The Year of the Lord's Grace

A single line from Luke 4 can reorder a life: “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” We open the scroll with Jesus in Nazareth, connect Isaiah 61 to the synagogue moment, and show how He doesn’t just announce Jubilee—He is Jubilee. That Old Testament rhythm of release, restoration, and return every fiftieth year becomes more than a law; it becomes a living reality in a Person who cancels deeper debts, restores lost inheritance, and sets captives free.

We walk through the nativity with fresh eyes, refusing to leave the story at the manger. From water turned to wine to sight restored and storms subdued, His miracles are signs of the same message: the year of the Lord’s favor has broken into time. If He rules creation, He can rule condemnation. Along the way, we share a brief moment of being held and the rush of relief when a door opens—because freedom only feels like freedom to those who have felt restraint. That taste of release mirrors the spiritual rescue He brings when cycles won’t break and shame won’t let go.

This conversation lands where hope lives: freedom from sin’s grip, freedom from hell’s separation, freedom from death’s final word. Christmas becomes less about dates and more about meaning—gratitude that the Promise arrived, lived, died, and rose to make release real. Whether you’re already walking with Jesus or still asking what truth sets free, consider this an open door and a clear invitation to step into Jubilee.

If this message moved you, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review so others can find this conversation. Your words help more people hear the good news of freedom.

Chapters

• 0:00 Reading From Luke And Isaiah
• 2:16 Nativity Scenes And Why They Matter
• 4:50 Jesus Announces Jubilee
• 8:42 What Jubilee Means: Release And Freedom
• 12:10 Miracles As Signs Of True Freedom
• 15:58 Feeling Freedom After Being Held
• 19:36 Shackles Of Sin And Christ’s Release
• 22:12 Freed From Sin, Hell, And Death
• 25:04 Celebrate His Birth For What It Means
• 28:00 Gratitude, Hope, And Closing Call To Worship

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:47

I know my God. I know God It's all good.

SPEAKER_01: 1:02

One more time God it's got it so I know I got it cock I know I got it cock It's cock Amen if you believe that Amen Luke chapter number four Luke chapter number four Verse fourteen to twenty-one Luke the fourth chapter commencing at verse number fourteen culminating in verse twenty one it says And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit and news about him spread through all the surrounding district and he began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all. And he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up as was his custom. He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him, and he opened the book and found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. And Jesus closed the book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him, and he began to say to them, Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. If you read that with me, say amen. The year of God's grace, the year of the Lord's grace. I have found myself enjoying my drive to and from Mineral Springs over the last two weeks. Because what has happened is there are several houses that I would pass as I go through McCaskill and Blevins and Prescott's and as I'm passing through Nashville sometimes. There are several houses that I would pass, and I would inevitably see these houses adorned with various scenes. The scenes that attract my attention are the scenes of nativity. There's Mary and Joseph, and they're looking down in this manger at a baby, and around some of them are rain days. Not sure I read rain days in the Bible, but the rain days and wise men, and and and and I see these scenes and and I admire them. I I appreciate them. But one of the reasons why I appreciate them is because this baby Jesus is significant to me. This baby Jesus that that people recognize at this time, that people celebrate at this time, he's significant. He is important, he's the most important person to me, and he should be to you as well. I want you to know he's important because time is told by him, history is marked by him. Whether you realize it or not, when we speak of time, we date time BC before Christ or AD, not after his death. A D is actually Latin, anodomini, that means in the year of our Lord. Time is dated by him, holidays are marked by him. Easter is because of his passion. Christmas is because of his birth. Time is marked, he is important. One of the reasons why I appreciate seeing baby Jesus is because it reminds me of God's plan and why God's plan is important. In our text, Luke chapter number four, Jesus goes home to Galilee, goes to his hometown of Nazareth, and as was his custom, he goes to the synagogue on Saturday. And as he goes to the synagogue, it was customary to read. So Jesus is in the synagogue and he's given the scroll. They would read what we now call the Old Testament, and they would read it in an order that began with the law and then the prophets and then the Psalms. At this particular time, Jesus goes into the synagogue and he's given a scroll of the prophets, he's given the scroll of Isaiah, particularly, and scripture tells us that he opens the scroll, they didn't have Bibles. He opens the scrolls and he finds Isaiah 61. Jesus is about to read Isaiah 61, and he reads it, and as he reads it, what he's doing is getting ready to teach. Hold on, follow me here. We do things a little differently than they did. You would go to the synagogue and then you would read scripture, they would stand up to read scripture. So you read with me that Jesus stood to read, and after the reading was done, the person who's going to teach would sit down. We would probably have a conniption if the preacher sat down to preach to us today. But your Bible told you he sat down. In fact, there are several places where before Jesus teaches, it says he sat down. He sat down as he gets ready to teach, and all he says to them is today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. Jesus in reading Isaiah 61, that's where he's reading from, one and two, was announcing that Jubilee came. He was announcing that God's anointed one will bring jubilee for God's people. Hold on, I'll explain it in two seconds. I just want you to get this. What everyone heard when Jesus got up to read, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. What everyone heard was him saying, God's jubilee is here. Now the question you're asking is, What is Jubilee? I'm glad you asked. And it was a law that God implemented that every 50 years, if you were in debt, if you lost your land, if you became a slave, every 50 years all debts are cancelled. You are given back your land, you are no longer a slave. Every 50 years, Israel celebrated Jubilee. What that means then is Jubilee was release. Jubilee is release or freedom from debt. Every 50 years, Israel would find themselves celebrating Jubilee. So if ever you heard that the 50th means jubilee, now you know why. It's from scripture. And it meant release and freedom from debt. It didn't matter who you were, you got freed. It didn't matter how much debt you had, you got freed. It didn't matter if you were a slave and you still had more years to serve. If Jubilee came, you got freed. God then said in Isaiah, what you know of Jubilee being a physical release and freedom, I'm going to do for you spiritually. I'm going to send my anointed one. I'm going to send someone. And when he comes, he's going to open blind eyes, he's going to unstop deaf ears, he's going to loose tied tongues, he's going to give strength to weeble, feeble knees. He's going to do this, and this is how you will know that Jubilee, freedom, release has come. In other words, when Jesus read this text, he was saying, I am Jubilee, and I'm here. Oh, I wish I had a church. See, this this only feels good. This only makes sense when we understand, when you understand that you've been in debt. We've been in debt because of sin. And as I said previously, uh your sin may not look like mine. I may have lied while you stole. And while you stole, somebody else adulterated, somebody else did some other sin. Somebody took the Lord's name in vain. Somebody coveted. We all have sins. And if you're here right now and say, I did not have any sins, I could help you. Your sin is lying. And don't don't take my word for it. John himself says in first John, if we say we have no sin, we lie. So I'm just reading scripture to you that if you're here now and you say you have no sin, scripture says you lie. So we found your sin. We all had a debt that we couldn't pay. And we should have been looking for release. We should be looking for freedom. We should be looking for our escape. And here's Jesus announcing I am your jubilee. I am your release. I am your freedom. And so as you read the New Testament, as you open up the pages of John and you reach to chapter number two, and he turns water into wine, it's not just about him turning water into wine, it's him announcing Jubilee is here. I could change the character that you have into something better from water to wine. When we see him walk on the sea, it's him announcing Jubilee is here. The seas, the winds, and the waves may trap you, but I could walk on top of the thing you can control. When we see him open blind eyes, it's not just because he wants to do a miracle, he's showing you I have all power in my hands. Things that no one else could do, things no one else could control, I have all power and authority over. If I could open blind eyes, I could remove your sin. If I could make the lame walk, I could free you from your sins. If I could unstop deaf ears, then I could promise you a home in heaven. If I could do all of these things, so I read the miracles that this baby grows up to perform, and it tells me my jubilee is here, my freedom is here. And here's where I need to pause because you can't appreciate freedom if you haven't been enslaved. And I'm not talking slavery as we know it. I'm just saying if you've never been held against your will, constrained in one way or the other, it's easy for you to take freedom for granted. If you've always thought that you've been free, or you've always been free, freedom feels cheap. Freedom is something that you take for granted. I remember a time in my life where I was in high school and things got rowdy in the courtyard, and so security got involved, police got involved, and everyone who was in the courtyard was held. Now, mind you, I did absolutely nothing, I was just present. So now I'm held and placed in this room because they want to question everybody to ascertain what happened, how it happened, why it happened. And while I was innocent and I did nothing wrong, just the fact that I was placed in this room and I could not leave until someone else told me I was free to go made me scared, made me feel weak, made me feel defenseless. So I remember one of the guards coming in and he sees me sweating, and he says, You have to be a culprit. Only a culprit would sweat and act like you're acting. I'm like, I didn't do anything, I'm just I've never been in this situation before. I'm scared. Says, yep, that's what a culprit would say. And so I'm sweating more now because it looks like I'm going to get the book thrown at me and I didn't do anything. And I remember he leaves, and honestly, it was only eight, nine minutes, but it felt like an eternity that I'm in this confined space, not knowing what my future was going to look like. And then eight, nine minutes after, he opens the door, he doesn't walk in, he opens the door and he says, Mr. George, you're free to go. I cannot express in peace the feeling of relief that just poured over me. And then right after the relief, the gratitude that it did not get worse. And then that relief met my gratitude, and I was running out of that room. I was running out of that room as if I was incarcerated for life. And all that happened was a fight in the courtyard. See, I was restricted, I was arrested, I was enslaved for a few minutes, but I was. And then being freed right after, I felt immense relief and immense gratitude, and it changed my life. I never went back on the courtyard because the courtyard meant trouble. I told you that story so that you could relate to me and relate to scripture when scripture says we all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Our sins have shackled us. And if we're honest enough, some of us are still struggling with some sins. I don't mean that you're willfully sinning, but sometimes there is a sin that easily besets us. There's a sin that you don't necessarily want to do, but it's easier to do than the others. And you find yourself making the same mistake time and time and time again. And if you miss that, talk to an alcoholic, and he will tell you that even when he knows he's an alcoholic and he should stop drinking, drinking has become easier for him. So it's easier to drink than not to drink. You're looking at me, funny. I'm just trying to be as plain and as real as possible. That you've been shackled, and sometimes the thing you're trying to escape feels like it has a hold on you. And here comes Christ saying, I could give you release. I could give you freedom. Whatever it is that has you enslaved, I could free you from it. So that you're no longer a slave to sin. You're now a child of God. When we see Jesus, one of the things we should see is our freedom from three things. I'm almost done. Freedom from sin. Freedom from hell. Freedom from death. Three things Christ has freed us from. Three things God has sent him to accomplish. To free you from the sins that have shackled you, to free you from a hell that was never made for you. And to free you from the curse of death. So when you see Jesus, even as a baby, what you should see is hope. What you should see is God's promise of jubilee. When you see Jesus, Jesus should mean something to you because He did something that no one else could do for you. If you're a Christian, your hope now of eternity is because Jesus was your jubilee. Your hope that all your sins are forgiven is because Jesus was your jubilee. If you're not yet a Christian, you're not yet freed. Why do you say I'm not free? I'm free. Well, Jesus said, You shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free. So if you don't know the truth, you're not free. I know you look like you're free, but you're not. And the only way to become free is to know truth, and his name is Jesus. So whether you are already a Christian or you're not yet a Christian, Jesus is the Jubilee for all. I don't just see the nativity story. I see God's promise unfolding. I see God's promise coming to life in the Christ child who then grows up, does these miracles, and becomes our jubilee. Here's the last word. Celebrate his birth because his birth signified God's promise. Don't just celebrate his birth because he was born. Celebrate it because of what it meant. Celebrate it because of what it meant for you and how his life, his birth, his life, his ministry, his death, burial, and resurrection has brought you hope, life, freedom, and jubilee. This was a nice way of me saying if you have questions of Christmas, just shift your focus. I can't necessarily give you a Bible verse one way or the other. And we've made much ado about nothing. So that some of us may be up in arms because Scripture never said celebrate his birth. Only said remember his death. Scripture never said celebrate your birth either. But yet you celebrate yours every year. Sometimes for a whole week. I know a person who loves themselves so much they celebrate their birthday month. And I just believe that if you have enough sense to thank God for you being born and the years he has blessed you with, that there's nothing wrong with you thanking God for sending his son, a son that lived, that hung, that died, that bled, so that I could now live and have hope of glory. If I could celebrate me being born, I should definitely thank God that he was born too. And I'm thanking God, not just that he was born, but he was born as the chosen one of God to bring me my freedom, to bring me my jubilee. I'm here now because he lived. We sang it last week, we're not going to sing it again this week. But because he lived, I have hope. All fear is gone because I know he holds my future. Life is worth living because he lives. Jesus is my jubilee, and that's worth celebrating and saying thank you, God, for. If you don't have a reason to be grateful, I'm giving you one now. God sent someone to help you, to save you, to redeem you, and his name is Jesus. Let's all stand. Let's all stand. Don't sing it, let's just stand. Today, this moment is a good moment to thank God for Jesus. So as we say, I don't know what song John has in his mind. I'm hoping the Spirit led him rightly to choose a great song. But as we sing this song, let's remember that all of this is possible because Jesus is our Jubilee. Let's sing.