The Year of The Lord

The speaker, Bishop Marcus Irving, discusses the concept of the acceptable year of the Lord and the role of the Holy Spirit in Jesus' ministry. He emphasizes the need for believers to rely on the Holy Spirit's empowerment in order to fulfill their calling. The speaker also highlights the importance of proclaiming the gospel, comforting the brokenhearted, and proclaiming liberty to the captives. He concludes by discussing the day of vengeance and the judgment seat of Christ. Boy, that sounds like church to me. What an exciting time to share with you from the Word of the Lord. I'm so glad to be on this podcast, Back to the Bible. Thank you, Pastor Montague. I'm Bishop Marcus Irving. We're talking about the acceptable year of the Lord, and we want to continue on that theme on this episode. From Isaiah 61 and 1, the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all that mourn. May God add His blessing to the reading and the hearing of His Word. Can we say amen? Think about it. The very idea that we have God, a member of the triune deity that was made flesh and dwelt among men. When He made man, that member that had creative ability, according to Colossians 1, 16, it reads, for by Him were all things created that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by Him and for Him. He is before all things, the scripture goes on to say, and by Him all things consist. This member of the triune deity had perfectly created a species that perhaps held the third highest rank of beings in creation, but He made Himself of no reputation and was made in the image and likeness of a man. Now He had to rely on the baptism and the anointing of the Holy Spirit to cover Him and dwell with Him and empower Him in order to facilitate the restoration of these third ranking beings that had fallen into sin by their disobedience. According to Romans 5 and 19, it reads, for as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. You don't have to take my word for it, my friends, it's right here. Isaiah 61, Isaiah through divine revelation, prophetically declares what preceded or preceded the declaration of Jesus Himself, says the spirit of the Lord is upon me. This process or step, if you will, in the catapulting of our Lord into His earthly ministry cannot be missed nor overlooked, and according to my studies, has been provided for those of us who are also called into this service. This process or step in the Lord's preparation to do ministry is the exact same demand that Jesus has given to us to go to Jerusalem and tarry there until you're endued with power from on high. Jesus wanted the disciples to go there before they started preaching anywhere else. He said, when I leave, the first thing you need to do is go to Jerusalem and tarry there until you're endued with power from on high, the power of the Holy Ghost. The fact that Christ's earthly life became effectual through the ministry of the Holy Spirit within Him, and not alone through the inherent virtue and power He brought with Him from His pre-existing state, has become one of the commonplaces of theology. And yet how little do we realize its true import and cultivate that humility and dependence of soul, which would distinguish us if the great truth were ever in view. In spite of our formal adhesion to this doctrine, my friends, it seems still strange to us that one who we think of as a holy and divine God should be indebted at every stage of His earthly life to that inward mystic ministry, which is so necessary to us because of our sinfulness. Why would not God know that to reverse the curse, if He is going to appoint this institution of the church to do a work that exceeds men's comprehension and physical and spiritual capability, why wouldn't He know what it takes to restore and bring men back as sinless inhabitants of this great world? See, we live in a world that has been in a wreck, seems to be reeling and rocking out of control. Doctors and lawyers can't fix it. Intellectuals with their great minds can't fix it. Governments, they're trying. With their world systems, they can't fix it, nor all of the people put together. But those in the present and those from the past have let us know that all of the ability of man in the future have no idea as to how to put Humpty Dumpty's world back together again. So God needs men to completely surrender to His will, to humble themselves, to surrender to His way, if we're going to be received by the heavenly hosts, who, by His own volition, according to the first verse, knows the meek, and to be able to seek them out, let alone preach to them. Yet by this anointing, we who, like the lame man that sat around the pool for 38 years, are without strength. We are without strength until Jesus comes, and by the Holy Spirit anoints us to preach the unadulterated gospel. Now we find brokenhearted men, through this mysterious call of God and anointing, are able to do the same. Now we can bind up the brokenhearted. And if this Holy Spirit of God wasn't there when He was present, when Rahab found her freedom, when Israel came out of bondage, when Nehemiah returned to build the walls of Jerusalem, all of the witnesses of these amazing deliverances would be dead. But the Holy Ghost makes us witnesses, because the Holy Ghost was there, just as if we were there, too. So without reservation, without preservation, without hesitation, we can stand flat-footed and proclaim the liberty to the captives. The Holy Ghost was a witness of Paul's imprisonment and Peter's arrest. Paul declared, I might be captive, but the Word of God is not captive. And while the church prayed for Peter, God miraculously opened up the doors of the prison to set the captive free. In like manner, He sets free those who are captive by sin and who are captive in their minds and in their darkened hearts. Yes, my friends, we proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. We have been called to the ministry of proclamation everywhere we can, everyone that will listen, all people, no matter what their race, their creed, their color, or their status, we preach instantly in season and out of season. Don't make us know, never mind, we preach. What a wonderful thing to be in right status with the Lord, to enjoy His acceptance, to know the love of God. All of the effort that we make to make it nice and beautiful and to rejoice in the day of salvation, we, however, are also indebted to the Lord and commanded to preach the day of vengeance, my friends, when all of those who choose to not accept the kindness of the Lord and to those who fail to respond to the word of the Lord, the word that we preach, the scripture says, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. The great sanctifier blends the essential forces of his personality into this divine type of goodness, to show that goodness in even the only begotten Son of God. Man, that sounds just like church. I'm so excited to be with you today. I'm Bishop Marcus Irving. I want to thank Pastor Greg Montague for inviting us to share in this great podcast, Back to the Bible. We're discussing the theme, the acceptable year of the Lord. I want to share with you from the book of Isaiah chapter 61, beginning at verse one. The spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all that mourn. I want to stop right there, but think about it. The very idea that we have God, a member of the triune deity that was made flesh and dwelt among us, when he made man, that member that had creative ability, according to Colossians 16, for by him were all things created that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by him and for him. And he is before all things. And by him, all things consist. This member of the triune deity had perfectly created a species that perhaps held the third highest rank of beings in creation, made himself of no reputation and was made in the image and likeness of a man, now had to rely on the baptism and anointing of the Holy Spirit to cover him and dwell with him and empower him in order to facilitate the restoration of these third-ranking beings that had fallen into sin by their disobedience. According to Romans 5 and 19, for as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. You don't have to take my word for it, amen, because it's right here. Isaiah, the 61st chapter, Isaiah, through divine revelation, prophetically declares what preceded the declaration of Jesus himself says, the spirit of the Lord is upon me. This process or step in the catapulting, if you will, of our Lord into his earthly ministry cannot be missed nor overlooked. And according to my studies, has been provided for, for those of us who were also called into this service. See, this process or step in our Lord's preparation is the exact same demand that Jesus has given to us to go to Jerusalem and tarry there until we're endued with power from on high. The fact that Christ's earthly life became effectual through the ministry of the Holy Spirit within him, and not alone through the inherent virtue and power he brought with him from his preexistence state, has become one of the commonplaces of theology. And yet, how little do we realize its true import and cultivate that humility and dependence of soul, which would distinguish us if the great truth were ever in view. In spite of our formal adhesion to this doctrine, it seems still strange to us that one whom we think of as holy and divine should be indebted at every stage of his earthly life to that inward mystic ministry, which is so necessary to us because of our sinfulness. Why would not God know that to reverse the curse, he'd have to call and impart this ministry unto somebody? If he is going to appoint this institution of the church to do a work that exceeds man's comprehension and physical and spiritual capability, know what it takes to restore and bring men back as sinless inhabitants of this great world. See, we live in a world that has been in a wreck and seems to be reeling out of control. Out of control. Doctors, lawyers can't fix it. Individuals with their great minds and their profound thinking can't fix it. Governments and world systems can't fix it, nor all of the people put together. But those in the present and those in the past have let us know that all of the ability of man in the future have no idea as to how to put Humpty Dumpty's world back together again. So, God needs men to completely surrender to his will and his way if we're going to be received by the heavenly hosts, who by his own volition knows according to the first verse, knows the meek. We don't even know them, and to be able to seek them out, let alone preach to them, yet by the anointing, we who like the lame man that sat around the pool for 38 years are without strength until Jesus comes and by the Holy Spirit anoints us to preach. Now we find brokenhearted men through this mysterious call of God and anointing are able to do the same, bind up the brokenhearted. And if this Holy Spirit of God wasn't there, and if it wasn't present when Rahab found her freedom, and when Israel came out of bondage, when Nehemiah returned to build the walls of Jerusalem, all of the witnesses of those amazing deliverances would be dead. But the Holy Ghost, who was there, makes us witnesses, just as if we were there too, so without reservation and without hesitation, we can stand flat-footed, firmly and proclaim liberty to the captives. The Holy Ghost was a witness of Paul's imprisonment, and when Peter was arrested, Paul declared that I might be captive, but God's Word is not captive. And while the church prayed, while they prayed for Peter, God miraculously opened up the doors of the prison to set the captive free. He sets men free. He sets free those who are captive by sin and who are captive in their minds and dark in their hearts. I'm so glad today that my God sets men free. Yes, my friends, we proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. We have been called to this ministry to proclaim everywhere and everywhere we can to everyone that will listen. All people, no matter what their race, their creed, their color, their status might be, we preach instantly, in season and out of season. And make us know, never mind, we preach. We preach the unadulterated Word of God. What a wonderful thing it is to be right in the eyes of the Lord, to have a right status with the Lord. How wonderful it is, amen, to enjoy His acceptance, to know the love of God, and all of the effort that we make to make it nice and beautiful and to rejoice in the day of salvation. We are also indebted to the Lord. We're indebted to the Lord and commanded to preach the day of vengeance when all of those who choose to not accept the kindness of the Lord and to those who fail to respond to the Word of the Lord. The Word that we preach says, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive for the things that are done in his body, according to that he has done, whether good or whether bad. The great sanctifier blends the essential forces of his personality into this divinest type of goodness, to show that goodness in even the only begotten Son is not self-originated. In the less mature stages of Christ's expanding humanity, implicit and docile dependence on the inward leading was the test, my friends, of his entire acceptability to the Father, the acceptable year of the Lord. Amen.