Also remember Julie, she's under
the weather again, so remember her in your prayers. Paul here is talking about the
work of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's tree and what it
accomplished. And what it means to those who have been given
faith to believe it, that all their sins have been forgiven.
Now forgiveness does not come, nor mercy, nor grace, except
upon the wings of satisfied justice. And we know that's the fact.
No sin shall ever go unpunished. It'll be punished in you, or
it'll be punished in a substitute, but it will be punished. But from this text, we know that
Jesus Christ saved us from all our sins. And we know also that
the law of Moses couldn't do that. No matter how stringently
it was applied, no matter how men adhered to it, it could never
take away sin. There was a built-in deficiency
in that covenant, in what is called the Old Covenant, or the
First Covenant as referred to in Hebrews. The built-in deficiency
was that those things only postponed the wrath of God. They did not
satisfy the wrath of God. and all the lambs slain and goats
and turtledoves and rams and bullocks that were slain for
thousands of years, never ever. took away one sin, never brought
about forgiveness for sin. But on Calvary, our mighty God,
our Lord Jesus Christ satisfied justice. That's why he came here,
to satisfy justice. And when he satisfied justice,
he redeemed all his people. He saved his people from this
sin, saved all of them. He forgave them all their dead
and returned to them what they had lost in Adam and much, much
more. I don't know what Adam's condition
was spiritually in the Garden of Eden. Nobody does. You can read 40 authors and have
40 different opinions. But I know he did not have eternal
life when he was created in this world. Because you can't lose
something that's eternal. What he had was an innocence.
He had not been exposed to sin, but he liked it when he was exposed
to it. We lost that innocence when he
lost his innocence. Good and evil entered into our
minds and affected everything we think, see, or do. We gained
that back. We're no longer guilty before
God and Jesus Christ, but we got a whole lot more. We got
spiritual understanding. We got faith. We got a glorious
expectation and a hope for glory. Much more. We're all poor sojourners. We've all squandered what we
were born with and what we had, just like Adam did. We made ourselves
debtors. We're incapable of recovery.
And we by nature have nothing that we can claim as our own,
but the unbearable weight of our sin. That's what's ours. Paul preaching the gospel declared
that through Jesus Christ, this man, all sins were forgiven that
could not be forgiven by the law of Moses. And this is why
the gospel is good news, glad tidings of great joy. Salvation
has been wrought. and peace and rest have been
established. Men have been reconciled to God
in that great Sabbath or that great Shabbat, that great peace
has been made by the blood of the cross. That's said in Colossians
chapter one and verse 18, or verse 21 rather. And in Matthew
chapter 11, then our Lord could say to those who are troubled
and heavy laden and weary of sin, Come unto me, all ye that
labor and are heavy laden. I'll give you what? Shabbat,
rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light, and you shall
find rest unto your souls. That great deed accomplished
by our Lord Jesus Christ, reconcile all the elect to God. God wasn't
reconciled to them. There was no problem with God.
He hadn't done anything. He didn't need to be reconciled
to them. God was already reconciled to his elect. That's why he sent
his son to fix it so he could be just and justify them. But
they were reconciled to him because their debt had been fully paid. They had never tasted God's wrath
and never would. Free, full, and forever is the
grand declaration of the gospel. And what sweet sound this is
to the poor, indebted, bankrupt sinner. To some it means nothing
because they don't need it. But if you need it, you'll find
it. What Paul freely declared in
Acts chapter 13, Moses' law did write and did propose and did
set forth in type and shadow in the Old Testament. If you
turn back to Leviticus chapter 25, We read these words in verse
eight about a special Sabbath, one that happened after seven
years times seven years of Sabbaths, 49 years of Sabbaths. And Sabbath simply means a rest. It always means that, it never
means anything else. Never means anything else. In
verse eight of chapter 25, it says, 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 you 49
years. Then shalt thou cause the trumpet
of Jubilee to sound on the 10th day of the seventh month in the
day of atonement shalt thou make the trumpet sound throughout
all your land. And ye shall hallow the 50th
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 possessions, and ye
shall return every man to his family. A jubilee that shall
that fiftieth year be unto you, ye shall not sow nor reap that
which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of
thy vine undress, for it is the jubilee, shall be holy unto you. Ye shall eat of the increase
thereof and out of the field. So as in every Sabbath, whether
it be the Sabbath day, or the Sabbath year, or whatever Sabbath
it might be, whatever holy convocation of the eight Sabbaths as the
Lord sets forth in Leviticus, one thing is true of all. They
taught that you rest and trust God for provision. Don't do anything
God will provide. God has provided. And this is
what this is talking about in this 50th year. God commands
the children of Israel to observe the last and probably the most
descriptive and most full Sabbath of all, and that is the Sabbath
called the Sabbath of Jubilee. Winnie loved this passage of
Scripture. She used to bug me to preach
it. Won't you preach on that Jubilee again? Tell me about
that Jubilee. And the reason was because Winnie
was a sinner and it made good, this was good news to her. Made
her joyful to hear this. This Sabbath begins with the
trumpet being blown in the end of the day of atonement. And
thus has to do with the accomplishments of the day of atonement and spiritually
it is about the accomplishments of Jesus Christ on Calvary Street.
Now there's no more clear representation of the gospel as it pertains
to the cross of Christ in the Old Testament than is found in
this matter of the day of atonement. You can read about it in Leviticus
16. This is about what our Lord did
as our great high priest on Calvary Street. These ceremonies were
but a shadow of good things to come. That's what he said in
verse chapter 10 of Hebrews. All those to the law of Moses
were just a shadow of good things to come. They weren't the substance
thereof. It is important to understand
that this day is only, this day of atonement is only singularly
about the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. That day specifically
talked about nothing else nor didn't address you. It didn't
address your feelings, your belief, your thanksgiving, your gratefulness.
It addressed something about what happened on the cross of
Calvary. Now, there are numerous aspects
concerning what God has done for us and what he has done in
us, but none of that applies here. Our eyes are made to be
fixed on a singular event in the day of atonement, and the
singular event, the hinge and crux of eternity and time, and
that is the only ground upon which we receive all that God
has for his elect. This glorious event is about
God and his son. and the hidden transaction that secured the redemption of
the elect. It's a hidden transaction. And this is most clearly seen
in several things set forth about this great feast of the Day of
Atonement. First, there were two offerings
brought. They were the sin offering and the burn offering. And both
of these picture the sacrifice of Christ The meat offering,
which represents perfect righteousness. The perfect righteousness of
Christ is not mentioned on the Day of Atonement. The peace offering,
which represents our thanksgiving and praise is not mentioned on
the Day of Atonement. No, here God and His Son, the
Lamb, the high priest, the offering is doing business with God. We don't know anything about
it, we weren't born. And those who were around didn't know anything
about it because God shut down the sun for three hours. So nobody
could see. But here on this day of atonement,
in this 15 by 15 foot cubicle, inside and under a veil that
was four different kinds of fabric, from badger skin to others, there
was an Ark of the Covenant. with a gold cover on it, with
two cherubim facing each other. Between those two cherubim, the
shekin, the dwelling of God, the shekinah glory of God dwelt.
Now only one person went in there. Not everybody went to church
that day, just one fellow did. He was the high priest, and with
him he wore the names of the children of Israel on his breastplate
over his heart. also wore them on the ouches
that gathered his garment at his shoulders, the names of the
children of Israel, those who he represented. He went in as
a representative into the Holy of Holies. And there he did business
with God. For who? For himself and for
all the children of Israel. They didn't do anything. They
were inside their tents and they came out their tents toward the
end of it, listening for the bells on the bottom of his grove.
to see if he had actually made atonement for their sins. Because
he went in with a rope tied to his ankle. And if he died in
there in the presence of God, they'd drug him out. Nobody went
in there but this man, and that only once a year. That only once
a year. Doing business with God the judge,
and the business is sin, and the penalty for sin. On the day
of atonement, here's what we have. On Calvary, here's what
we have. One man. One God, one day, one
sacrifice. On Calvary, one man, one God,
one day, once and forever in the acceptable year of the Lord.
Secondly, there were two goats that were used in this sacrifice
and they reveal the dual aspect of our redemption or the redemption
that Jesus Christ accomplished on Calvary Street. One goat answered
the requirement of God's holiness and his justice in it all. The
other answered the necessities of those for whom the sacrifice
is made. And thirdly, the fact that there
was only one individual that entered into the holy place teaches
us that the transaction was only between this man and God who
dwelt above the mercy seat. Salvation was wrought by God
and His Son. Nobody else. Nobody else had
a part in it. was done in secret behind the
curtain, behind the curtain of darkness on Calvary, behind the
curtain of the holy place. Christ is not offered to men.
He never has been and he never will be. Grace is not offered
to men. Mercy is not offered to men.
God graces people. God shows mercy to people and
Christ offered himself to God. This was God dealing with the
business of our transgressions and finishing them. And this
entire transaction declares in no uncertain terms that our redemption,
our salvation, our justification, our sanctification, our righteousness
and holiness is holy and completely and solely by Christ dying for
God. Who did Christ die for? He died for God. He died so God
would be satisfied, so God would be at peace, so wrath would be
assuaged. It was accomplished out of our
view, out of our hand, in the holiest of all without our opinion,
our consent, or our input, our will, or our faith, because we
didn't even exist when it happened. And as far as the world consisted
of, nobody existed because everybody else was in darkness. This amazing
event coincides fully with the mysterious three hours of darkness
that our Lord spent on the cross this Day of Atonement, where
no human eye beheld our God dealing with his Son concerning his justice
for our sin. We've never seen the wrath of
God. We don't know anything about it. We've been in the hands of
a mediator since we were born. Good place to be. Even for those who
don't know Christ will perish in eternal hell. They're in the
hands of a mediator. God has given him power over
all flesh that he might give eternal life to as many as thou
has given him. This Sabbath, this Jubilee was
observed every 50th year, seven years of Sabbaths times seven.
And at the end of 49 years on the day of atonement after the
high priest had made an atonement for the sins of the people, a
ram's horn was blown, which produced a real high-pitched sound. Now
on this day, this day that had taken 49 years to get here, on
this day, everybody was listening for that sound. But some were
particularly listening for that sound. Some might have not even
liked to hear that sound. But some, in particular, were
listening for that ram's horn to be blown. This began the 50th year, the
year of Jubilee. After the high priest came out,
and they heard his bells, and no atonement had been made, the
high priest took the ram's horn and blew it real loud, and Jubilee
began. Because this sound indicated
that atonement had been made, it pictures the words of our
Lord Jesus Christ. As he hung in agonies and blood
on Calvary's tree, when he cried with a loud voice, it is finished. And so it was. This cry of our
Lord, this grand declaration of success and redemption was
the trump of jubilee. Jubilee for you and me. Just
as those Israelites waited for the sound of the trump, the elect,
though they don't even know it, they're waiting for the sound
of the gospel, for the knowledge of the finished work. And when
the gospel is preached, they hear the voice of Christ. Christ
said, my sheep hear my voice and they follow me. And I give
unto them eternal life and they shall never be taken out of my
hand. God has been satisfied. The issue of sin has been settled
by Christ, our high priest. And the preaching of the gospel
is the repetitive, resounding trumpeting of the fact of that
great transaction is done. But this particular trump sounded
at the end of 49 years, and it means a little more. Not to take
anything away from the other, but it simply means that there
was a result that followed. That what this accomplished was
the putting away of our sins. But not only that, the giving
us all things in Jesus Christ. When this trump was sounded at
this time, it had a wonderful meaning to some. It was a declaration. of complete
liberty, complete liberty. Now that doesn't
mean anything to people who are free, does it? But somebody who's
not free, who's in the shackles of helletry, that means something. When they heard that trumpet,
it means they were free. It was also the sound of full
forgiveness. It was the sound of a beginning of a new day,
a new life, a new way. It was a sound of recovery for
the poor, indebted, indigent Israelite. This was full of import
and glory for the poor and the needy, and that's what the gospel
is for, too. It's for sinners. It ain't for good folk. If you're
a good folk here this morning, if you think you're all right,
if you believe that somehow, some way, God's gonna accept
you based on your own person, character, and merit, I have
nothing for you this hour, so you can go ahead and go to sleep,
and I'll wake you up when it's over. And I won't be mad at you for
going to sleep. Our Lord, when he died on Calvary
Tree, was the same as him blowing that horn when he said, it is
finished. What does this mean? During the
previous 49 years, prior to this trump being sounding on the Day
of Atonement, they declared the year the rest of Jubilee, that
great Sabbath. In those 49 years, men had been
in commerce, they had tilled their land, they had bought and
sold, they had borrowed and they had lended. Life as usual went
on, business as general. But during that time, many of
God's people had found themselves in a state of extreme poverty. Extreme poverty. And this poverty
took several forms. Some of God's people had become
so poor that all they had were debts. They owed everything.
They had no money. They had no money. They were
bankrupt and owed great deals of money to their creditors.
They would never be able to pay themselves out of debt. And these poor bankrupt folks
waited for this year. for this trumpet, for this sound,
to hear that trumpet sounded, this blessed clarion noise, which
announced to them that they were free of all debt. Think about that. This is what
took place in this 49th year, this 50th year. Once that trumpet
was sounded, I could owe the guy a million dollars and I couldn't
pay. When I heard that noise, it told
me, I don't owe anybody anything. That's jubilee. That's jubilee. I don't owe anybody anything. That all their debts were summarily
canceled, that they owed nothing anymore. They had done nothing
to get this way. All they had done is got themselves
in debt. All they had done is ruined their
finances. All they had done is run themselves
down in the ground. They had contributed to this,
nothing. When that high priest made that
atonement, he came out from under that curtain and blew that ram's
horn, and in that moment, they were debt free. Think about that. That'd be a good thing, wouldn't
it? That'd be a good thing. That'd
be good news. This was a Sabbath. This was the eighth Sabbath that
God established, the eighth. Rest wherein the weary will find
sweet rest. And being a Sabbath, it was ordained
of God. And what was it about? It was
about the work being finished, the work having been done, and
therefore there was nothing left to do. And that's what this Trump
said. There's nothing for you to do. What am I gonna do to
have to get rid of my debts? Your debts are gone. That's what
the gospel teaches you about your sin. Your sin is gone. What'll
I have to do? It's already been done. It was
accomplished on the Day of Atonement. It was accomplished by Christ
on Calvary. And we announce it over and over
again. Trust Him. Your debts are gone. Jesus paid
it all, all the debt I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
but He washed it white as snow. Some of God's people have become
so poor that they've been forced to indenture themselves into
slavery to their creditors. And since their deaths were such
that they could never be able to work off their indenture,
they would remain a slave for all their life. This was their
hope. But in this year, the beginning of Jubilee, Jubilee, these poor
wretched slaves waited for the sweet sound, the trumpet that
initiated the 50th year, the trumpet at the end of 49 years.
The sound that noised out the glorious fact that the shackles
and chains of indebted servitude were snapped like a twig, cast
asunder by the piercing song of the glory of jubilee. And
when that trump sounded, what could a slave do? What could
one who's been in chains all his life, who had to do exactly
what his master told him to do, he could not give him any lip,
he'd be killed, be whipped. What could he do? He'd stand
up and look at his master and say, I'll see you later, bud. Goodbye. When that trumpet sounded,
they could just simply walk away from their place of slavery forever.
They were free men. They were the Lord's free men.
Their slave master had no rights over them anymore. They were
free at last. What did they do? Nothing. They
heard a sound and they were free. free at last. They were liberated
because God had entered into his rest having finished the
work of their salvation. And some of God's people had
become so poor that they'd been forced to pawn their land or
to put it under lien, their family heritage. Land means things to
people. Here, we know it means a lot.
Some of the biggest fights in the world over land, you know
that. But it means something to people. And when I talk to
the elders that I've known for years, we sit down and they start
talking about their old home place, where they were born and
where they were raised. I could see it in their eyes.
It means something to them. The land means something to them.
When God sent his people into Canaan, he divided up that land
into tribes, and each one of those tribes had a specific land.
That was their land. It went by their name. That land
went by their name. That was their heritage. That
was their heritage. The law would not allow them
to sell it. Moses' law would not allow one Israelite to sell
his land to any other Israelite or any other tribe. It forbid
that. God had made it clear that the
land truly belonged to Him when He established the Sabbath of
the land. One of those Sabbaths was the Sabbath of the land,
where that seventh year, the land lay fallow, and he provided
for the people, letting them know of a surety that the previous
six years of planting and sowing and harvesting was not the source
of their sustenance, but rather that he alone gave the increase.
And he proved that by that land not being plowed, but laying
fallow, and he supplied their every need for a whole year.
That was the Sabbath of the land. He fed them and they didn't lift
a finger. Well, you know you gotta work
for it. And I know in the American economy, and I know in general
life, you get what you work for. If you work hard, you usually
progress. It don't always work that way, but generally it does.
That's not God's economy. If you work, He won't give it
to you. If you work for salvation, you ain't gonna get it. You won't
have it. You ain't gonna have it. But the land could not be
sold, but it could be pawned or forfeited under lien. If the
owner's debts were so great and no other means of payment could
be arranged, he could forfeit his land for a time. And maybe
he would even die before the 49th year rolled around, we don't
know. But to an Israelite, this was a final blow. This was a
final blow. his land, the place where he
made his home, represented a sense of continuity with the past,
his heritage, his history, his name, his identity. Perhaps this
is understood here where we live more than any other place. The
place where he and his wife shared the early days of their marriage,
the place where he dandled his children and his grandchildren
on his knees, the place that harbored him from the cold, his
hearth and his home, his place in the world. Think of feeling
the ache in the heart of this destitute debtor every day as
he walked by his old home place and saw others living there.
They had to watch as others worked this land and attained the bounty
thereof. What a day this must have been, this Day of Atonement,
this beginning of the 50th year of Jubilee. And this poor man
who had lost all Heard that piercing sound of that ram's horn. That
blaring report that in an instant, right now, no paperwork involved. His land was returned to him. His home, his heritage. Got it back. Got it back. That instant. Full ownership. Think about it. Maybe someone
had pitched their tents on his land and had gardens on his land
or raising cattle on his land. He'd just simply walk up to them
and say, y'all gonna have to leave. Could say, y'all trespassing,
this is my home. This is my land. He got it with
full ownership rights. Jubilee returned the home place
to its owner. Returned the home place to its
owner. He was no longer a debtor. He was a laird. He was a homeowner. A homeowner. What a glorious,
glorious day. But in all that, it was insufficient
for the following year, following the year of Jubilee, the same
people could make the same bad investments and make the same
stupid mistakes, and probably would, and lose it all and spend
49 more years in poverty. That could happen, and did, if
they lived that long. But Jubilee was a shadow of good
things to come. a sweeter, everlasting sound,
a permanent, unchangeable victory in liberty, a peace and rest
that is eternal, a peace that passes knowledge and understanding.
On that great day of our redemption on Calvary's tree, when our Lord,
having finished the work of salvation, and shouted that it was finished,
the blessed jubilee of eternity began, eternal jubilee, and everything
was settled, and you got back everything you lost in Adam.
and much, much more, much, much more. On what day did our Lord
finish that transgression? On the Sabbath, on the Sabbath. There he made sin, made an end
of sins, made reconciliation for iniquity, brought in everlasting
righteousness. He sealed up the vision of prophecy and anointed
the Most High. It was on the Sabbath, the rest
of God, that our Lord Jesus Christ finished salvation. The rest
of the people came at the proclamation of this Jubilee. I know religion
is a very busy, multitasking thing that keeps people busy
and keeps their mind off of everything that they ought to be thinking
about. But God says to his people, do
you hear that sound? You're free. You don't owe anything. Everything you lost, you got
back. Just like that. Well, certainly this is a progressive
thing that I have to work for and I have to make myself such
and such to get it now. It's already done. You see, this
is the Sabbath. The rest, the work's finished,
that's why we're resting. That's why we're resting. Our Lord used
that kind of language, the language of jubilee. How did he teach
us to pray? Lord, forgive us our debts as we forgive those who are debted
to us. What did he promise to the poor
who are weary and heavy laden? Come unto me and I'll give you
what? Rest. Rest. The very language of redemption
is the language of jubilee. Redemption is being bought and
brought out of slavery, and that's what happened on Calvary. Restoration
is the language of the gospel. Everything we lost in Adam is
restored to us, and much more according to Romans chapter five,
chapter eight. When you hear the gospel, do you hear that noise, that
trump, that sound, ram horn being blowed. Well, if you do, I want
you to realize there's just one restriction, one prohibition
in every one of the eight Sabbaths, eight Sabbaths, just one, just
one. Look at Leviticus chapter 25
and verse 11. A jubilee. shall be the 50th
year unto you, ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth
of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it, or the vines undressed. You're resting now, and you're
being fed. You're being fed what you need
for eternal life. Don't you go trying to pick the
fruit, or harvest, or plow, anything else. You lay down in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Don't lift a finger. One passage
says, don't lift up a stick. The people got ideas about the
Sabbath. Now they think today's the Sabbath. Today's not the
Sabbath, except in the sense that for the child of God, every
day's a Sabbath. It's a day of rest in the Lord
Jesus Christ, but today's not the Sabbath. If you're going
by the days, yesterday was a Sabbath, it was Saturday. This is the
first day of the week, not the last day of the week. What applied was in the Sabbath
you didn't pick up a stick. Why? Because you're saying the
work's not finished. But it is because the trumpet's
been blown. Atonement has been made. Propitiation
has been made. It's finished. It's done. Salvation
is done. Will you lift a finger? Well,
I've got to work. You will work. And the work that
you will do has already been ordained from old. You are God's
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus in two good works, which
God has foreordained that you should walk in, and that's taken
care of. Well, I just wanna find out what I need to do for Jesus.
Rest! Trust Him! And when the work comes for you
to do, you'll be equipped for it, prepared for it, and you'll
do it, and you won't even know it's a work. You'll think it's fun! You'll
just be glad you got to do it! And you'll never call it work.
But it is. But don't do it for salvation. Don't think you got something
or are something or can do something that will recommend you to God.
There is nothing. And that's the glorious news
for those who are poor and indebted in sin. Those who are enslaved
to sin and in the shackles of sin. Those who have lost everything. Those who have even lost their
home. They have lost identity. They've lost who they are because
they don't have a home. Like that. Do you hear it? Do you hear that ram's horn? Now don't pick up a stick. Just receive what's yours. It's
already you. Atonement propitiation has been
made. The work is finished. The Trump declares absolutely
unequivocally that you are no longer a debtor. You are the
Lord's free man. Do not mar or disallow that with
the works of any kind. The poet wrote, No more, my God.
I boast no more of all the work that I have done. I quit the
hope I held before. and trust the merits of thy son. Christ said in Luke chapter four,
quoting from Isaiah 51, the Spirit of the Lord, God, is upon me. Because the Lord hath anointed
me to preach good tidings unto the meek. He has sent me to bind
up the brokenhearted and to proclaim liberty to the captives and to
open the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable
year of the Lord, the day of vengeance of our God and to comfort
all that mourn, to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give
them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment
of praise for the spirit of heaviness. that they might be called the
trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be
glorified. For every child of God, every
day is the beginning of Jubilee. Jubilee. Father, bless us to
understand and pray in Christ's name. Amen. All right.