This Day Is This Scripture Fulfilled

Our Lord came to Nazareth, where
he was brought up, where he was known to the people,
where he had worked as a carpenter, where lived his mother, his brothers,
and his sisters. And on the Sabbath day, he went
to the synagogue. The Scripture says, as his custom
was, And I believe on account of his great fame, for it says
that there went out a fame of him through all the region, on
account of his great fame, he was not only allowed but urged
to get up and read and to speak to the multitude. Well, when
he stood before that multitude of people on this Sabbath morning
and they handed him the book of the prophet Isaiah, he turned
to the scripture found in Isaiah 61, and this is what he read. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted. to preach deliverance to the
captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty
them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord."
And then he closed the book, he handed it back to the priest
or to the scribe, and he sat down. And all the
eyes of them who were in the synagogue were fastened, fixed
on him. And he said, this day is this
scripture fulfilled in your ears. I am the person of whom the prophet
speaks. Now, they all knew this was a
Messianic prophecy. They knew that the writings here
of Isaiah had respect and regard to the Messiah. And he said,
I am he. This scripture is fulfilled this
day in your ears. I am the one anointed of God
to preach the gospel to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to
set at liberty the captive, to give sight to the blind, to declare
the year of jubilee. Now, the lesson I want us to
learn, if we can, oh, what a blessing it would be if we could learn
this right here. And as I sat up here, prepared
this message several days ago, and looked over it since then,
and sat up here this morning, looked at it again, I thought,
oh, I wish I could learn that. May God the Holy Spirit do for
me what Christ came to do for his own, if we could learn it. Now, the lesson I want us to
learn will require that I change the order of this text just a
little bit, but it won't do any violence to it. Look at Luke
4.21. And he began to say to them,
this scripture is fulfilled. this day in your ears. Now the first thing I see is
this scripture is fulfilled in the purpose and mind of God.
Now get this, in the purpose and mind of God, all scripture
is fulfilled. Turn to Romans 4, verse 17. I want you to look at these verses
with me, and I want you to underline them, at least try to see them. In Romans 4, verse 17, here's
what I'm saying. In the purpose and mind of God,
everything is already done, already fulfilled. God is not a creature
of time who must wait on tomorrow to see what develops. God is
not a creature of time that must wait on next year to find out
the results. But as it says in Romans 4.17,
as it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,
talking to Abraham, before him whom he believed, even God, who
quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as
though they were. He said in Isaiah 46.10, I am
the Lord, I change not. I declare the end from the beginning. And from ancient times, the things
that are not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand. I will
do all my pleasure. Now we know Christ died on Calvary
2,000 years ago. But Christ died in the mind and
purpose and plan of God, the Scripture says, before the foundation
of the world. He was the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. Turn to Romans 8. Let's look
at this a moment. What are you saying, Preacher?
I'm saying this, that what God decrees and what God purposes
and what God plans before God ever created even a star or this
world, or a man. Those things were as good as
done, they were as good as fulfilled. He declares the end from the
beginning. And those things which are not,
as though they already were. Romans 8, verse 28. Now watch
this. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God. who are the call, according
to his purpose, for whom he did foreknow, foreordain, he also
did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that
he, Christ, might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover,
whom he did predestinate, him he also called, and whom he called,
he also justified, he justified, and whom he justified, he also
glorified. It's done. The great transaction's
done. It has been done. It always has
been done. Christ didn't become the Messiah
when he stood in Nazareth and said, now this day is this scripture
fulfilled. He didn't become the Messiah
then, he always was the Messiah. He didn't become our Savior then,
he always has been our Savior. He didn't become our Redeemer
when he came to this earth and died on that cross, he always
has been our Redeemer. We weren't Regarded in Christ
and accepted in Christ when he came to the earth and fulfilled
these things. We always were in Christ. I Have
drawn you God said with an everlasting love it's everlasting both ways
and In the Psalms, you'll see so many scriptures that talk
about Praise God for his mercy that endureth forever Well, if
you'll notice the word endureth is always in italics supplied
by the translators It's praise God for His mercy forever. We talk as if God's mercy starts
here and it'll always endure. God's mercy is everlasting both
ways. Thank God for His mercy forever. You watch that when you're reading
the Psalms. Endureth is in italics, always supplied by the translators,
and sometimes the translators supply things that don't help,
they hinder. Turn to Jeremiah 1, verse 5. Now listen to this. Let God's
word speak. Jeremiah 1, verse 5. God is speaking to the prophet
Jeremiah, and he says in verse 4, The word of the Lord came
to me, saying, Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. Before you came out of your mother's
womb, I sanctified thee. Here's a man sanctified before
he was born. Nobody laid hands on him. Nobody
prayed for him to receive the Holy Ghost. He didn't go through
a ceremony of dropping this and dropping that and acquiring the
other. He was sanctified, set apart, justified from his mother's
womb. That's what God's Word says.
And I ordain thee, before I ever made thee, I ordain thee. It's
done. Paul said the same thing about
himself. He said, God who separated me
from my mother's womb, Well, if you watched him persecuting
the church, you wouldn't call him a separated man, would you?
But he was. If you had seen him going to
the high priest to get letters of permission to kill believers,
and driving his horse like Jehu, going down to Damascus to find
those crazy people, those fanatical religious Christians, so he could
murder them, you wouldn't have called him a separated man, would
you? But God did. Because we're creatures of time.
I've got to wait till tomorrow to see what happens. God might
save some of you, but I've got to find out next year, or the
next year, whether he will or not. I don't know, but he knows.
Christ knew from the beginning who would believe and who would
not believe. That's what the Word of God said. He knew what
was in man. This Scripture's fulfilled, and
I'll tell you this, you go to the last chapter of the book
of Revelation, which said, even so come Lord Jesus, and that's
fulfilled, too. I haven't seen it, and you haven't
seen it, and it hasn't occurred actually, but in the mind of
God it's done. All things are done. This scripture
is fulfilled. He declares the end from the
beginning. The end is declared. He considers
those things that are not as though they already were done. Let us go back to the text. Now
that's established. You can't touch that, that's
so. God's God. He's God. He's not, he said,
you thought I was altogether such a one as yourself, but he's
not. He's not a creature of time and space and limited in his
mental faculties. He's the infinite being. That's
so. This scripture's fulfilled, and
this scripture's fulfilled, and this scripture's fulfilled, and
this scripture's fulfilled, and it's all fulfilled. in the mind
and purpose of God. It's done. Secondly, this scripture
is fulfilled this day. Now, this is important. This
day. There is a day in the purpose
of God when all that he planned and all that he purposed and
all that he willed is going to be revealed. Now, back through
the Old Testament, we'll go back yonder to the Garden of Eden,
when our parents first fell, when sin came into this world,
when darkness covered this world, and man was alienated from God.
There was a light that shined in that dark hour when God said,
the seed of woman shall bruise the serpent's head. That's Christ. That's the announcement. And
then all the way through the Old Testament we see Aaron and
we see the sons of Levi and we see these priests bringing their
blood offering, morning sacrifice, the evening sacrifice, the yearly
atonement, all of these sacrifices, all of this incense, every bit
of it promises a Redeemer, promises a Savior. And then in the fulness
of time, that's what the scripture said, in God's own time, in the
fulness of time, God sent forth his Son into this world. He came. God promised him. The prophets prophesied that
he would come, the sacrifices typified that he would come.
God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake to our
fathers by the prophets, had, actually, in these last days,
spoken to us by his Son. Turn to John 1, verse 1. Listen to this. In the beginning
was the Word, was the Word. And the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. Capital W-O-R-D, Word. That's communication. That's
revelation. Well, back before there was a
man for God to be revealed unto through Christ, Christ was the
one who was to reveal him. He was the Word in the beginning.
You see what I'm saying? He was that prophet in the beginning. He that hath seen me hath seen
the Father before there was anybody to see him. Verse 14 says, And
the Word was made flesh. There was a day when it happened. God Almighty decreed it. God
Almighty purposed it. God Almighty planned it. It's
as good as done in the mind of God. But there was a day when
it actually, in reality, by revelation, was fulfilled. He became a man. Our Lord, our Lord has said,
nobody knows the day or the hour when the Son of Man doth come,
but there is a day. The promise is true, it's done
in the purpose of God, but there's a day when it will be done. This
scripture is fulfilled. Christ will come. But there's
a day when he shall come. There's a day when it shall be
done. There's a day when he came to this earth, born of a woman.
tempted, tried, obedient to God's divine law. There was a day when
the prophecy concerning the plucking of his beard was fulfilled. He
sat down. Back yonder in the book of Psalms,
David wrote, they plucked out my beard. Wasn't it David in
Psalm 22 or Isaiah 1? They plucked out my beard. I
gave my cheeks to those who plucked the hair. There was a day. That
was prophesied hundreds of years ago. It was done. But there was
a day when Christ sat down in the mocker's chair, and he sat
down there and some rough, crude Roman soldier came up and reached
and grabbed his beard and yanked it out by the roots. The Scripture
says that they parted my garments and cast lots. Well, there was
a day when that, in the purpose of God, it was done. But there
was a day when a person did it. when he knelt down at the foot
of that cross while the blood of Christ dripped upon him and
cast lots for the garment of the Lord Jesus Christ. The scripture
says that, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? Hundreds of years
before he was ever born into this world. But there was a day
when that piercing cry was heard throughout earth, heaven, and
hell. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" There was
a day when it was done. You see what I'm saying? There was a day when he was buried.
He made his grave with the rich. That's what the Scripture says
in Isaiah. They borrowed a tomb from a wealthy man, a tomb in
which man had not lain. But there was a day when those
sad disciples and women took that body down from the cross
and took it over there and put it in that grave. It had to be
done. It had to be done. It was done. It had to be done. And there was a day when he arose
again. What are you saying, preacher?
I'm saying what this book says. This scripture is fulfilled.
Not one jot or one tittle shall pass from my word till it all
be fulfilled. It's fulfilled in the purpose
of God. But there's a day when each and every promise, prophecy,
judgment, warning shall be fulfilled in reality. There'll be a day
when some shall hear him say, Enter ye, blessed, into the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world. There's a day when
others shall hear him say, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting
fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Every jot and tittle
shall be fulfilled. There's a day. I'm saying that
the redeemed of God are in Christ. They have been in Christ, they
are in Christ, they always will be in Christ, in the mind and
purpose of God Almighty. I'm saying in the mind and purpose
of a sovereign God who declares the end from the beginning, who
declares those things as being already done, that are not yet
done, the redeemed are ransomed, redeemed, and justified by God
Himself. But there's a day. within reality
and by experience, when that takes place. When that takes place. Now the
third thing, in your ears. Now this is personal. This scripture
is fulfilled. It's fulfilled. Whether you have
anything to do with it or not, whether any promise is in your
possession, it's fulfilled. Whether you are a participant
in God's glory or not, it's fulfilled. It's done. Whether I am, I'm
not important enough for God to change his world or his plans. It's done. And
this day, that's what our Lord is saying to this group of people,
this day, this is, I am the Messiah. Whether you ever believe it,
whether you ever receive it, I am the Messiah. But oh, listen
to this, this day is at full fill, what a blessed bunch of
people in your ears, in your ears, you are witnesses of these
things. Now though Christ is the eternally slain lamb, and
he is, though in the purpose and mind and program of God his
mercies are given, though all types are accepted as though
he had died, Yet he must actually die. He
must actually bear the cross. He must actually walk up that
stony path from the city of Jerusalem to that terrible hill called
Golgotha. He's got to take every bloody
step one at a time. He's got to feel every throb
of pain one at a time. He's got to feel every blow of
the hammer one at a time. There's no shortcut. He's got
to shed every drop of blood, one at a time. It's got to be
done. And I'm saying, though the sheep
of Christ are chosen in Christ, and that's so, and given to Christ,
and represented by Christ, and protected from their birth to
their death by the angels of Christ, and preserved and sustained,
and though they are objects of his love, though they are recipients
of his mercy, they've got to be brought down the path of repentance
and the path of faith. They've got to take each step.
Turn to Romans chapter 10. Let me show you that. Romans
chapter 10. Romans the tenth chapter. In
verse 13, "...for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved." And nobody is going to be saved until he calls
on the name of the Lord. Just like our Lord was decreed
to be the Savior, but the Savior had to die. God is a God of the
ends. He's God of the means. God is
sovereign over the ends, and God is sovereign over the means.
And though our Savior was the Lamb slain from eternity, and
though we are the sheep chosen from eternity, just as the Lamb
has got to die, the sheep have got to be found. And the sheep have got to hear
his voice. Whosoever shall call upon him, he that believeth on
the Son hath life, he that believeth not shall never see life. He that hath the Son of God.
This is the record. God has given us eternal life,
and that life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life,
not he that hath the decree, not he that hath the predestined
purpose, not he that hath the theology, he that hath the Son. Do you see that? Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. Look at the next verse. How shall
they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall
they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how are they
going to hear without a preacher? All of the Lord's sacrifice decreed. Don't deny that. You're a fool
if you do. All that the Lord did to redeem
his people was done. How could God accept Abraham
on the basis of a death 4,000 years later? Because that death
was done. There was no possibility of it
being frustrated. It was done. But our Lord had
to come. He had to work in that carpenter's
shop. He had to sweat each drop of sweat and bear each bruise. Suffer each trial and know the
pangs of hunger and thirst and weariness and pain and sorrow
and acquainted with greed and he had to walk each step of the
way and my friend you and I Who are the redeemed of God from
all ages are gonna walk each step of the way We're gonna hear
a preacher It may be a preacher who's already dead whose book
has fallen into our hands. It may be a preacher who walked
with the Master, a preacher named Paul or James or John or Matthew
or Mark or Luke. It may be a preacher who lived
before Calvary, named Isaiah. That's the preacher that the
Ethiopian eunuch heard. It may be a preacher of this
time and this day, but we're going to hear. What are we going
to hear? We're not going to hear a bunch of tummy rot and tradition.
We're going to hear Christ preached by that preacher. The Christ
of eternity, the Christ of deity, the Christ of glory, the Christ
of grace, the Christ of mercy, the Christ of righteousness,
the Christ of truth, the Christ of justice, not another Jesus,
not a silly sentimental infant in a mother's arm, but the Christ
of Calvary. That's who you're going to hear.
You're going to hear it. In your ears, you're going to
hear it. Mama's not going to make a profession for you, and
Daddy's not going to make a profession for you. You're going to hear
it. You're going to hear the gospel. And you're going to believe. God's going to give you faith.
And you're going to call. And if you don't hear that preacher,
and you don't believe, God doesn't give you that faith, and you
don't call, you'll perish. Turn to John chapter 10. Let
me show you this. In John the 10th chapter. Now
stay with me. You'll learn something if you'll
stay with me. In John chapter 10, verse 14. Listen to this. He said, I'm the good shepherd.
He's the good shepherd. He's the great shepherd. He's
the chief shepherd. He's the shepherd. Now you can't
have a shepherd. You can't be a shepherd if you don't have
sheep. Huh? Can't have a king without a kingdom.
Can't have a head without a body. I'm the good shepherd. I know
my sheep. I know my sheep. I know mine.
I know them. It says in verse 16, and other
sheep I have. I've got some more sheep besides
these right here. They're not of this particular
foal, and I'm going to bring them. Not I might bring them,
I perhaps will bring them. He said, them also I must bring. And they shall hear my voice. They're going to hear my voice.
They won't hear another shepherd. They're going to hear my voice.
Listen. And they shall... I love the shalls and the wills
and the must of God's Word. I shall bring them. They must
come. And they'll be one fold and one
shepherd. Now look at verse 24. These Jews came and said, how
long are you going to make us doubt if you're the Christ? Tell
us plainly. He said, I told you, verse 25, you didn't believe
me. The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness
of me. But you don't believe me because you're not of my sheep.
That's a clear indication you don't believe me. You're not
my sheep. I said this, my sheep, my sheep,
they're mine. They're mine by eternal gift,
decree. They're mine by eternal, infinite
sacrifice. They're mine. They hear my voice,
and they follow me, and I give them eternal life. They'll hear
my voice. Now, you're not going to hear a voice out of heaven.
Saul of Tarsus did, but you're not Saul of Tarsus. You're going
to hear a voice, maybe got a bad cold, frail and weak like yours,
coming out of a vessel of clay just like you, a man of like
passions, of equal need. That's the voice you're going
to hear. That's the voice you're going to hear. Paul said, turn
to 1 Thessalonians 1. 1 Thessalonians 1. Listen to
what Paul said here in verse 4. Knowing, brethren beloved,
your election of God. That's what we're talking about.
An election of God. An election of God. He has a
people. How do you know, Paul, that these
people are in God's election? Well, here's the reason I know.
Verse 5. For our gospel, this gospel of redemption, not this
social gospel, not this liberal gospel, not this gospel of the
dignity of man, the gospel of the glory of God. Our gospel
came not to you in word only, to raise you from the dunghill,
power to give you seeing eyes and hearing ears and a broken
heart, power to bring you to receive Christ, to trust Him,
to know Him, power It came to you in the Holy Ghost in much
assurance. That's how it came, and that's
how I know you are one of God's elect. Our Lord walked under a tree
one day, and there was a man up there named Zacchaeus, and
he stopped. He was surrounded by these Israelites,
and he stopped, and he looked up at that tree, and he said,
Zacchaeus, come down, for I'm going to your house today. Zacchaeus skedaddled down that
tree, He said, Lord, I give back what I've stolen from folks.
I've been crooked and wrong in my life. I give it back. And
the Lord said, this day is salvation. Come to this house. For he also
is a son of Abraham. He is a son of Abraham. Now my friends, Salvation's outriders
had already marked that man Zacchaeus and already marked that house
long before. But this was the day that God
visited that house in mercy. This was the day that Zacchaeus
heard his voice in his ears. You see what I'm saying? It only profits you when it's
fulfilled in your ears. It has been fulfilled in the
ears and purpose of God. from all eternity. It was fulfilled
one day before the eyes of evil men and godly men, before Satan
and heaven's angels, before all the world when Christ died. It
was all fulfilled in that day. But thank God one day it was
fulfilled in my ears. How about yours? Look back at
Luke 4. Let me wind this up with a few
comments. Luke chapter 4. What was fulfilled? What's he talking about this
day? Well, in verse 18, Our Lord said, The Spirit of the Lord
is upon me. He hath anointed me to preach
the gospel to the poor. Are there any poor people here? I'm not talking about you don't
have a dime in your pocket. You may be sitting there with
a thousand dollars and be the poorest man that ever walked.
I'm not talking about a fellow in rags. I'm talking about a
fellow in spiritual rags. I'm not talking about a fellow
that's bankrupt materially. You may have the best business
in the world and a glorious future. in the business world, you may
be the most bankrupt, poverty-stricken, prodigal son that ever sat on
the rail of a pigpen and dangled your toes in the mud and don't
know it. But all whom God saves, God humbles. All whom God saves, God brings
down, just like he did old Naaman, down, center, down. And Naaman
went down, and when he went down, he came up. When he went down,
he came up clean. Mr. Spurgeon had a soup kitchen. The times were tough over there
in England during his pastorate at the Metropolitan Tabernacle,
and they gave food to hungry people out by the tabernacle,
out by the sidewalk. One day Mr. Spurgeon left his
study and came down, and he was standing there by the soup line,
just standing there watching the people. And he said as he
watched the people come by, they'd come by and pick up a bowl and
hold it out, and the lady or man would dip the soup and put
it in the bowl. And his eye fastened on this
particular man in line, and this is what he said. Shortly an elderly
man in a dirty wrinkled suit, a suit which showed marks of
being at one time a good piece of cloth, came by. and embarrassed over his condition,
he looked up at me and he said, Mr. Spurgeon, I've seen better days. I've seen better days. And Mr. Spurgeon replied as he
put his arm across his shoulder, my friend, I'm sure you have.
But your present need qualifies you for our assistance. That's why you're here, because
you're in need. You never would have come if
you hadn't been in need. Our Lord said, they that behold
need not a physician, but those that are sick. The well have
no need of a physician, the moral have no need of a Savior, the
righteous have no need of the Redeemer, Thank God one day he
showed me my poverty, spiritual poverty, that my garments were
filthy rags, that my only possessions were sins, and that my hope was
all gone, bankrupt, spiritually bankrupt. My need qualifies me
for his mercy. Oh yeah, we saw better days in
Adam, but since the fall, we've been poverty-stricken beggars.
And I know preachers today have made a beggar out of Jesus Christ,
and they stand in their pulpits today, and they'll beg these
dignified, qualified, moral sinners, Won't you let Jesus in your heart? Won't you do something for Jesus? But not this preacher. Our Lord is not in need of your
help, but you are badly in need of his help. And if you had good
sense, which people don't have because Satan has twisted their
mind and warped their thinking, blinded their eyes, if you had
good sense, you'd be crying, Oh God, be merciful to me, a
sinner. Drape your robe of spotless holiness
over these filthy rags. O God, heal my cancerous heart
and lift my dull laden soul. Lift me! Do something for me.
I'm poor and needy." Poor and needy. He came to preach
good news to the poor and needy. And look at the next line, He
sent me to heal the brokenhearted. Now my friends, the book of Psalms
says, God saveth such as be of a broken heart. The Lord is now
unto them of a broken heart. The sacrifices of God are a broken
heart. Now there are different ways
that God uses to break the heart. But he'll never save us till
he breaks our hearts. And I'm not talking about this
thing in here that pumps blood. I'm talking about us. I'm talking
about the inner man. I'm talking about the real person.
I'm talking about the fellow that does the thinking, and the
reacting, and the responding, and whatever is done. I'm talking
about me. And God will never save you until He breaks your
heart. How does He do it? Well, the law breaks the heart. This is the best form of broken-heartedness
there is in the world. When a man hears from Sinai's
glorious mountain, the Holy Lord God, and he cries, O cursed thoughts
that plague me, O cursed idols before which I have bowed, O
cursed pervertousness, ungrateful heart, O cursed lust, O cursed
hate, O cursed jealousy, O cursed envy, O sin, sin, sin, when his
heart is broken over sin, against thee and thee only have I sinned. But you know David didn't cry
that until sin was exposed. Sometimes God uses the law to
break the heart, sometimes he uses sin exposed to break the
heart. That Christ will receive him,
no sinner need fear. The poorer the sinner, the more
welcome here. Though you be an outcast and
banished afar, you're welcome to Jesus. Come just like you
are. Don't you like that? David went
through every one of these. My sins are ever before me. God
took the law and broke his heart. God exposed his sin and broke
his heart. God killed his son and broke
his heart. O Absalom, my son, with God I
died for you. One of his boys tried to take
his kingdom away from him, ran him out, ran him out like a dog,
chased him out of the capital. There he was, wandering around
out there just like he was years and years ago. He'd built up
a reputation and power and a kingdom and possession. And one day he
found himself out there by himself, deserted by those who claimed
to love him, trusted friends, proved untrue. His wife made
fun of him. His sons took his throne. His
trusted friends banished him from the kingdom. That's when
he said, Don't my mother and my father forsake me. God will
take me up. David, what's God doing to you?
He's breaking your heart, son. Be patient. Don't rebel against
him. Accept it for your good. In his
glory, he's breaking your heart. You'll never come to Christ till
he breaks your heart. You'll never know the mercy of
God till he breaks your heart. You'll never know the glory of
his grace till he breaks your heart. Deserted. Deserted. But our Lord knew something about
that, didn't he? My God. This is something you'll never
know. Why hast thou forsaken me?" There's no path you ever
walked he didn't walk. There's no step you'll ever take
he hasn't taken. There's no tear you'll ever shed
that he hasn't already shed. There's no valley into which
you'll ever go that he hasn't already gone. He's just doing
for your good what needs to be done, mine too. He's just stripping
us of our... Like Job said, oh boy, he went
there, didn't he? Was it for his good? Well, yes,
you read the last chapter, but Job lived every one of them before
he got to the last chapter. And he sat there one day, his
children gone, his wife gone, his friends gone, his home gone,
his work gone, his health gone! And he says, what did he say?
He had taken the crown off my head. He had stripped me of my
glory. He put the crown where it belonged,
on the head of Christ. Thank God. Old Job said, I heard
about God, I thought I knew God, but then one day I saw the Lord. But where did he see him? He
didn't see him when he was the wealthiest man in town. He didn't
see him when he had all his children around his fireside, glorying
in his possessions. He didn't see him whenever he
had the finest carriage in town. He didn't see him when he had
all those fans lifting his boots to see what they could get out
of him. He didn't see him when he had everything the world had
to offer, the praise and fame and popularity of men. When did
he see him? He saw him when God stripped
him and broke his heart. That's when he saw the Lord. Which place would you rather
be? You want the blessing without
the cost, and I do too. Yes, sir. We want the glory without
the shame. We want the calm without the
battle. We want grace without judgment. It ain't coming that way. When I have nowhere to turn,
I turn to Him. Without hope, without help, without
Christ, without God. But bless your heart. I know
it's tough, but you've got to walk that road. I came to preach good news to
the poor. I came to heal the brokenhearted. I came to deliver the captive.
We'd be free. We're in bondage to no man. We're free-born Americans. You're
in captivity to the law. You're in captivity to Satan. You're in captivity to the holy
royal justice of God. You're bound in prison. You're
not going to be set free until the Son sets you free. George
Washington can't do this for you. Abraham Lincoln might break
the chains from the arms of the slaves, but he can't break the
chains from their hearts. Only King Jesus can do that. Only King Jesus can come down
here and meet this holy law that has you wrapped up, enslaved,
and bonded. and obey it and give to you a
righteousness that will be acceptable by the Father. Only King Jesus
can come down here and face the justice of God and the holiness
of God and the wrath of God and take the sword in his heart.
Then Almighty God can sit on a righteous throne and still
set you free. Then Almighty God can still be
just and justify folks like you and me. that Almighty God can
still occupy his holy throne of integrity and righteousness
and shed his mercy on you. Christ had to take all that justice
demanded. I've found the ransom. I've found the ransom. The prison
door has swung open. free from the law, O happy condition! Jesus has died in this remission,
cursed by the law and bruised by the fall, but Christ hath
redeemed me once more." I'm free. I'm free. And then last of all, he gives
sight to the blind. Sight to the blind. And nobody
as blind as the man who won't see. I don't feel sorry for men who
don't have eyes, maybe they're blessed. You say, that would
be the worst thing that could happen. Well, I don't know. I
think the worst thing that could happen would be blind spiritually
and not see the Lord. I don't feel sorry, near sorry
for people who can't see this old world as I feel sorry for
the man who can't see his sins and can't see Christ as his substitute
and Savior. who can't see the glory of our
Lord. He can see the tinsel and glitter of this world. He can
see all that this old flesh has to offer him, but it won't last
him long. He'll get to hold it for a little
while, and then he's got to give it up, or he'll give him up. But he that seeth the Son and
believeth on him hath everlasting life. He that seeth the Son God,
take my physical eyes, but don't take my spiritual eyes. Let me
see Christ, let me behold his glory, which is it, crucify him
or crown him Lord of all? Which is it, will I have this
man reign over us or my Lord and my God? I see, I see, I see. Let me close with this illustration
to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. You know what he's
talking about there? Well, this will be worth your
while. Every seven years, the Jews were
told by the Lord to let their fields lie untouched. Don't plow them, don't plant
them, leave them alone. Sabbath year, year of rest. Now he said
in the 6th year, I'll give you 3 times as much harvest last
year through that 6th year, 7th year and 8th year till the crops
come in. But just leave her alone every 7 years. And then number
7 sevens, that's 49. And on that 50th year, that's
the year of jubilee. The year of jubilee. You sound
a trumpet. And this is what it means. It
means that every person that has been sold into slavery. In
other words, back then if a man couldn't pay his debts, he didn't
declare bankruptcy like folks do today. Uh-uh. He didn't just
say, well, I can't pay you. He took his wife and children,
went to the man and said, I'm broke, I don't have any money,
I can't pay you. We'll work as your servants and
as your slaves. And that's what they did. They
worked as a slave or a servant. But when that trumpet sounded,
all throughout Israel, every servant and every slave was declared
free. Free. And that man take his wife
by the hand, his children, he's worked either for a good or bad
master, but he's worked as a slave, and he bids his master goodbye,
and he goes out. The year of Jubilee. And then
Israel was divided, the Holy Land, they called it, was divided
and given to people by the Lord. Each man had his own little plot.
It may be two or three, five, ten acres, a hundred acres, but
each man, each family had the plot. Well, a man through poor
business judgment and poor farming and no initiative or maybe laziness,
maybe he lost his land. It lost to him, lost to his sons. He had no way of making a living.
He became a slave. He and all his children. This
might have happened 20 years ago, 30 years ago. But when that
trumpet was sounded, the year of Jubilee, do you know where
that land went? Back to its owner. A man couldn't
accumulate. You know, we have tobacco allotments
in this state, and wheat allotments, and corn allotments, and cotton
allotments. A man couldn't accumulate a bunch
of allotments, and he might accumulate it, but when that trumpet sounded,
he'd back to his little plot. And the men who had lost their
land moved home again. And you know what else? Boy,
the bankers wouldn't like this. They couldn't build any more
drive-ins. But every debt was canceled. That's right, whatever
you owe, down at the bank, down at the grocery store, down at
the furniture store, when that trumpet sounded, every debt was
paid. Every slave was free, every family
moved back on their old family plot. And every debt was canceled. And our Lord came to these enslaved
sons of Adam, you and me. We lost our land through our
foolishness, indifference to God, and our laziness and our
sin. And we got a debt that no man
can discharge, an infinite debt on the books of God. But our
Lord came and said, This is the year of jubilee! This is the
acceptable year of the Lord! Sound the trumpet! Every debt
is paid. That's what I came to do, he
said. You heard that? In your ears. Now it's done. Sure as there's a God in heaven.
And it's been done back yonder on Calvary, sure as Christ died. But I'm here to tell you it's
been done here, and here, and here. And I hope you can say
the same thing. God broke my heart. God stripped
me. God showed me my captivity, my
enslavement. But thank God in Christ He set
me free. Our Father, we praise Thy Name
for Thy Word. What a blessed promise. What
a precious treasure. We don't have any idea how precious
it really is. and how glorious it is, but someday
we'll know. Now we see through a glass dimly,
but then face to face, now we know in part and we preach a
little in part, but then we shall know as we have been known. Then
our faith is going to give way to reality, our hope to possession. God bless this message to our
hearts. Forgive us when we grumble and
complain against our providence. It's the Lord. Let him do what
he will. He's just taking the crown off
my head. He's just stripping me of my
glory. He's just bringing me to the place where he can bless
me and get the glory for it. We pray these things in his name
and for his sake. Amen.

This Day Is This Scripture Fulfilled

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

Joshua

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

This Day Is This Scripture Fulfilled

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

More from Henry Mahan

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Articles by Henry Mahan

Books by Henry Mahan

Joshua

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book