When I was a boy, we'd play games. And I suspect that boys where
I grew up, kind of like where you grew up, start off playing
a game. And if you were bigger than the
other fellow and you didn't start off real well, you'd say, let's
start over. And the smaller fellow would have to give in and you'd
start over. And you'd keep starting over until at last you started
right. And now when we got a little Bigger, got grown. We start playing
golf and we call it Mulligans. Start over. I didn't do so good.
But I wonder if we could start over with life. Part of my message this morning
is let's start over. Other than that's not possible.
Well, let's see. Turn to Leviticus chapter 25.
In ancient Israel, the Lord God
established a law. By law, every 50 years, the Israelites
were required to have a new beginning. It was called the year of Jubilee.
Let's begin reading in Leviticus 25 verse 8. 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
your land, and ye shall hallow the fiftieth year and proclaim
liberty throughout all the land unto 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. A jubilee shall that fiftieth
year be unto you. Ye shall not sow, neither reap
that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes
in it of thy vineyard undressed. For it is the jubilee. It shall
be holy unto you. Ye 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
aught to thy neighbor, or buyest aught of thy neighbor's hand,
ye shall not oppress one another. According to the number of years
after the jubilee, thou shalt buy of thy neighbor, and according
unto the number of years of the fruits he shall sell unto thee. According to the multitude of
years, thou shalt increase the price thereof. And according
to the fewness of years, thou shalt diminish the price of it.
For according to the number of the years of the fruits doth
he sell unto thee. Ye shall not, therefore, oppress
one another, but thou shalt fear thy God. For I am the Lord your
God. Let's start over. That's my title
this morning. I want to show you that what
was done in celebration of the year of Jubilee, this great 50-year
Sabbath day, according to the law of Moses, was done as a portrayal
of God's great salvation and grace in Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. And I want you to see this clearly
from the scriptures. When you read the Word of God,
always look for God's grace in Christ. Always look for the Redeemer,
and I promise you, you will find Him. Of all the solemn, typical
ordinances of the Old Testament held up in the eye of faith,
which foreshadowed the coming of our Savior and the accomplishments
of his redemption and salvation. Of all of the pictures and types,
none is more instructive and more blessed to behold than the
year of Jubilee. The year of Jubilee was ordained
by God to be a time of restoration, rest, and rejoicing. The Jubilee
Sabbath was designed to be the highest, most glorious, most
anticipated of all Old Testament Sabbaths. In the year Jubilee,
the worlds of the previous 49 years were all undone. The debts were all canceled. Lost property was all restored. There was a complete reversal,
a complete renewal of life. And those who had by any means
at all, by their own fault or by some stroke of providence,
who had lost everything and at last sold themselves into bondage,
were returned to their families. In all these things, there is
a blessed picture of God's grace. Hold your hands here in Leviticus.
And turn to that very familiar text in 2 Corinthians chapter
5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Usually the commentary on a passage
is longer than the passage. Here is a very short commentary
on the length of passage in Leviticus 22. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
If any man be in Christ, in Christ by God's mighty operations of
grace, in Christ from eternity, in Christ by blood atonement,
in Christ our covenant surety, but particularly here he's talking
about the new birth, in Christ by the Spirit's work of grace
in regeneration. If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature, a new creature. an altogether new creation. He has been made new in all things
by God's mighty grace. Old things are passed away. Old things are passed away. Gone. Forever. God said he has blotted out as
a thick cloud our transgressions and our sins. Old things are
passed away. Every crime, every transgression
by the blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, put away. Not just
covered, not just hidden from view, not just forgotten, put
away. Old things are passed away and
behold, All things are become new. New creatures, a new name,
a new nature, a new record, a new life, a new beginning made partakers
of the divine nature. We now live in Christ being born
of God. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. Old things are passed away. And
behold, all things are become new. Now let's look at these
verses in Leviticus 25, verses 8 through 17. I want to answer
briefly three questions. May God, the Holy Spirit, whose
word you have before you in your hand, be our teacher and write
his instructions upon our hearts. Here's the first question. What
was the significance of the Jubilee trumpet? We read in verses 8
and 9, 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 to sound throughout all your land. Now,
there's a lot of debate among commentators and expositors about
what this trumpet represents. Does it represent the trumpet
of God in the last day when Christ comes again or does it represent
the spiritual blowing of the gospel trumpet in this gospel
age? The answer is yes. It clearly
represents both. There's no need to limit scripture
when there's no reason to limit scripture turn to Luke chapter
4 I want you to see our Lord's Declaration here in Luke the
fourth chapter. He's seated in the synagogue Redemption by Christ blood regeneration
by the Spirit Resurrection glory are but three aspects of one
thing salvation So we we've seen no reason to make any distinction
in the blowing of this trumpet Without question, the Jubilee
trumpet was typical of gospel preaching. Our Savior makes this
abundantly clear in Luke chapter 4, verse 16. Applying the words
of Isaiah 61 to himself, we read, he came to Nazareth where he
had been brought up and as his custom was, he went into the
synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read. 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, Isaiah chapter 61. 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 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. What's he going to say now? What's
he going to tell us about Isaiah's bold prophecy? How's he going
to explain this mystery to us? And he began to say unto them,
This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. In other words,
the joyful sound, the gospel trumpet is that which declares
the advent of the Messiah, the coming of Jesus Christ, not only
his advent, but his accomplishments of grace. He comes and by his
spirit sends his servants out to proclaim the acceptable year
of the Lord, to proclaim redemption finished, salvation accomplished.
The Jubilee trumpet also refers to the second coming of our Redeemer.
We rejoice to know the joyful sound of free grace and redemption
by Christ Jesus. And we live in anticipation. Oh, God, teach me. Hour by hour,
day by day, teach me, sweetly compare me to live in anticipation
of hearing the trump of God. And I don't have a clue what
it's going to sound like, do you? I don't have a clue what it's gonna sound.
Nobody's ever heard it before. Nobody's ever heard it. But as
soon as you hear it, you'll know what it is. That's the way it
is with the gospel. With the jubilee trumpet. Nobody
hears it. But once in a lifetime, and when
you hear it, oh, when God causes you to hear it, you know the
joyful sound. And so it shall be when Christ
comes again. Look in 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians
15. Verse 51. The apostle here is talking about
our Lord's second coming. Behold, I show you a mystery.
A mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed. A mystery. Something you can't
explain in human terms. Something you can't prove by
scientific investigation. Something you cannot demonstrate
to folks who will not believe God. I remember years ago, we
were down in Huntington. Brother Mahan was taping one
of the television broadcasts on Monday night and somebody
made a statement and he overheard him after he finished preaching.
He said, he's talking about the resurrection. He said, nobody
but a fool would believe that. Henry turned around and looked
at him and said, nobody but a fool or a Christian. But a fool or
a Christian believe you're going to rise from the dead. The dust
in the earth is going to be formed again into a human body. You're
going to rise from the dead. How are you going to explain
that to anybody? That's biologically impossible. A mystery, a mystery is something
that you can't explain or explain away. It's revealed. Forget it
now. I show you a mystery. We shall
not all sleep. But we shall all be changed that
quick, that quick, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at
the last trump. For the trumpet shall sound,
and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be
changed for this corruptible, this body that is now decaying
and going to the grave, and soon must lie and rot in the grave. This corruptible shall put on
incorruption. This same body raised without
mortality, this same body raised with no principle of corruption,
this same body raised with nothing that shall ever die. Read on.
And this mortal This frail mortal dying frame must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall
have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on
immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grief, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and
the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be unto God, which
giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore,
my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in
the work of the Lord. For as much as you know that
your labor not in vain in the Lord. So the Jubilee trumpet
refers to the preaching of the gospel, proclaiming to men the
joyful sound of redemption and grace in Christ. And the Jubilee
trumpet refers to our Lord's second advent when he comes again
and we're raised in resurrection glory, made free from all sin
and from all the evil and bitter consequences of sin and raised
in the perfection of life eternal. Not just life for our souls,
life for these bodies, eternal, immortal, incorruptible. Brother
Don, what's that going to be like? I almost said I don't have a
clue. But that's all I've got. I've got a clue. Just a hint. Just a hint. And what we have
revealed to us in scripture, the Holy Spirit tells us plainly,
is just a hint. The highest, brightest, delightful
thoughts you have of heaven and glory is just a hint. This is
what the book says. For I hath not seen, nor ear
heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man, the things
which God hath prepared for them that love him. God's revealed
them to us by his spirit, but it's not yet entered into our
understanding. We don't have a clue. We don't
have a clue. You have a tribute I made to my pastor, Brother
Dan Park's father, who died this week. I just said, in amazement as I think of the
glory he enjoys right now, our friends who've gone to heaven
before us, and we don't have a clue. Ron, I'm overwhelmed with it,
and I don't have a clue what it is. Just a clue, just a clue. Oh, that trumpet soon shall sound. All right, here's the second
question. Why did the Lord God specifically
require that the year of Jubilee must always begin on the day
of atonement? The trumpet sounds on the day
of atonement. It begins on the day of atonement.
Why does God require that? Look at verse 9. Thou shalt 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. The jubilee trumpet could not
be sounded. Liberty could not be proclaimed. The year-long jubilee Sabbath
rest could not begin until the Passover sacrifice was offered
upon the altar of God, slain, made atonement, and the blood
of the Lamb was sprinkled on the mercy seat and accepted by
God. Why was that necessary? was taught by this requirement,
and we are taught by it, that no blessing, no mercy, no grace
can come from God to man except by the shedding of blood. Without
the shedding of blood is no remission. God Almighty will not deal with
men in mercy and cannot deal with men in mercy except by the
blood of Christ. God will not approach you and
you cannot approach God except by the blood of Christ. Justice
must be satisfied or mercy cannot be bestowed. Yes, we're saved
all together by God's free grace without any works on our part,
without any condition on our part, without any qualification
being met on our part. We're saved freely, freely by
the grace of God. Now, listen to what the book
says through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus, because grace
reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ,
our Lord. So the Jubilee trumpet was sounded. to teach us that God's mercy,
God's salvation cannot come except by blood. His blood, our Savior's
blood must be poured out upon the cursed tree. It must be sprinkled
upon the mercy seat. It must be accepted in the holy
place. He must come forth out of the
tomb who bare our sins in his body on the tree without sin
unto salvation. He must ascend to heaven and
then God's blessing comes down. Well, but brother Don, if that's
the case, does that mean that nobody in the Old Testament was
saved? Does that mean that people in the Old Testament did not
have the blessings of God's grace? There are those who had the foolish
idea that nobody went to heaven until after Christ was crucified
and raised again. If you have one of those Bibles
that's been messed with, you'll find some notes in Luke 15 about
Abraham's bosom, and they had the idea that this was a place
called Limbo. where the dead saints stayed
until Christ was raised again and then he took them up into
heaven. That's called Roman Catholic papal nonsense. That's nonsense. The scriptures speak plainly
of heavenly glory and God's saints with Elijah wasn't taken to limbo
in chariots of fire, he was taken to heaven. God Almighty caused
Enoch to be translated not to limbo but to glory. God didn't
refuse grace in the Old Testament, but he couldn't bestow grace
until atonement was made. Now, some folks will tell you
that, well, God's people did have grace, but it was on credit. They were saved on credit. No,
God doesn't run a credit card system either. Well, how then
could they have grace? were finished from the foundation
of the world. Abraham was justified. He wasn't
potentially justified. He was justified. Moses was God's
child. He wasn't potentially God's child.
He was God's child. David had all the blessings of
the covenant bestowed on him and died in the sweet assurance
of that covenant, not the potential blessings. He had them all. because
the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
Not just God looked at them as though they were finished. Read
the book of God. The works were finished from
the foundation of the world. We were chosen and redeemed and
accepted in the beloved, in the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. We were blessed of God in Him
from eternity because His blood was shed when He struck hands
with the Father as our surety from eternity and was accepted
as our sacrifice. Thus, the great work which God
purposed in eternity was brought to pass and executed in time. Now, turn to Acts chapter 2,
verse 23. So precise, so detailed is the
order of God's providence that even the cycles of the solar
system were fixed by him from the beginning and are maintained
by him in providence in such a way that the Jews and Romans
with their wicked wills crucified the Lord of glory according to
those who calculate such things. I didn't calculate this myself.
So precise, so fixed, so orderly, so intricate, so detailed is
God's purpose and God's providence that he fixed the cycles of the
solar system and maintained them so that the Jews and Romans crucified
the Lord of glory precisely at the time of the Passover sacrifice
at precisely the ordained time when Jubilee should have begun. Now if that didn't ring your
bell, your clock was broke. That makes Acts 2 23 just a little
more splendorous. Look at this. Him being delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have
taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. You mean Brother Dodd? The Lord
Jesus was crucified at precisely the time when the Paschal Lamb
was to be offered at the beginning of the year of Jubilee according
to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Everything
ruled, everything worked, everything accomplished exactly according
to God's will. This work of redemption by God
our Savior shall be the matter of relentless amazement and contemplation
to our souls and joy for our hearts through eternity. Now,
turn back to Leviticus 25 again. Let me wrap this up. by giving
the answer to this question. What was to be done in the year
of Jubilee? What did God say was to be done?
This year of Jubilee, remember, begins with atonement. It's the
blowing of a gospel trumpet. It is the sound of a trumpet
that's heard through the land. And there are some specific things
that, by law, God said were to be done. Some specific things,
the Jews were required by divine law to perform in the year Jubilee. Every one of them find their
fulfillment in Christ and the experience of grace in him. All
right, let's see what it says. Verse 10. You shall hallow the
50th year. That word hallow means sanctify
or make holy. and proclaim liberty throughout
all the land unto 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 fiftieth year be unto you. You shall not sow, neither reap
that which groweth of itself in it. nor gather the grapes
of 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 this the year of this jubilee,
you shall return every man to his possession. All right. Number
one, liberty was to be proclaimed. As you notice, it was to be proclaimed
to all. Liberty proclaimed everybody.
But Brother Don, they weren't all bomb men. They weren't all
slaves. They weren't all in debt. They
weren't all poor. They didn't all need liberty.
They didn't hear anything. They didn't hear anything. Why
should they pay any attention? That trumpet wasn't for them.
The trumpet was sounded to all, so that the poor, the bondman,
the debtor, the one who needed mercy might hear and go free. And so we preach the gospel,
and we preach the gospel freely to all. I had no idea which of
you hear the joyful sound today. I had no idea who's God's elect
and who's not. But I will know soon because
those who are his, those who need his mercy, hear his voice
and come to the Savior. Second, the exiles were returned. Folks who by their foolishness
or by their sin or by some weakness of ability, our character, lost
everything, and are exiled. Owe so much money you don't dare
come home. Hear fellas sneak in and out
of town. The debtors find out they're
in town. But now in the year of jubilee, the exile comes home. And he doesn't have to hide anywhere. He's no longer afraid of any
of that because his debts are all cancelled. Christ Jesus cancelled
my debt by paying it. He cancelled my
debt by satisfying it. And now the exile comes on. Third, the captive were emancipated. Those who were in bondage, had
sold themselves into captivity, were set free. If the son, therefore,
shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. I was in bondage, and he broke
in and broke my chains and set me free. The debtor was set free
because his debts were canceled. Each family opened its bosom
to receive again its long lost members. The prodigal comes home and is
welcome home. Back years ago, The fellow left home, decided
he'd make his own way in the world. His folks didn't hear
from him for a long time, didn't know whether he was dead or alive.
And finally, back when hobos and bums hopped trains and rode
them here and there, this lady got a letter from her son she
hadn't seen in years. He said, Mama, I'll be coming
home if it's all right. You can look for me and give
me time. You can look for me on the train that comes by the
bend in front of the house. And if it's all right with you
and dad for me to get off and come home, if you'll just hang
a sheet on the clothesline, a white sheet, I'll look out and see
it, and I'll get off the train. If not, I'll go on, and I won't
stop, and I'll understand when the time comes. And he's on that
train, you can imagine his anticipation looking out. I wonder, I wonder. I've been there, I know. I wonder. And he looked out,
that gal had gone in, got everything white in the house, every petticoat
and every t-shirt and every sheet and every handkerchief and she's
standing on the front porch like this. Welcome home, son. That's what
Jubilee sounds to sinners. Sinners come and welcome. Come and welcome! Six, every
man received his inheritance again. Everything he had lost
is returned to him by law. By law. God required it. God
required it. Everything. You see, there's
no possibility. There's no possibility that any
of God's elect shall ever lose anything because of their sin. The redeemed have a lawful right
to everything. God gives sinners because Christ
purchased it. His blood purchased it and the
redeemed shall have it. Yes, we shall have all the blessings
of grace Bestowed upon us in God's Son before the world began
where with he blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in him We have obtained an inheritance that cannot be
taken from us seventh Everybody in God's Israel when
the Jubilee trumpet sounded enjoy a time of blessed, blessed rest,
feasting upon provisions of grace. The sound of the trumpet was
a welcome, soul-cheering sound for the captive to escape his
prison, for the slave to cast off his chains of bondage, for
the manslayer to return to his home, for the ruined, poverty-stricken
to rise to the possession of his forfeited inheritance. No sooner had the trumpet's welcome
sound been heard than the mighty tide of blessing was majestically
sent in its refreshing constant fullness to those who had lost
everything. But there's one more thing. Look
at verse 14. One more thing that was required regarding the year
of Jubilee. I don't know that there, I've
read much on this, commonly overlooked. Everyone in Israel, everyone in Israel was required
by law to measure the value of everything according to the year
of Jubilee. Everyone in Israel, was required
by law to measure the value of every house, of every piece of
ground, of every ear of cord, of everything by the year of
Jubilee. Required to measure even the
value of his money by the year of Jubilee. Look at it, verse
14. If thou sell alt unto thy neighbor,
or buyest alt of thy neighbor's hand, ye shall not oppress one
another, Don't squeeze them to get everything you can. According
to the number of years, after the jubilee, thou shalt buy of
thy neighbor, and according to the number of years of the fruits
he shall sell unto thee. According to the multitude of
years, thou shalt increase the price thereof, and according
to the fewness of years, thou shalt diminish the price of it. In other words, if you're buying
it, on the first year is right that you pay a whole lot more
for the use of the land and for the fruits and so forth than
if you were buying it in the 49th year in the sixth month.
This would be quite right to be required to pay the same thing,
but you don't. Verse 17, you shall not therefore oppress one
another, but thou shalt fear He's saying, Alan, you shall
worship, worship thy God. What? Worship God when you buy
an acre of ground? Worship God when you buy a house?
Worship God when you sell a bushel of corn? What? Worship God when
you do these things? For I am the Lord your God. You
see, the year of Jubilee reminded both buyer and seller that the
land belonged to God. The land belonged to Jehovah.
They were just temporary tenants on the land. In verses 29 and
30, I read this a few weeks ago, getting ready for this message
and those that shall follow. And I was stumped. I was stumped.
Because in verses 29 and 30, God gives a strict law. Houses
within a walled city. That'd be for you fellas who
live inside the city limits, have a wall around the city,
got a wall around it. Houses within a walled city could
be bought and sold at the discretion of the buyer and seller anytime
they wanted to. Because they were in a walled
city. But in verses 31 and 32, the little cottages Out in the farming villages,
the house that sat on five acres of ground to 5,000 acres of ground,
that little place out in the country, they couldn't be sold
and bought any time they wanted to because they were considered
part of the land. God gave law. He said, value
everything as it is in relation to this year of Jubilee. The
scale of prices was to be regulated by the Jubilee so that all human
contracts regarding land and trade and money were torn up. When the trumpet sounded, that
deal's over. Don't have to keep a file of
that contract. It's gone. It's gone. Everything's ended. Jubilee
has come. Well, Brother Donald, what's
this teach us? It teaches us to hold everything here with
a very loose hand. It doesn't belong to you. It belongs to God. And He will
take it from you or take you from it at His pleasure for His
glory. So don't hold anything too tight.
Don't value anything more than you will value it when you let
it go. Method. 2 Corinthians chapter
4. I'll wrap this up. Verse 18. And we look not at things which
are seen. Excuse me. We look not at things
which are seen, but things which are not seen,
unseen. Wait a minute. I'm looking at
that view right there. I haven't seen that. You can
see it too. What's it mean we don't look at those things? We
don't set our hearts on things we can see. If you do, you're a fool. We don't set our hearts on things
we can see, but rather we set our hearts on things that can't
be seen with these eyes. For the things which you're seeing
are temporal. They're just temporary. Anything
you can see, anything you can see. Look out the window if we
ought to see that farm. That's just temporary. That's
just temporary. See the thousand cattle over
yonder? They're just temporary. They're just temporary. You see
that new Cadillac sitting in your garage? It's just temporary.
You won't have it a year before rest starts popping out. It's
just temporary. See that house? Oh, boy, now
I've got what I've been working for all my life. Is that what
you've been wanting all your life? You didn't want much. It's just temporary. It's just
temporary. See that lady sitting beside
you? Just temporary. That daughter, that son, That
husband, just temporary. Don't set your heart on what
you can see. They're all just temporary. We
live in a world where everything is temporary. You'll be smart
to learn that and live in realization of that. But we're going to a
world where everything's eternal. The things which are not seen
are eternal. Heaven's eternal. Hell's eternal. So set your affections on things
above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your
heart in heaven and measure everything. Value everything. Oh, preacher, hear what you say.
Value everything in the light of eternity. For we know that
if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we
have a building not made with hands, a building of God not
made with hands, eternal in the heavens. If we can but live in
the immediate prospect of eternity, valuing all things in the light
of eternity, we will learn not to oppress our brethren, but
to serve them. And we'll learn to use what God's
put in our hands for his glory. I began this message by saying,
let's start all over. Would you start all over? Come to Christ, believe on the
Son of God, and go home a new creature with old things gone,
all things made new, and no possibility of losing anything. Oh, God give you faith in His
Son. Amen.