Destined for Victory

Paul Sheppard: Old Testament promises are not limited to Old Testament people. They are as true for you as they were for them. Your future by way of the past on today's Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Sheppard.

But first, if you are a faithful listener to this program, you know that we recently shared with you the news about an unexpected financial need. Before we get started today, our executive director, Alicia Greer, would like to share an update and a word of thanks. Alicia?

Alicia Greer: Thank you so much to everyone who responded to our appeal. We are so grateful for your support. We're not all the way out of the woods yet, but I can say that your support has helped, and we're so grateful for all of you who are continuing to support the ministry.

You know, my dad often quoted Philippians 1:6, which talks about God being faithful to complete the work that he has begun in us. And I just know that God is faithful to complete the work that he began in Destined for Victory. That work did not end when my father passed, and I have every hope and confidence that God is going to see the work through. And so we're excited to continue to move forward, and we're so grateful for your support.

Paul Sheppard: Well, all of us at Destined for Victory are so thankful to all of you who listen to these messages and who so generously support our media ministry with your prayers and gifts. And as you heard Alicia say, with your help, our plan is to continue bringing timeless truth for a victorious life for many years to come.

When you make a generous gift today, we have great resources to send as our way of saying thank you. Our latest booklet, Access Granted, based on the first eight verses of Romans chapter five, this great resource examines what it means to be justified by faith and the blessings we receive at the point of salvation. Again, that's Access Granted, and it's our gift to you today by request for your generous gift to Destined for Victory.

If you'd like to give, we've got several options for you. Stop by pastorpaul.net to make a safe and secure donation online. Or call us at 855-339-5500. That's 855-339-5500. Or you can mail your gift to Destined for Victory, Post Office Box 1767, Fremont, California 94538.

This passage tells us of what Jesus not only came to do some 2,000 years ago, but of what he continues to do in our lives today. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And what he has done, he is doing. And what he is doing, he will do until he comes again.

Jesus came to give us eternal life in heaven, but also the abundant, joyful, victorious Christian life on earth. On today's Destined for Victory, we'll take a journey back to around 700 BC to Isaiah chapter 61. It's a passage that tells us long in advance about the things Jesus would one day come to give us. So let's enjoy today's Destined for Victory message, "When Jesus Comes."

"When Jesus Comes" is the title for our current series as we have explored this passage to discover the fact that it tells us of what Jesus not only came to do some 2,000 years ago, but of what he continues to do in our lives today. For as we have seen, Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And what he has done, he is doing, and what he is doing, he will do until he comes again.

We have seen first of all that this passage suggests that Jesus comes to give us life. That life is in two dimensions. It is eternal life, meaning Jesus has settled the eternity question for us. And whosoever believes in him, puts his trust in him, shall not perish but have everlasting life. Then it is not only eternal life, but it's also abundant life.

Jesus said, "I've come to give you life and that more abundantly." He has come to bless our lives, to give us a quality of living in the will of God that begins here and now. Jesus comes to give us life. Then secondly, we saw that he comes to give us hope. Because as we go through our lives, we're not always treated well by life, and so you end up with bruises and bumps and heartaches and trouble that brings real difficulty into your life.

But thank God when you're in Christ, you have hope. For Jesus comes to bind up the brokenhearted and to give you a sense of hope about moving on with your life. Then we've seen that Jesus comes third to give us freedom. He comes to give us freedom, freedom from every bondage that prevents us from doing God's will or enjoying our inheritance as God's children.

And so we've spent some time looking at the fact that if you are in Christ, you are called to freedom and that there is no bondage that can hold on to you when it is against the will and the purpose of God for your life. For Jesus has power to set every captive free.

Recently, we've looked at the keys to overcoming bondage. We've seen that first, if you want to overcome bondage, you've got to replace Satan's lies with God's truth. You have to know the truth, John 8:32 says, so that the truth can make you free. Then we've seen you've got to release those who have wronged you, that you cannot experience God's grace and move into your future without releasing those who have offended you in your past.

And we took time to say that this does not mean that those people will go free, that there will be no justice or no punishment. Indeed, God says, "Vengeance is mine and I will repay." But when you forgive, you release people into God's hands so that he can deal with them as he sees fit. His first desire is to cause them to repent and to change their lives because remember, God not only loves you, but he loves your enemies.

He loves your enemies and he wants to change them, wants to save them, wants to turn their lives around. But don't fool yourself. If your enemies don't repent, they are going to catch it from God. Because be not deceived, the Bible says, God is not mocked. Whatever man sows, that will he also reap. And so they might seem to be getting by, but they won't get away.

But your job is to release them, to forgive them, that is, to send the offense away and to give the offender into the hands of your God who said, "I am the God of justice and I will make sure that no one messes with my kids without paying for it." So you've got to release them. Then third, we saw that you've got to resolve to live in obedience to the word.

John 8:31, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, then you are really my disciples." Disciples are not just people who get saved, but people who begin to live their lives by following Jesus and his word. And so you want to hold to the truth. You want to resolve to live in obedience to the word. Because if Jesus sets you free from a bondage, from an addiction, from something that's hindering your life, if he sets you free and you go back into disobedience, it's only a matter of time before the bondage re-enters your life.

In fact, very often something worse comes if you don't live in obedient response to the word and the will of God. So James said, "Don't just listen to the word, but make sure you're doing what it says." Then the fourth key was to request help from knowledgeable members of the body of Christ.

James 5:16 says to make sure that you are confessing your faults one to another and that you are praying one for another so that you may be healed. Freedom goes along with getting it out. In order for you to get on, you've got to get some things out of you. You've got to confess where you are, let people know where you hurt. Sometimes you've forgiven, but you still have to work it out.

You have to talk about the hurt. You have to grieve that offense a while. Get it out of you. It is healthy, and it's the way God has designed the church. We have wonderful Christian counselors and therapists throughout the body of Christ and they are wonderful people you can go to, professionals who can work through some of your issues with you.

But let me tell you, not everybody needs to go to a professional. If we would just be the body of Christ, some of our stuff could be taken care of as we simply live out what the Bible says. If we will be the therapeutic community that God has called us to be where we can get together in prayer cells and small groups and not gossip about one another, but help one another. Pray for one another. Support one another. Then we will see the healing and the wholeness and the deliverance that God promises to his people.

And then the final key we saw was to remain accountable to others in the body of Christ. That accountability is based on the principle of submission. Ephesians 5:21 says, "Submitting one to another in the fear of God." The church is called to yield voluntarily to the influence of the other gifts and members of the body of Christ so that they can speak God's truth and God's word to us.

And if we'll follow these keys, we will experience freedom and we will never again go into bondage in those areas. Now I want to move on and talk about a fourth thing that Jesus comes to do, and it is this: Jesus comes to give us a future. Jesus comes to give us a future. Look at verse two of our text.

The Lord said, "I have been anointed and sent to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God." Jesus said, "I've come to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Now you may understand that that is a synonymous phrase for the year of Jubilee. The year of Jubilee, which was something God instituted through the law that he gave through Moses.

The year of Jubilee. If you want to read about it extensively, you will see it spoken of in Leviticus chapter 25. I don't have time for us to go through that chapter in detail now, but I will paraphrase what happened in the year of Jubilee and you can read about it when you get a chance. God said that "I am sending my son and anointing him to proclaim the year of Jubilee, the year of the Lord's favor."

Now why would Jesus proclaim the year of Jubilee in the Jewish synagogue to people who already know the law? Why would Jesus show up as we see in Luke chapter four in the synagogue, take the Torah and begin to read this verse, tell them that he's come to proclaim the year of Jubilee when in fact they're already very familiar with the commandment? I'll tell you why. It's because the year of Jubilee was not just a year, but it was a promise of God to all of his people.

Guest (Male): In case you joined us late, you're listening to Destined for Victory, featuring the teaching ministry of Pastor Paul Sheppard. And stay with us. The second half of today's message is coming right up. Now, one of the things we love to do for friends and listeners like you is to pray for you when you're in need.

So if you have a prayer request, please visit pastorpaul.net and use the contact feature to share it with us. Our ministry team is always happy to lift you up in prayer. And of course, when you stop by our website, remember that's where you can listen to the broadcasts on demand at your convenience. Go to pastorpaul.net.

Just as the Promised Land was a foreshadowing of the abundant life we can enjoy on earth, so are the promises we find in Isaiah 61. Now let's get you back to the rest of today's message, "When Jesus Comes."

Paul Sheppard: You have to understand something about the law. The Bible says in Hebrews 10:1 that the law is a type or shadow of good things to come and not the essence of the things themselves. What does that mean? It means that when you read things like the year of Jubilee, you're reading not only the actual law given to the Jewish nation, but you are reading of a shadow.

That year of Jubilee typifies something that we experience now that we're in Christ. In other words, look at it this way. The law is the negative, and God in Christ has given us the actual picture. Now when you take a picture, nobody goes around admiring negatives. "Look at that. Look at that. Hold that up to the light. Look at that."

You don't do that. Why? Because the negative is simply meant to produce something that has clarity itself. And so the law came to lead us to the fulfillment of Jesus Christ. And so the year of Jubilee was an actual year, an actual commandment given to the people of the Old Testament. But there is spiritual significance for all of us, both Jew and Gentile, who are in Christ.

In other words, Jubilee was not to be realized merely in 50-year intervals, but it was to be a perpetual promise of divine favor. Now in order to understand it, you've got to understand what happened in the Old Testament so that we can take the negative and develop it into the true picture. Here's what God said to them in the Old Testament.

He said, "Every 50 years, I'm going to give you a year of Jubilee." Now they were accustomed to every seven years having a year of Sabbath, that is, they rested from their labors. They took a one-year vacation from their labor and just enjoyed their God and let God rehearse his goodness to them and they just rejoiced in their God. They were accustomed to that every seven years.

But God said, "I'm going to do something unique every 50 years." He said, "I want you to take seven Sabbaths of years, that is seven times seven, 49 years, and at the end of the 49th year, I want the trumpet to be sounded so that all God's people hear it, and it will be the declaration that they're entering into the year of Jubilee."

Now the year of Jubilee had one thing in common with the Sabbath years, which was that there would be rest from labor. And so God said, "Every 50 years, I'm going to give you a double Sabbath. The 49th year is already your Sabbath, but he said on the 50th year you are to continue in the pattern of Sabbath, that is you are not to sow or reap, you're to do no work in that year but rest in God."

And folk don't understand even today many who are Sabbath-keepers don't understand that the Sabbath was a shadow. The Sabbath is not about Saturday. The Sabbath is about rest in Christ. And when you rest from your labor in sin, when you rest from your disobedience, when you rest from toiling, Jesus put it this way, "Come to me all of you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest."

When you come to Christ, you enter into a Sabbath. The writer to the Hebrews said, "There is a Sabbath rest for the people of God today that has nothing to do with your calendar. It has to do with your soul resting in God." So he said, "I'm going to give you a double Sabbath. 49th year is already your Sabbath, but he said on the 50th year you are also to continue in the pattern of Sabbath, that is you are not to sow or reap, you're to do no work in that year but rest in God."

Now that's where the similarities between the regular Sabbath years and the year of Jubilee end. There were two other features of the year of Jubilee that were unique to that year. Let me rehearse those with you. The first unique feature of the year of Jubilee was that there was to be the restoration of personal dignity. Now here's what happened along the way as people would live their lives and lack means, sometimes they would borrow one from another just like we do today.

And people would, by circumstances, perhaps the patriarch of a family would die and the family would be thrown into poverty and what have you. And so as that family struggled to make it, sometimes they would have to go into debt to individuals. And just like it is today, it was true in that day that if you could not repay, there were consequences.

Now in that day, the consequence was not just a bad credit rating. In that day, the consequence was the young men of the people of your family, somebody would become personally enslaved in order to work off the debt. So that if you fell into debt to this individual, then you began to have to work for that individual and work until you had paid off the value of what you owed them.

You went into personal indebtedness. Before I move on with this, can I stop and say we're still doing that today? Can I stop and say that some of us today aren't enjoying personal dignity because we are working for the master called Visa? We're working for a master called Mastercard. Got the master in the name. You know you in trouble.

You're working for a master called Bank of America. You're working for a master called Chase Manhattan or whoever it is that has all your personal lines of credit that are run up to the hilt. Let me tell you something, you are in debt. You are in slavery. Some of us, the money you're going to make for the next three, four years doesn't belong to you. It belongs to your masters. And God doesn't want us living that way.

God doesn't mind you having a credit card. God minds a credit card having you. When you are borrowing against that which you don't have, you bring yourself into slavery. The Bible gives us a principle. It says, "The borrower is slave to the lender." You are a slave. You're not your own. God can put on your heart to bless somebody and you got to go check with your masters first.

Sit down and try to figure out if you can be a blessing when God Almighty has said, "I want you to meet somebody's need, I want you to sow that seed into somebody's life, or I want you to give that extra offering for the missions or whatever it might be," and you got to check with ungodly masters before you can do it. You are a slave, and it's not God's will. God wants us to understand that our personal dignity has been robbed.

See, we've gotten so used to living beneath our means until we think it's normal to get a headache a certain time every month because the bills are rolling in as time to sit down and write out checks. That's not normal for the people of God to strive and to work and to put in all of this sweat and energy that could be invested in things that directly glorify God. But we're busy paying off masters.

I'm telling you folks, it's time for us to get our lives in sync with the word and the will of God. How do you do that? You get to a position where you owe no man anything except to love him. That's what you want to owe folk, love. Don't owe them any money because they will bring your life into bondage. And it's so bad that the whole credit culture now has caused us to feel like we just got to have everything now, so we've lost the sense of delayed gratification.

Who now is waiting for what they want? That's the exception, not the rule. The rule is, "I want it. I'm going to get it. Figure out how to pay for it later." And let me tell you something, folks, this has direct spiritual implications. Because Jesus told us in Matthew chapter six that where your heart is, there your treasure is also.

Your treasure's going to follow your heart. And if you keep giving yourself to getting things you can't afford yet, it is an indication that your heart is not yet set on the kingdom. It's set more on convenience than living by the conviction of doing the will of God. This isn't popular, but it's right. Brought my own amens with me. I'm fine. I'm good to go. Good to go.

Look, they taught me when I first started preaching, they taught me I gotta preach in season and out of season. That means you preach when the folks say, "Ooh, don't you just love Pastor Paul? I just love Pastor Paul." And preach when they sit up there sucking their teeth. "And now see, he up there tripping now."

It's quite alright. I got you covered. Brought my own amens, encouraging myself. I want to let you know God wants us to live on a higher level than this. But it takes a discipline that we've got to build into our lives. We've got to decide, if I can't afford it, I won't have it. I don't have to drive something new. I'll just drive and be happy. I'll just drive.

If I can't afford to have it and still be free to do the things God's led me to do, then I just won't have it. And you know, this thing messes with your mind. You can have a car that's driving alright. It's not the most comfortable ride on the street, but it's getting you from point A to point B. And it's doing fine. It's alright.

But suddenly you see something go down the street. And you say, "Oh. Oh, now see, that's what I'm talking about." And then suddenly your mind starts messing with you. Because your mind, remember, your mind has to be renewed by the word of God. And until you renew your mind by the word of God, it'll play all kind of tricks on you.

And suddenly, after you see what you want, then you start hearing your car rattling. All of a sudden. All of a sudden. You say, "You know what? That's just a ping that just won't go away. I don't know what that noise is." And the truth is you can run it into the shop and for 150, 200 bucks, whatever, they'll knock it on out for you.

But now your heart is set on something else. And so now you're thinking trade. Now if you can afford it, go on and get it. Blessing of the Lord maketh rich without adding sorrow. If you can bring the trappings of your financial prosperity into your life without it affecting your ability to sow seed into the kingdom, be generous toward the kingdom and toward the needs of other people, go for it. But if you can't, and most of us can't.

We can't because of the masters in our lives. We can't because of Master Visa, Master Mastercard, and all the rest of them. If you can't, then God would have you lay hands on that car and send it to the mechanic. Say, "God, in Jesus' name, when this thing gets to the mechanic, let them find something, let it be minor, let them fix it in Jesus' name, amen."

Guest (Male): In the Old Testament and in the New, we read about all the things Jesus wants to do in the lives of those who believe. Every promise was true then, and every promise is true today.

We're so glad you stopped by for today's Destined for Victory message, "When Jesus Comes." To find out more about Destined for Victory's mission and purpose, or about the special gift reserved for you when you give generously today, please come see us at pastorpaul.net. Pastorpaul.net.

Paul Sheppard: I don't care if you got saved out of crack. I don't care if you got saved out of prostitution. I don't care if you got saved out of all kinds of bondage in your life. Now that you're in the kingdom, you are not a second-class citizen. You're a first-class citizen in the kingdom of God. I come to let somebody know that you ought to lift your head up high because you're a child of God now.

Guest (Male): That's next time in our continuing message, "When Jesus Comes." I hope you'll join us. But until then, remember, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.