All right, look at verse 10,
Leviticus 25, 10. Here's the second thing. The
year jubilee began on the day of atonement, and it began with
a proclamation of liberty. But not just a proclamation of
liberty. It began with a proclamation of liberty according to the law. The liberty that's ours in Christ
is liberty according to God's law. It is a just liberty. Look at verse 10. You 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 to his possession and you shall
return every man to his family. Our Lord Jesus tells us plainly
that this liberty is the liberty he gives. You can read it in
the fourth chapter of Luke's gospel. But be sure you don't
miss this. The liberty proclaimed in Jubilee,
the liberty proclaimed in the gospel, the blessed liberty that's
ours in Christ Jesus, this liberty of grace is a liberty demanded
by God's law. Look at verse one, Leviticus
25. And the Lord God spake unto Moses
in the Mount Sinai saying, what? In Mount Sinai? The first 24
chapters of Leviticus are taken up with legal ceremonies and
legal sacrifices, a legal priesthood, the priestly garments taken up
with various services of the tabernacle, the Levites, the
lands and the properties, all those things. But here he goes
back to Exodus chapter 20. where Moses was in Mount Sinai
and God gave the Ten Commandments by which God announced his curse
upon men, showed men the necessity of a Redeemer, showed men the
impossibility of salvation by anything they could do, and declares
himself holy. And says, you must be holy, for
I am holy. You shall be holy, for I am holy. And then in Mount Sinai, he said,
I want to give you a law. Jubilee. This was in Mount Sinai. So that in Mount Sinai, he said
to the children of Israel, when you come into the land which
I give you, then shall the land keep a Sabbath unto the Lord. The law, God's holy law. Love God with all your heart,
soul, mind, and being. Love your neighbor as yourself.
That's what the law requires. The law says, cursed is everyone
that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law
to do them. I know folks, you probably have heard somewhere
along the way, Fortner's an antinomian. And folks get to know your pastor,
they'll say the same thing about him. That sounds horrible. That
sounds, oh, that must be ugly. Ugly, against the law. No, the
fellows who preach law are against the law. Read Jude verse four. Those folks, they say preaching
free grace will lead to licentiousness. Jews said they deny the only
Lord God. That's a denial of the gospel
of God altogether. Oh, no, no, no, no. Jubilee is
not against the law. Jubilee is according to the law.
Our salvation, our liberty in Christ, the grace of God that's
ours in Christ is altogether demanded by God's law. Demanded by it. You see, grace
reigns. Bless God, grace reigns. But
grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ
our Lord. So that justice being fully satisfied. God's holy law being fully satisfied
on behalf of God's elect. That's what Christ did when he
lived on this earth The Lord Jesus did not come down here
and live for 33 years for himself He didn't come down here because
he needed to establish righteousness for himself. He came down here
as your substitute, as your surety, to do what you couldn't do for
you, to love God with all his heart, soul, mind, and being,
and love his neighbors as himself. And you did it in him. And it sure did. It's not as
though we did it in him. We did it in him. We're one with
him. And then he suffered under the
wrath of God as our substitute, bearing all the fury of God's
justice until justice was done and fully satisfied. And justice
was satisfied in me. Yes, I died with Christ. It's not just as if I had died
with Christ. I did die with Christ. Paul said
I am crucified with Christ. I don't understand that brother.
I don't either but I can rejoice in it. I don't have any idea
how Levi paid tithes in the Lord of Abraham, but the book says
he did. Is that what it says, Pastor? I don't have any idea
how those things transpired. I know it's so. I sinned in Adam,
and I'm made to live in another Adam. I died in Adam, and I live
in the second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ. We now have liberty
demanded by law, a just liberty. the glorious liberty of the sons
of God, the spiritual liberty, eternal liberty in Christ Jesus. All right, look at verse 35. Leviticus 25, 35. Here's the
third thing. The year of jubilee was a time of forgiveness, complete,
full, absolute forgiveness. 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. Here's a poor wretch. He's lost
everything by some terrible debt he incurred. He sold his land
and then his house and at last himself. Maybe he lost everything
by his foolishness. Maybe he lost everything by his
iniquity. It doesn't matter how he lost
it. He's lost everything. And now the jubilee trumpet sounds
and everything's returned to him. His debt is fully paid. His property is returned to him.
His possessions are all brought back to him. He's brought back
to his family. He's one with the family again.
Everything's finished. You see, it was not that his
debt disqualified him from any right when the jubilee trumpet
was heard. Oh, no. When the man in Israel heard
the jubilee trumpet sound, he did not think to himself, well,
that'd be all right for a fellow like Louis. He's not too bad,
but that's not for me. I'm head over heels in debt.
That's not for me. Oh, no. Just the opposite. The jubilee
trumpet is for poor, lost, needy, bankrupt, bondmen who are in
the shape they're in because of their own doing. That trumpet's
for me. You see, guilt doesn't disqualify
you for grace. That's the one qualifier. You
got that? Sin doesn't bar you from grace. That's the one thing that qualifies
you for grace. The thing that keeps you from
it is righteousness. I recall hearing Brother Scott
Richardson standing in this pulpit, oh my, it's been 25, 30 years
ago, speaking about sin. He said, don't take my sin and
hood away from me. That's the only thing I've got. That's the only thing I've got
no hope before God except as a sinner. You understand that?
Sinners come and welcome. God's free bounty glorify. But the scriptures are plain
and it's well expressed in the hymn, not the righteous, not
the righteous sinners Jesus came to call. Christ Jesus came to
seek and to save poor lost sinners. Find me a sinner. Find me a sinner. I look for him everywhere I go.
Find me a sinner. Somebody who knows he's going
to hell and deserves it. Somebody who knows he's lost
under the wrath of God and knows there's just a breath between
him and eternal damnation and that's right for it to go to
be so. I promise you I'll tell that
sinner Christ died for you. God chose you. Find me a sinner
and I'll find you one of God's elect. Find me a sinner and I'll
find you one of Christ's redeemed sheep. God saves sinners, only
sinners. All right, here's the fourth
thing. Look at verse three. The jubilee trumpet sounded a
year of rest. 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, and that which groweth of its own accord
of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes
of the vine undressed, For it is a year of rest under the land. The gospel of Christ is a proclamation
of rest. Complete rest. The Sabbath of
the Old Testament was a portrayal of rest. It represented the rest
of faith that's in Christ Jesus. If a man picked up sticks on
the Sabbath day, He was to be stoned. You mean God would kill
a man for picking up sticks? No. He'd never do that. He would
stone him. He'd kill him for putting his
hand to Christ's work. For that, you'll go to hell.
For that your Uzzah reached out to steady the ark when it was
about to fall. He thought God's ark needed his
help. And that looks like a noble thing
to do. That man's going to reach out and keep the ark of God from
falling into a ditch and getting all muddy and dirty. And as soon
as he touched it, God killed it. How come? Because God won't
have your help. God won't have your assistance.
Salvation is by God's work and God's work alone. Salvation's
in Christ, in Christ alone. If you inherit eternal life,
it will be by God's doing alone. Well, don't we keep the Sabbath
day now? Yes. Yes. I keep the Sabbath
day. I really do. I'm strict about
it. I'm strict about it. Every day. All the time. Rest it. Rest it. Now I don't keep a Sunday Sabbath.
And just in case you missed this, Sunday is not the Sabbath day.
Saturday was. Well, but it's changed. Find
me that in the book of God. No, Saturday was always the Sabbath
day. If you don't keep a Sabbath day, keep it on Saturday. And
you kill your own son if he breaks it. Otherwise, you didn't keep
it. Oh, well, we sort of keep the
Sabbath day. That's sort of breaking it. But we do the best we can. That's
breaking it. That's breaking it. What's the
Sabbath all about? The Sabbath is a portrayal of
rest. Turn to Hebrews chapter 4 and listen to this word from
our Lord. Come unto me all ye that labor
and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Come to Christ,
He'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest
unto your souls. We come to Christ by faith and
the sinner comes to Christ, you struggle and you Try to do better,
and your conscience screams and torments you, and you can't get
any rest, and you keep trying to do better, and your conscience
screams and torments you, and you can't do any better, and
you quit cussing, and quit drinking, and quit running around doing
this, that, and the other thing. Start going to church, start
reading your Bible, and your conscience screams and gives
you no rest. And then, you come to Christ, and trust Him, and your conscience
says, enough. Enough! Christ is enough! And you find rest. The Savior
gives you rest. But we still have a problem.
We still have a problem. We have our difficulties, and
our trials, and our heartaches, and our burdens. And I'll tell
you what you do. John, I'll tell you what you
do every time. If you were to get word tonight, your daughter
and son-in-law had an accident on the way home and they're in
the hospital, I'll tell you what you do. You start twisting your fingers,
wringing your hands, and pacing the floor, and biting your nails.
Figure out what to do. Got to get ahold of the right
doctor. Got to do this. And you get to the hospital, and there's
nothing you can do. And the doctor's helpless. And
you and Kay hold on to each other. And you pace the floor, and you
wear yourselves out. You pace the floor, and you wear
yourselves out. And when God fixes it so you can't do anything
but bow, you'll find rest. Is that how it works? Folks,
ask me about prayer. I don't know anything about prayer.
If ever I pray, it's when God forces me to pray, when I can't
do anything else. You slip your neck under his
yoke. Take my yoke upon you. Learn
from me. That's the last thing you're gonna do. As a believer,
the last thing you're gonna do. But bless God if you're his,
he will make you bow and take his yoke upon you, and you'll
learn of him, and as you do, you will find rest for your soul. You'll find rest. Rest is Sabbath
keeping. You quit working. You quit trying
to mend things yourself. You quit trying to do things
yourself. You find rest unto your souls. Let's see if that's
not what the book teaches. Hebrews chapter 4. Let us therefore
fear, lest the promise being left us of entering into his
rest. Do you know what the word is? A lot of that word is Sabbath. That word rest is Sabbath. That's
the word translated rest. Any of you should seem to come
short of it. Verse two. For unto us was the gospel preached
as well as unto them, those who perished in the wilderness. But
the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith
in them that heard it. For we, which had believed, do
enter into rest. We, which had believed, do enter
into the Sabbath. As he said, as I have sworn in
my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest, although the works
were finished from the foundation of the world. That's another
sermon in itself. The works were finished before
the world was, but we, in the experience of grace, enter into
his rest. Verse 4. For he spake in a certain place
of the seventh day on this wise. And God did rest the seventh
day from all his works. What? Oh, can you imagine how
exhausted he must have been? Can you imagine how tired he
must have been? No. No, he didn't break a sweat.
He created the world by his will through the word. But he rested. What did he do? He quit working. That's what it is to rest. It's
to quit working. God quit working. He rested from
all his works. Read on. Verse 5. And in this place again, if they
shall enter into my rest, seeing therefore it remaineth that some,
what a great word, must enter therein. Some are going to enter
into this rest, and they to whom it was first preached enter not
in because of unbelief. Again, he limiteth in a certain
day, saying in David, today, after so long a time, as it is
written today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your heart.
For if Jesus, Joshua, had given them rest, then would he not
afterward have spoken of another day? Verse 9. There remaineth
therefore a rest. There remaineth therefore a keeping
of the Sabbath unto the people of God. There remaineth a Sabbath,
a keeping of the Sabbath to the people of God. For he that is
entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works
as God did from his. What's that talking about? The
Lord Jesus entered into his rest. He sat down with the right hand
of the majesty on high, from henceforth expecting till his
enemies be made his footstool. And we who believe enter into
his rest, ceasing from our works. Return unto thy rest, O my soul,
for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. When I read the scriptures,
I like to picture things, don't you? I like to get a picture
of what's going on. I can just picture these Jewish
fellas when the year of Jubilee has begun, and all of their heathen
enemies, their Gentile neighbors watching them. And they'd see
those fellas a whole year sitting on their porches, sipping lemonade,
mint juleps, and chewing tobacco. Well, look at those lazy buzzards. Look at those lazy buzzards.
What are they doing? They're resting. How do they expect to
live? They believe God. Who ever heard
a tale of one year of crops being good for three years? These folks
have. They believe God. They believe
God. What are they doing? They're worshiping God. That's
what it is to rest in Christ. We cease from our works and trust
him. Folks say, well, that's foolish.
That just doesn't stand to reason. You know God expects something
from you? He does, nothing. You know God requires you to
do something? He does. He requires you to do nothing.
And that's the hardest thing I know to do is nothing, nothing. Believers rest in him. Stand
fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you
free. Children of God, don't let anybody in any way, by any
means, entangle your guide with the yoke of bondage. Now, I know
it's getting more and more popular all the time for fellows to whisper
grace out of the left side of the mouth and shout law out of
the right side of the mouth. Pay no attention to that nonsense.
Pay no attention to it. I don't care who preaches it.
It's not of God. Believers are saved by grace
and live by grace and walk in grace, resting in Christ the
Redeemer. All right, here's the fifth thing.
Look at Leviticus 25 verse 19. Moses was inspired by God to
tell us that the year of Jubilee was a year of great, unparalleled
bounty. and the land shall yield her
fruit and you shall eat your fill and dwell therein in safety. Here you are in the year of Jubilee
in a time of complete safety. That word safety doesn't just
mean that you're safe. That's not it. It means you're
safe and you know it. It speaks of inward security. Thou will keep him in perfect
peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in
thee. The believer is perfectly safe. And the believer, as he
ceases from his works, slips under the Savior's yoke, and
finds rest for his soul, is secure in his safety. Been a long time
ago, Shelby and I left Lexington flying to Philadelphia. This
was back in 1993 or 94. And we got on a plane, and there's a
gal sitting behind us, sitting right in front of us, excuse
me, who was petrified. I mean, she was petrified. That plane started its engines,
and she just, she'd already been talking to Shelby about the flight,
and Shelby trying to tell her it's all right, they do this
every day. And she just started to shake. And when that fella
started down the runway, she reached back and grabbed Shelby's
hand. I thought she was going to break her hand off. I mean, she was
petrified. Same thing when they set it down.
She was just petrified. And neither of us thought anything
about it. If the plane shakes a little
bit, that's all right. That's what they do when they go through some
storms. If the pilot hits on one wheel, that's what some of
them do. They land on the left wheel, some of them on the right
wheel. Few of them land on both wheels at the same time. Very
few. Aren't you scared? No, no. There's several folks
who fly besides us, and they get where they're going pretty
safe. What's the difference? Both Shelby and that lady were
just as safe on that plane. One of them was secure in her
safety. The other was terrified in her
safety. Ah, this is what God says. You
shall eat your fill and dwell therein, secure in your safety. David in Psalm 4 speaks of his
enemies oppressing him all about it. It winds up something like
this. He says, I will both lay me down and sleep in peace. I'll lay me down and sleep in
peace. How come? Because God's my God. Christ is my God. The Holy Spirit
is my God. The triune Jehovah is God my
Savior. I'll rest in Him. We who have
been brought by the grace of God into the liberty of His grace
have been brought into safety. I give unto them eternal life
and they shall never perish. and safety with absolute fullness. In him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. Colossians 2 verse 9. In him
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. How much
God is in Christ? How much? All of God is in Christ. He's God. What part of deity
is lacking in Him? Well, Brother Dodd, nothing is.
He's God. He's God. Listen to the next line. And
ye are complete in Him. Complete in the Savior. Complete. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
redemption, all ours in Him. All right. Here's the sixth thing.
In the year of Jubilee, every man who had lost his inheritance
had it returned to him in total, free and clear, with no mortgage
of any kind, with no lien of any kind against him. Look at
verse 13. In the year of this Jubilee, you shall return every
man unto his possession. We lost all in Adam. In Christ,
all is regained, for he has restored all. All that we lost by our
own willful rebellion, by our own sin and ungodliness, Christ
has restored. When David was made king in Israel,
he remembered his covenant with his friend Jonathan. And he said
to his servants in his palace, he says, is there any left of
Jonathan's household that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's
sake? And a fellow named Ziba said, there's one. I suspect
Ziba really thought David was going to kill him, like he did
all of Saul's other sons. And David said, who is it? Mephibosheth.
Where is it? He's down in Lodibar. He's laying
on both his feet. He'd been hiding down there all
this time. Mephibosheth, when his maid heard that David has
ascended to the throne, picked the boy up and took off to run
and hide with him. And when she did, she fell on
him, dropped him, fell on him, and broke both his feet. And
he sits down there all those years in Lodibar, lame on his
feet, in hiding. And David calls for him. He said,
fetch him. And they went down and got Mephibosheth
and brought him to the king's palace. I can imagine that man
trembling, shaking in his boots, scared to death. This is it,
I've been found out. And he brought him in and he
said to Mephibosheth, he said, Mephibosheth, your daddy Jonathan
was my bosom companion. And we made a covenant before
Jonathan died, a covenant that I would show kindness to his
seed after him. And you're the only one left.
All that was your father's is yours. All that was your father's
is yours. Do you know what that was? That
was everything David had. That was everything David had.
What did he have? He had Jonathan's kingdom. He
was seated on the throne in Jonathan's place. And he said, Mephibosheth,
everything that's mine is yours. You'll sit here at my table for
the rest of your life. And there sat Mephibosheth at
the king's table, still lame on both his feet. But under the
king's table, his lameness was covered. You couldn't see those
ugly feet. And Mephibosheth ate at the king's
table as one of the king's own sons. Now in Christ Jesus, we
who were by nature children of wrath, even as others, are heirs
of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Imagine that. Heirs of God and heirs of Jesus
Christ. That's not what it says. Heirs
of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. That means, pastor, everything
that belongs to Christ by virtue of his obedience and death as
our substitute is ours in him. All his righteousness, all his
satisfaction, all his glory. He said, Father, the glory you
gave me, I've given them. and they are one with me. Oh,
heirs of God, joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Here's the last
thing, look at verse 17. In the year of Jubilee, the children
of Israel were required by law to love each other. Ye shall
not therefore oppress one another, but thou shalt fear thy God,
for I am the Lord your God. Now, that's a good law. That's a good law. Love your
neighbor as yourself. That's a good law. That's a good
law. That's a good law. But you can
pass all the laws you can invent. And you can enforce them with
all the rigor of punishment or reward you can imagine. But you're
not going to force anybody to love somebody else. That ain't
going to happen. That ain't going to happen. That
ain't going to happen. Most of you are like I am. You
were raised in the South. Raised in the South in the middle
of the turbulent 50s and 60s and civil rights movement. And
we got laws passed. Now we're going to have black
folks loving white folks, white folks loving black folks. Things aren't
any better now than they were then. Not any better now than
they were then. I don't care what you pretend,
they're even worse now than they were then. They're worse now
than they were then. Don't understand that. You can't
legislate love anymore than you can legislate godliness. It can't
be done. It can't be done. But it can
be created. It can be created. You see, in
Christ Jesus, Neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision,
but a new creature. In Christ, it doesn't matter
whether you're bond, or free, or male, or female. Doesn't matter
whether you're black or white. This is the only place in the
universe where race, and money, and position, and power don't
count for a thing. Don't care for a thing. Doesn't
matter how much money you got or how poor you are. Doesn't
matter whether you're black or white, male or female, real smart
or real dumb. It doesn't matter. In Christ,
Christ is all. And we who are in him are created
by grace as one family. And I'll tell you something about
family. Family loves each other. I mean, they may fight like cats
and dogs sometimes, but they love each other. They love each
other. I've got a sister who's been mad at me for about as long
as I've been a believer. And she's not around much. I don't see her much. She's fairly
nice whenever we're kind of forced to be together, but just fairly
nice. And you know what I'd do if she called me tonight? Anything
except not preach this meeting, I'd go do it. Right now, like
that. She didn't have to call me. Let
one of her boys call me. I'll take off. I'll take off
right now. How come? Because the scoundrel
she is, I love her. She's my sister. She's my sister. And I hope she hears this message.
And she'll get madder, unless she gets real glad. And I love her. Families do. Be kind one to another. Tenderhearted. forgiving one
another, as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Be imitators
of God, followers of God, as dear children, and walk in love,
one for another, as Christ loved you and gave himself for you. I'm talking about liberty, liberty. You see, grace makes folks gracious. It just does. You can pass all
the laws you want to, but you can't make them gracious. You
just can't do it. Meanest folks I've met in my life are religious
people. I mean mean people. It was religious legalists who
crucified the Redeemer. Mean folks. And justified. But people who know God, who
know the liberty of His grace, walk in love one for another,
loving God and loving His people because they're brethren. What
did the Lord say? First John chapter three. Love
one another. By this, your Lord may know you,
my disciples, if you have love one for another. We're Christians. We love everybody. That ain't
so. You can't love anybody you don't know. That's just not so. That sounds like sugary sweet
stuff, but it's just nonsense and poison. I love that man. I like him. He's my friend. We've
got a lot of things in common. But I love him for another reason. He belongs to Christ. And I belong
to Christ. And that means we're one. And
he's my brother. And I'm going to tell you the
truth. I've never said this to him before. There have been a
few times in the last 30 years I could have knocked his head
off his shoulders. I mean, I wasn't mad. I was upset, just mad. Just mad. But he's my brother. And I'd fight you for him. You
understand that? We love each other because we're
one in Christ. One in Christ. Because they're
brethren. This is liberty. It's called
jubilee liberty. Liberty of grace. And you know
what? I've read through this book a
time or two. I can't find anywhere in all the Old Testament scriptures
where the Jews even pretended to keep Jubilee. Not a single
place. It's not even mentioned again
past the Book of Numbers. Not even mentioned again. One
time they said they were going to in Jeremiah 34, but they didn't
even come close. They didn't even make an effort.
They never even attempted to keep this year of Jubilee. Because
this was a law that was just too costly. It was just too costly
to anything but faith. And this is a law that's fulfilled
only in Christ, the Redeemer, who comes to sinners in free
grace and gives liberty. Oh God, make it yours for Christ's
sake. Amen.