can answer God's demands by pleading
what my Lord has done. Oh, may God give you faith to
answer all the demands of his law and justice by trusting Jesus
Christ, his son. My subject today is God's jubilee
message. I'm going to spend a good bit
of time getting to my text, talking to you about an Old Testament
law requirement that beautifully sets before us the gospel of
God's free grace in Jesus Christ. When you read the Old Testament
scriptures, particularly when you read the requirements of
God's law, and I urge you to read them, read the Old Testament
scriptures, Read the requirements of God's law, but always read
them looking away from the requirement to Christ the fulfillment, looking
away from the type to Christ who fulfilled the type of whom
the type spoke. The reason the law was given
was that it might be our schoolmaster, both the ceremonial law and that
which is called the moral law. Both the ceremonies and the commandments
of the law were given as a schoolmaster unto Christ, to point to Christ,
to show us our necessity of Christ, and to lead us at last to Christ,
shutting us up to Christ alone as our Savior and Lord. That's
the purpose I have in preaching to you this morning. I want to
shut you up to Jesus Christ alone. Oh, Spirit of God, do that with
your word. And for that end, I'm going to
talk to you about God's Jubilee message. Every 49th year, as
we read in Leviticus 25, God required the nation of Israel
to do what appeared to be a very strange thing. He required them
to set aside their land. to set aside their vineyards,
to set aside their fields, not one part of the vineyard, not
one part of the field, but the whole land, to set it aside and
give it a rest, to observe a Sabbath year, not to gather anything
out of the fields, anything out of their vineyards, but rather
give their land a complete rest every 49th year. every 50th year
in Israel was to be a year-long Sabbath. Why? In the Old Testament, everything
in God's law throughout the Old Testament revolved around and
centered in Sabbath days. Did you ever notice that? When
the Lord God finished the work of creation, he kept the Sabbath
on the seventh day. He rested on the seventh day.
Now, that doesn't imply, as we often think about rest and properly
so, when we get tired, we rest. We rest because we need to recuperate.
That's not the idea with the Sabbath rest. God simply stopped
working. He simply stopped working. He
stopped working because the work was complete. There was nothing
else to be done. So he rested on the Sabbath day. That's the origin of the Sabbath
and that's the meaning of the Sabbath and that's what the Sabbath
points to. It is designed and intended by
God from the beginning to point to him in whom all the work of
redemption is done, and in whom we cease from all works, resting
in Jesus Christ the Lord. God required the Jews, when they
were established in the land, to keep a Sabbath day every Saturday. Not only did he require that
they do so every Saturday, he required that they keep a Sabbath
year every year. He required that they keep a
Sabbath week every 50th week. And he required that they keep
this Jubilee Sabbath every 50th year, beginning the 49th year
and going through until they reach the 50th. This 50th year
Sabbath, called the year of Jubilee, like everything else in the Old
Testament, like all the other Sabbath days, pointed to and
was typical of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our Sabbath. It pointed to and typified the
blessed gospel Sabbath that we enjoy now by faith. That Sabbath
which our Lord Jesus has already entered into, as we're told in
Hebrews chapter 4, He's entered into His rest. That Sabbath which
we shall yet enter into in its fullness when we have at last
entered with Him into heavenly glory. This Sabbath day, this
sabbatical year, pointed to the work of God's grace finished
in Christ Jesus. This was a season appointed by
God during which the children of Israel adjusted everything
socially. They adjusted the price of property
as the year approached, determining the price or the value of the
property they would sell to another or buy from another in such a
way as not to oppress their neighbor because the year of jubilee is
coming now. Boys, we got to We got to make
this thing certain so we don't lose any money on this. So let's
jack the price up a little bit. We know it's going to go back
to him in just a few days or a few months or a few weeks or
a few years. So so let's jack the price up
a little bit. Oh, no. Adjust the price down. Jubilee's coming. Don't oppress
your brother. And everything in Israel was
adjusted by this law or was required by God to be adjusted by this
law. In the year of Jubilee, they set their brethren free. free from all bondage to which
they had been brought by whatever means. They were given liberty
from all debts. All debts completely canceled. No matter how large the debt,
no matter whether the debt was incurred by fraud or the debt
was incurred by error or the debt was incurred by oppression,
the debt was canceled. All debts set completely in annihilation. Their property, property that
had been lost, the inheritances that men had had to forfeit because
of various difficulties that might come up, be the difficulties
of their own making or the difficulties simply made by God's providence. All that they had lost was completely
restored. What a blessed, beautiful picture
and type of Christ our Redeemer and the message of the gospel
of God's grace in him. The Lord Jesus Christ, of whom
this Jubilee year spake, the salvation it represented, shows
us that Christ Jesus restores everything we lost. Everything we forfeited by the
sin and fall of our father Adam. and everything we forfeit day
after day by our own mischievous evil doings. He cancels the debt
and restores everything freely and completely. He brings us
at last into the glorious liberty of the sons of God and we enter
into our rest. To many throughout the land of
Israel, Though it seems strange to multitudes, the year of Jubilee,
can you imagine? Can you imagine how a man must
have looked forward to that year? Oh, I've messed my life up. I've ruined my family. I've ruined
everything. I've ruined the family name.
But just around the corner, Jubilee's coming and everything gonna be
alright. Everything gonna be alright.
This I'm sure is what the prophets refer to both in the Old Testament
and in the New when it speaks of the acceptable time, the day
of salvation. God says to sinners now by the
gospel, now is the acceptable time. Behold, today is the day
of salvation for jubilee has come. You don't have to wait
any longer. It's here. The year of jubilee
was announced by the blowing of a trumpet. The crier will
be set out on the day of atonement to take a trumpet and go through
all the land of Israel through all the coast of Israel, and
blow a trumpet, a trumpet giving a distinct sound, proclaiming,
Jubilee has come. That trumpet, of course, is compared
to the gospel throughout the scriptures. The prophet Isaiah
puts it this way, it shall come to pass in that day, in this
day which we now live in, in this gospel 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 of the land of
Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem. The psalmist cried, blessed is
that people who know the joyful sound. They shall walk, O Lord,
in the light of thy countenance. Oh, pause, my soul, and give
praise to God. These ears are made to hear the
joyful sound. And this heart, once crushed
with oppression and bondage and poverty and guilt, is made to
walk and dance in the courts of God. In the Old Testament,
there were four trumpets used, four distinct trumpets used,
many others used by other people, but four distinct trumpets used
in the land of Israel. All of them compare properly
to the preaching of the gospel. There were memorial trumpets
that were sounded to announce new moons and call the people
together to worship God. There were trumpets of battle
that were sounded, must give us clear and certain sound so
that men would be prepared for the battle that was before them.
And trumpets of alarm, trumpets of alarm sounded by which men
would be warned of God's impending judgment. And then there was
this jubilee trumpet. This trumpet that announced the
beginning of the joyous year of Jubilee. The Jubilee trumpet
was different from all others. I have no idea what it was really,
as far as the physical instruments concerned. I have no idea how
it sounded, but I know this. A man would normally hear that
trumpet just once in his life. Just once in his life. only sounded
every 50 years. Imagine that. Just once would
he hear that trumpet. But when he heard it, he'd recognize
it immediately. How on earth could that be? He
hadn't got any musical scores to recognize it by. He hasn't
been prepared to recognize the sound. Nobody's told him how
the trumpet sounds. Of course, the trumpet's not
sounded except once in his lifetime. And yet, when the trumpet sounds,
immediately, he said, that's it. Jubilee has begun. That's
just exactly the way it is with the gospel of God's grace. If there comes a day in your
life When God causes you to hear the joyful sound, you'll recognize
it immediately. That's it. That's it. That's that's the missing note.
I've never heard before. Jubilee has begun. That's just
exactly the way it is when God saves his people. He proclaims
pardon to the guilty, pardoned by the blood of Christ and causes
the sinner to understand that atonement has been made and accepted. And at that very moment, Jubilee
commences in his soul. The Jubilee trumpet, like the
gospel trumpet, proclaimed specific things. Now, let me give them
to you. We read them in Leviticus 25,
and we're not going to go back there for the sake of time. I
hope you'll jot these down and go back and look at them. In
verse 9 of Leviticus 25, The jubilee trumpet was sounded on
the day of atonement. Jubilee always began on the day
of atonement. When Aaron had gone in, made
the sacrifice, sprinkled the blood, the trumpet sounded. It
proclaimed atonement done. That's what the gospel does.
It is a proclamation of atonement made. not just atonement provided,
not just atonement possible, but atonement made. Jesus Christ,
by the sacrifice of himself, by the shedding of his precious
blood, has made atonement for our sins. Now, I realize that
there are a lot of fellows who think they're
smarter than God, and they, well, we ought not use the word atonement
today. Romans 5 11 says we have now received the atonement. Well,
that word really means reconciliation. Idiot, that's what atonement
is. It is reconciliation by the blood of Jesus Christ. We have
been made at one with God. That's the meaning of the word.
You who now believe on the Son of God have been made at one
with God. You who by nature hate God. You who by nature were estranged
from God. You who by nature separated from
Him. Now by the blood of God's darling
Son have been made at one with Him. Jubilee is the announcement
of atonement. Jubilee trumpet sounded the beginning
of the year of liberty. In verse 10 of Hebrews or Leviticus
25, the law sounded out this trumpet and declared that the
person who had been in bondage is now at liberty. Now, be sure
you understand this. Don't miss this. Don't miss this.
The liberty proclaimed in the year of jubilee, was a liberty
that represented the liberty of the gospel. And it was a liberty,
a liberty that was demanded. A liberty that was demanded by
the law. The opening verse of Leviticus
25 tells us that this whole year of liberty, this year of jubilee
was that which God gave to Moses at Mount Sinai. and the liberty
that sinners have in Jesus Christ. The blessed liberty that's ours
now in grace and shall be ours in glory to come is liberty demanded
by God's holy law. The law that once cried the soul
that sinneth it shall die now says no more is required because
the sinner has died in the substitute. Justice is satisfied. And justice
satisfied demands the liberty of the captive. It is liberty
that is judicial, legal liberty. It is spiritual liberty, liberty
in our souls and in our spirits. It is liberty, glorious liberty,
that shall only increase when we've left this world and entered
into glory. And third, jubilee, the sounding
of that trumpet was a sounding that the debt, all debt, all
debt had been canceled. Freely, fully, forever forgiven. That's God's forgiveness, Rex.
Free, full, forever. Canceled. Oh, the debt. of my sin. Oh, the debt of my
guilt. Oh, the debt that pressed my
soul to hell. Gone. Completely gone. Because the blood of Jesus Christ,
God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Jubilee. The sounding
of that jubilee trumpet was a sounding of rest. What do you do? You who've sold everything. You sorry scoundrel, you lost
your daddy's inheritance he works so hard to provide for you. What
do you do now? You've, look at you, you've sold
yourself and your wife and your children into bondage. What do
you do now? Nothing. What do you mean nothing? God
demands. He doesn't just allow. God demands
that for this whole blessed Sabbath year, I don't do anything. Well, those vines out there need
tending. Looks like you'd go do that.
God said for me not to. Well, that field out there needs
plowing. Weeds are growing up. It's growing over with briars
and thistles. God, God, God, you know would be honored if
you got there and go to work on that after all you've experienced. God said not to. Don't lift up
your hand. Don't lift up your hand. But
above and beyond, surely God would not require that. What
fool would think about running a nation like that? The God of
glory, because Merle Hart, that's just what he requires of you
and me. What does he require us to do now in this blessed
jubilee? Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. is a deadly thing. Cast your deadly doing down,
down at Jesus' feet and rest. Rest. Atonement's made, debts
are cancelled, the inheritance is restored, nothing is needed
Nothing can be added. Nothing shall ever be taken away.
Rest all my soul in Christ the Lord. This year of Jubilee was
a year of rest because it was a year of bounty. Oh, what bounty? Listen to what God said. Ye shall
eat your field and dwell in the land in safety. Now, wait a minute. You mean,
Brother Don, these fellows who had sold everything, lost everything
by fraud, by their own fault, by their own misconduct, by their
own foolishness, by their own crimes even, and they had everything
restored to them. They're not to do anything and
they will still dwell in the land with all the other Israelites
and dwell there with absolute safety and absolute impunity
and have everything they need to the full satisfaction of their
souls, eat and be filled every day. That's it. It's called free
grace. It's called free grace. come
to Christ and find in Him exceeding riches of grace, exceeding riches
of grace, infinite grace, an overflowing bounty of grace. You remember that widow, the
prophet required her to go get a cruise of oil, go get some
meal, take care of him. And she didn't have anything,
but she took care of God's prophet at his command, took care of
God's requirement at God's command. And she went back to that barrel
and went back to that barrel and went back to that barrel.
I'm talking about that barrel that was empty. She went back
to that barrel. And as often as she stuck her
cup in that barrel to get a measure of meal, you know what she came
out with? Heaps of meal. The cruise of
oil that was gone. She went back to that cruise
of oil, and went back to that cruise of oil, and went back
to that cruise of oil. And what did she find in that
empty cruise of oil? Every time she went, all the
oil she needed. Will you hear me, children of
God? In Christ, there is bounty for your souls, grace all sufficient. And the year of Jubilee was a
declaration of complete restoration. Where there is real forgiveness,
where there is real forgiveness, restoration is entire. Well, I'll forgive you this time,
but you better watch out. That's not forgiveness. But now,
yeah, I'll forgive this, but this other thing over here, that's
not forgiveness. I'll forgive you of this thing,
but now you just kind of put yourself on probation. That's
the condition here. That's not forgiveness. Father, I sinned against heaven, and
I'm not worthy to be called your son. Make me one of your hired
servants. And the father runs and falls
on his neck and kisses him, kisses him. Said, bring the best robe,
put it on his back. Bring the family ring and put
it on his finger. Put the shoes on his feet. Eat,
drink, and be merry. Slay the fatty calf. My son's
home. That's forgiveness. everything
completely restored, so completely restored, there's no possibility
of loss in the future. No possibility of loss in the
future. I hear so many folks talk about
salvation and grace, and they talk about it as though, you know, you You got by with it this time
and God's going to forgive you this time, but buddy, you better
watch out because God's watching you. Let me tell you something like
this. His eye has been on you since
before he made this world. And his eye was on you when you
fell in your father, Adam. And his eye was on you when you
ran like a wild, wild man in the streets of West Virginia.
And his eye was on you when he called you by his grace. and
his eyes on you when you fall, and when you fall, and when you
fall. And nothing has changed. Grace, God's grace, is grace
that can't be destroyed or even sullied. It's grace that can't
be destroyed or in any way diminished. It is free, bounteous, complete
restoration in Jesus Christ the Lord. And the one other thing
that Jubilee Trumpet sounded, one other thing, it sounded brotherly
love. But brother, what's that got
to do with redemption? Everything. Everything. In Christ, the consolations. In Christ, this fellowship of
the Spirit. In Christ, There's blessed, blessed
union of hearts in him who loved us and gave himself for us. The
Lord Jesus completely, completely restores what Adam destroyed. He completely restores what Satan
attempted to destroy in the ruin of our father Adam. and what
it still attempts to destroy throughout the world. It restores
perfect, complete union and unity to humanity in Christ, in Christ. We have sitting here a young
black girl, an older black lady, a little bit. And society tries to pretend
there are no differences. Well, there are. There are. Her skin is a different color,
raised a different way, raised in a different culture in lots
of ways. And I can no more understand the culture in which she was
raised than she can understand the culture in which I was raised.
It can't be done. And we can, you know, push things
aside, get along. But there's only one place where
color, and race, and wealth, and gender, and poverty, and
bondage, and ignorance, and education, and brilliance matters not! And that's in Christ the Lord.
In Him, God's people are one. Really and truly one in Him. Only in Him. I recall the first
time I was visiting Kingston, Jamaica. It reminded me that
I called Aaron. He called last week. But we were
down there visiting Brother Aaron Dumas. I walked into his house.
We sat down. I don't know if you've ever been to Kingston
or not, but if you get to Kingston, Jamaica, and you're as pale-faced
as I am, you stand out. There are not a lot of white
folks down there. Aaron said to me, I guess he wanted to make
me comfortable, he said, we don't see color here. I said, Aaron,
that's not so. That's just not so. I said, the
fact is, you're a bigoted racist and I am too by nature. That's
just fact. But we're saved by God's grace
and that teaches us to deal with the evil of it. Just deal with
the evil of it. In Christ, God's people are one. That's the year of Jubilee. Now,
let's go to my text. Took a long way around it on
purpose. Anybody have any idea who first began preaching in
the last year of Jubilee? Have any idea what prophet, what
preacher? first opened his mouth to men
in the name of God as the last year jubilee began. His name
was John the Baptist. John the Baptist. And here's
God's jubilee message by his prophet, John the Baptist. We
read in verse one of this chapter, the word to John, the apostle
in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and
the word was God in verse 14. And the Word was made flesh and
dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Now,
all that John has said has been leading up to this. Verse 15,
And John bare witness of Him, and cried, saying, This was He. This was He of whom I speak.
He that cometh after me is preferred before me. For he was before
me, and of his fullness have all we received grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses,
but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man has seen God at
any time. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." Now, here
are four things. I'll be very, very brief. First,
the Baptist witness is set before us here. There was a man sent
from God whose name was John. And in verse 15, this man, John,
is described by the apostle John
and the whole work of his ministry. The whole work of his ministry
is described like this. He bear witness. He bear witness. John bear witness of him. John bear witness. of him whom
he knew, whom he knew by divine revelation. He bear witness of
his Savior and Redeemer. That's what preachers do. They
bear witness of the Lord Jesus. You remember how our Lord spoke
to that Gadarene and told him to go back to his family. And he said, tell them how great
things the Lord has done for you and has had compassion on
thee. Some people have the idea that
this is bearing witness. Whether you believe in limited
atonement or do you think about election,
do you believe in progressive sanctification or full sanctification? What is it you think a man has
to know to be saved? Well, let's fight now. No, no. To bear witness is to bear witness
of a person. A person. Brother Don's compromising
on the doctrine of grace. Go ahead and think that. I don't
care. I just don't care anymore. No. No, but we bear witness,
Larry, of him, of him, what wondrous things he's done for us and has
had compassion on us. Not in denomination, him. Well,
I won't have anything to do with folks who aren't baddest. I won't
have anything to do with the most baddest. Denominations don't matter. That's
no significance, none whatever. He's a Catholic or she's a Protestant. Every man to his own poison,
it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. I want you to know him.
Mr. Spurgeon was once asked to come
to America, asked if he'd come over here, said the Baptist church
needs his influence. And Spurgeon wrote back and he
said, I wouldn't go across the street to make a Baptist. I'm
interested in folks becoming Christians, believing on the
Son of God. Do you understand the difference?
John bear witness of him. God's servants come for witness,
to bear witness of the light, his person, his purposes, his
performances, his praise, his glory, his grace. John bear witness
and cry. Like the voice of one crying
in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord. He bear
witness and that's him. This is the one of whom I spoke. This is the one of whom the prophet
spoke. This is the Lamb of God. He cried openly, clearly, publicly,
with assurance and confidence because he knew what he was talking
about. He was bearing witness. You know, if you ever had to
go to court, And you're sworn in. And you're sworn in declaring
that what you say is the truth and the whole truth, nothing
else. Do you know you can go to jail
if you don't tell the truth? You can go to jail if you don't
tell the truth. Because you have borne false witness. To bear
false witness is to speak without assurance and confidence, simply
telling what you think maybe is so. Or to invent things to change
the facts of things. To bear witness is to speak with
confidence and assurance. What I've been telling you this
morning, what I've been trying to preach to you for the last
28 years, are matters about which I have
absolutely no question. Absolutely no hesitancy. John cried with joy, expecting
somebody to believe him. They cried, this is the Christ. those who bear witness of him.
This is he of whom I speak. He that cometh after me is preferred
before me because he was before me. What on earth is he saying? John
was born in this world before Christ came into this world in
flesh, six months before. The Lord Jesus then came in the
world after him. And the Lord Jesus came after
him to be baptized of him. He pursued John. He sought John
out to be baptized of him for the fulfilling of all righteousness
symbolically. But John says, he is preferred
before me because he was before me. He's speaking here of this
man and declaring that this man is God the Eternal Son. He didn't
just start his being when he came into the world. He is preferred
before me though he came after me because he's God the Eternal
Son. And he's preferred before this
man and before any man, before any angel, before all the prophets,
preferred before Moses or Elijah. Because he is that one in whom
the father has to whom the father has given all preeminence. Now
look at verse 60. And of his fullness. Of his fullness. Have all we
received. And grace. For grace. That's a tremendous passage.
It speaks first of Christ's fullness. Not His fullness in His essential
divinity as God. Because that fullness is not
communicable to anyone. But His fullness as the God-man,
our mediator. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in Him. The fullness
of Christ here is that infinite, overflowing fullness that's in
him for his people as the God-man, our mediator. There is in Christ
Jesus an infinite, boundless, immeasurable fullness to supply
all our needs according to his riches in glory, both now and
forever. His fullness. What a thought.
All the fullness of God's mercy, love, and grace is in Him. All
the fullness of God's purpose, providence, and promise is in
Him. All the fullness of the triune
God's greatness, goodness, and glory is in Him. All the fullness
of God's purity, His prudence and His power, His wisdom, His
will and His work, His righteousness, His redemption and His revelation. It's all in Christ. But Bob Pottser,
it's in Him for us. It's in Him for us. It's not
just there. It's in Him for the benefit and
good of His people. Watch this next word. Of His fullness have all we received. All? Yeah, all. All we who were chosen of Him,
redeemed by Him, and called by Him. All we who know Him by the
sweet experience of His grace, all we who believe Him, every
sinner who trusts Him of His fullness have all we received
by the gift of grace and by the hand of faith and by the operation
of God's Spirit, we've received. And what have we received? Grace for grace. Now, I can't begin to expand
all that because I don't know it all. But this is what it means. Out of Christ's infinite, indescribable,
boundless fullness, every sinner receiving Him receives grace
because of grace. You might write that in the margin.
That's just what it means. Grace because of grace. Grace in time because of grace
in eternity. Of His fullness, we receive redeeming
grace because of His electing grace. We receive regenerating
grace because of His redeeming grace. We receive sanctifying
grace because of regenerating grace. We receive believing grace
because of sanctifying grace. We receive persevering grace
because of preserving grace. We receive grace in time, in
the experience of grace because of grace in the covenant in eternity. We receive pardoning grace because
of grace promised. And we receive imparting grace
because we receive imputed grace because of imparting grace. We
receive everlasting grace. because of everlasting grace
we receive heaps upon heaps upon heaps of grace in time in the
experience of God's goodness because of heaps upon heaps upon
heaps of grace given us in Christ out of his boundless fullness
in eternity read on verse 17 for that connects
this with what Moses or what John has already said. The law
was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. Let me just give you the highlight.
Christ is indescribably superior to Moses. and all things required
by Moses' law, because he is the one who gave the law to Moses
for his people. And he who gave the law fulfilled
the law in all his boundless grace. All that the law required,
the law required satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness. It required our death, it required
our obedience, and it required our inward holy perfection. And Jesus Christ by his death
has accomplished death for us, by his obedience accomplished
righteousness for us, and by his grace given the holy, partaker,
made us to be holy and partakers of his nature in the new birth.
And now that grace, all the grace required by the law, he has bestowed
upon us freely in his own person and by his own works. Oh, he who required all, fulfilled
all. Get hold of this. Get hold of
this now. God's promises always run hand
in hand with his precepts. Everything God commands of Larry
Brown, God gives to Larry Brown. Everything God requires of you
who are His, He does for you and in you by His grace. And He does it in truth. so that
God Almighty stands the just God and the Savior of poor, miserable,
wretched sinners like us in Jesus Christ the Lord. One more thing. John speaks of the Son's declaration.
No man has seen God at any time. Nobody has or can. God's a spirit. The only begotten Son, which
was in the bosom of the Father. Is that how it reads? which is
in the bosom of the Father. He hath declared Him. At one time, by one mighty deed,
by one great act, the Son, the only Son, who is in the bosom
of the Father, has opened up and shown to men All that God
is. What I tried to do this morning
was give you an exposition of John 1, verses 15 through 18. The word that is used, declared,
in verse 18, is the word that's used when we speak of exegesis. A man gives an exegesis of a
passage. That's a big, fancy word, is
what it means. He digs in there. and finds out
what the passage is saying. And he opens it up and says,
well, man, that's just what I'm saying. That's exactly what he's
talking about. That's exactly it. He shows you
what the passage means. Jesus Christ, by his obedience
to God as the sinner's substitute unto death, by the sacrifice
of himself in the accomplishment of redemption, opens up God. It says this is who He is. This
is what He is. And now, as we blow the gospel
trumpet, as we sound out the trumpet of Jubilee, declaring
the God's message of Jubilee, God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, shines in the black, dark, depraved
hearts of chosen sinners and gives the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God. in the face of Jesus Christ. Oh may he do that for you. Amen.