This Is The Year Of Jubilee

Introduction:

A. Homecoming is beautiful!! It’s a wonderful thing to be with family and friends, people

who love us in spite of our failures! Consider two homecomings, (1) the homecoming

of a slave after years of hard labor and service to a master who doesn’t love them or

treat them with care! (2) The homecoming we will enjoy in heaven! In the OT we

have an illustration of this homecoming in the law about the “Sabbath Year” or The

year of Jubilee!!

Sabbath – 7th day; Sabbatical year – seventh year; Jubilee – seven times seven – 50th year

B. The year of Jubilee was to be God’s great “reset button” everything in the life of the

Jewish nation was restored to the original!! Everything was changed! All debts

cancelled! All land that had been sold (leased) was returned to the family that had

possession of it when the nation came out of the wilderness and into the promised

land! All prisoners were released!! (Only prisoners were those incarcerated over debt,

all other criminals were executed).

Jubilee turned this dog-eat-dog world we inhabit into a 50 year game with a reset button!!

C. What if word got out that the members of the North Highlands church were all going to be

forgiven of their debts? Would that excite you? Would that bring joy into your life?!?!

What if everyone around heard that, as a member of this church family, each person’s

debt would be paid off, that everyone here got a new start in life!?!?! Would our building

be able to hold the crowd that would show up next Sunday? That’s Jubilee! And here in

Luke 4, Jesus has returned home, and He announces that He, Himself, that He IS the

Messiah bringing Jubilee!

Jesus is saying that the effects of his ministry were the real, the actual, the intended fulfillment of the blessings fore-shadowed by the Year of Jubilee.

Note the following 3 outcomes of the Year of Jubilee that only find their actual fulfillment in Jesus Himself. Only in Him is the true Year of Jubilee!

I. Release

1. Freedom from servitude - Leviticus 25:54-55

a. No longer enslaved by the Devil - 1 Pet. 5:8, 9a, 1 Cor. 10:13

b. We are bought back our Brother, Jesus – Hebrews 2:11-18

c. Redeemed by our Savior - Rom. 8:1, 2, Gal. 5:1

2. Unburdened from impossible debt – Leviticus 25:10 (Liberty Bell)

a. He paid a debt he did not owe; I owed a debt I could not pay – Col. 2:13-15

b. Illustration: Four ways to sin (thought, word, action, inaction) Four a day = 1460 annually and 73,000 in 50 years –You either pay for your own sins or accept the payment that Jesus made for you.

II. Restoration

1. Of ancestral inheritance – Leviticus 25:23-24

a. What was lost in sin is regained in Christ – Romans 6:17-18

2. Of the dignity of being – Leviticus 25:41-43

a. God is in the business of restoration – Extreme Makeovers! - 1 Peter 5:10, 11

b. No longer enslaved to selfish addictions - Gal. 5:13-16, Gal. 5:19-25

c. Become what you are designed to be – A person of Faith, a person of trust – Nothing moves the heart of God like the faith and trust of His children.

d. God is in charge! It does not matter… the economy, the White House, Social Security or healthcare, or anything else. God is in charge and will see you through!!!

e. It is time to stop listening to your head, to your own logic, and to start empowering your faith, your trust in God. 2 Corinthians 5:7

III. Rest and Revival

1. From labor – Leviticus 25:3-5 (vs. 21, promises a harvest to sustain the extra year)

a. Rest in the Grace of our Lord’s Salvation Jubilee - Matt. 11:28-30

b. As Christians we look forward to the great Homecoming in heaven! - Rev. 14:13

2. For reflection and revival – Jubilee was also a time of revival - Heb. 10:23-25

3. How could you not feel revived! All debts paid, freedom, rest! That’s something to

cheer about! That’s what we have in Christ!!

Conclusion:

A. We don’t know for sure that they actually ever obeyed this command! They were commanded by a loving God to observe this Sabbath year! But, if they did we don’t ever read of it in the Scriptures, there are hints of coming close, but not the whole forgiveness of debt, and freedom. Why? Selfishness!

B. Enter your own Jubilee – No matter what your present circumstances are, Jesus calls you to celebrate: celebrate salvation, celebrate restoration, celebrate new beginnings and, most of all, to celebrate Him – celebrate the life, the Jubilee (if you will), found only in Him! The message of salvation is the message of your own Jubilee.