The Acceptable Year of the Lord
A Sermon on the Acceptable Year of the Lord from Luke 4:19
Scripture
19To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
Sermon Description
What is the acceptable year of the Lord? In this sermon on Luke 4:19 Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones looks at the year of jubilee in the Old Testament where every seven years slaves were set free and land was returned to its original owners. He shows that this looks forward to the day when God’s chosen would be redeemed in Christ and set free from sin. People in sin are like those in bondage and awaiting the year of jubilee to set them free. It is Christ Jesus who is the ultimate fulfillment of this promise and it is by His death, burial, and resurrection that salvation comes to all who believe. This shows clearly that salvation is not brought about by one’s good works or even initiative, but salvation is wholly something God has done for His people. As Dr. Lloyd-Jones explains, this is what it means for salvation to be a work of God’s grace apart from human merit. This is why it is a grave error to reduce Jesus Christ to nothing more than a moral example, because Jesus came to die for the sins of many, not simply to provide an example to follow. Christianity is fundamentally about what God has done, is doing, and will do by His grace.
Sermon Breakdown
- The passage being preached from is Luke 4:19 which says "To preach the acceptable year of the Lord."
- This verse is referring to the Year of Jubilee from Leviticus 25.
- The Year of Jubilee involved:
- Releasing slaves and prisoners
- Cancelling debts
- Returning land to original owners
- Jesus is proclaiming that He has come to announce the spiritual Year of Jubilee.
- The Year of Jubilee was completely of God - it was His idea, command and provision.
- The blessings of the Year of Jubilee were received freely without needing to do anything to earn them.
- The Year of Jubilee required faith to believe God would provide during the years of rest.
- Jesus' announcement of the spiritual Year of Jubilee means:
- Salvation is completely of God, not man's doing.
- Forgiveness and blessings are received freely, not earned.
- It requires faith to believe in God's provision.
- The Year of Jubilee began on the Day of Atonement, just as the blessings of Christianity come through the atonement of Jesus.
- Through Jesus we have:
- Debts cancelled (sins forgiven)
- Liberty (freedom from slavery to sin)
- Property restored (relationship with God, eternal life)
- We must hear the trumpet announcing the Year of Jubilee and believe in Jesus to receive its blessings.
Other Sermons
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.