In Luke 4:18, 19 we read of the call of Jesus as He came to earth: He was anointed of the Spirit to proclaim gospel liberty, sight, freedom, and the year of the Lord's favor. Jesus came to announce the coming of forgiveness, redemption, and freedom. If you think back to the Old Testament you might remember the year of jubilee--a year in which captives and slaves were set free--a year of favor! This is what the coming of Jesus represents for all in bondage: Jubilee! Freedom! Liberty! The end of slavery to sin, to addictions, to guilt, to condemnation, to the fear of man, to Satan, and to hell's claims upon our souls!
I love the statements of the Bible that tell us specifically and explicitly why Jesus came. Here's one of them. Friend, I want you to think about your areas of bondage, your habitual sins or fears or anxieties or issues. And I want you to think about this: Jesus came to proclaim and then purchase your freedom from every one of those chains that bind.
Some of the great Bible words for salvation connect to the idea of freedom: redemption, ransom, no more condemnation, liberty, Jubilee. This Christmas think on this: Jesus came to set you free. He is the great emancipator-liberator. You can be free in Christ. There is no sin that binds you that cannot be broken; there is no habit from which you cannot be freed; there is no bondage too strong from which you cannot know the freeing grace of Christ.
Humans love to honor the births of great heroes and liberators. Few seem to realize it but that's what we're doing this Christmas. Jubilee came when Jesus came. May God enable you to believe the promise and live the reality.
Yes, may 2010 be a jubilee year for you--for the glory of the Savior.
Thanks Hon, that's just the word I needed today.
ReplyDeleteYes! Yes! Yes! Yes! This is my pray, my solemn plea: It is for freedom that we (I) have been set free, no longer to be in bondage to a yoke of slavery. Lord, may this be a year, THE YEAR of jubilee for me and for all my sisters and brothers who remain bound to habits and unresolved issues.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Pastor Tim, once again for being used by God as an instrument of grace, peace and truth...all for the glory of the Savior God.
I too, really, really needed this today.
sdpaul
I was reminded of a Stephen Curtis Chapman song, "Free"
ReplyDelete"The sun was beating down inside the walls of stone and razor wire
As we made our way across the prison yard
I felt my heart begin to race as we drew nearer to the place
Where they say that death is waiting in the dark
The slamming doors of iron echoed through the halls
Where despair holds life within its cruel claws
But then I met a man who's face seemed so strangely out of place
A blinding light of hope was shining in his eyes
And with repentance in his voice he told me of his tragic choice
That led him to this place where he must pay the price
But then his voice grew strong as he began to tell
About the One he said had rescued him from hell, he said . . .
I'm free, yeah, oh, I have been forgiven
God's love has taken off my chains and given me these wings
And I'm free, yeah, yeah, and the freedom I've been given
Is something that not even death can take away from me
Because I'm free
Jesus set me free
We said a prayer and said goodbye and tears began to fill my eyes
As I stepped back out into the blinding sun
And even as I drove away I found that I could not escape
The way he spoke of what the grace of God had done
I thought about how sin had sentenced us to die
And how God gave His only Son so you and I could say . . .
And if the Son has set you free,
Oh, if the Son has set you free
Then you are free indeed,
Oh, you are really free
If the Son has set you free,
Oh, if the Son has set you free
Then you are free, really, really, free
Oh, we're free, yeah, oh, we have been forgiven
God's grace has broken every chain and given us these wings
And we're free, yeah, yeah, and the freedom we've been given
Is something that not even death can take from you and me
Because we're free, yeah, the freedom we've been given
Is something that not even death can take from you and me
Because we're free, oh, we're free
We are free, we are free
The Son has set us free
If the Son has set you free
You are free indeed"
****I was also reminded of my son, who by God's grace appears to be truly free for the first time!****
Praise God for the "Year of Jubilee has come!" It has come through the favor of God the Father upon hopelessly lost sinners through the gift of His Son! It makes me want to dance for joy, Jesus came to bind up the brokenhearted and to set the captive free!!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Pastor Tim for these great words of encouragement along with the sermons. When I ponder on these truths, like Mary, "my heart is overwhelmed with a good theme." Jesus sets us free from the law of sin and death!!! And he has indeed saved our son from death and given him eternal life by making him alive with Christ! Praise God for His amazing grace, mercy and love! Praise Him for the gift of His Son. One day we will all sing and dance for joy before His throne because then Jubilee will be forevermore!!!!
Tia