Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Good to see everybody this morning. Let's get our Bible and turn to the book of Luke, chapter two.
[00:00:06] Luke, chapter two.
[00:00:16] I want to begin reading. In verse number 22, Luke 2. 22.
[00:00:32] The Bible says this. And when the days of her. This is Mary. Her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished. They brought him, that's Jesus, to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.
[00:00:46] As it is written in the law of the Lord, every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord.
[00:00:53] And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord. A pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons. Now, you know, just as a brief pause, you know that in our study in Matthew, chapter five, we've just been kind of slowly going through Matthew. But notice all the times it hath been said. It hath been said. But the scripture writer says the law of the Lord says X. There's a difference. It's not tradition, it's the word of God directly, just as something just to note.
[00:01:25] And in verse number 25 says this. And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.
[00:01:34] And the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel. And the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.
[00:01:52] And he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him after the custom of the law, then took he him up in his arms and blessed God and said, lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared before the face of all people a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel.
[00:02:28] And Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken of him. And Mary blessed them. I'm sorry. And Simeon blessed them and said unto Mary his mother, behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel. And for a sign which shall be spoken against, yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. Would you pray with me, Our Father, as we come to your word? Lord, we want our hearts to be open. Would you please help our hearts to be open, to be good ground, that the seed of the word of God might fall on good ground and bear fruit for your glory. Fruit that would be pleasing to you. Lord, I pray that you would help me to speak clearly Speak to the hearts and consciences and the minds and to the souls of the people here. Lord, I pray that you would help your people and strengthen them with these truths. But Lord, we do want to take a moment and thank you like we often do this time of year, that you came into the world, that you were born, that you came knowing your mission would be a bloody death upon a cross for sinners. Lord, thank you for doing what was necessary to become our salvation. Thank you for that, Lord. Thank you that you died for us, that you rose again. And Lord, when we came to you empty, when we came to you humble and sinful, that you forgave us and that you gave us eternal life.
[00:04:11] Lord, we just pray that you bless our time in your word now work in each person's heart. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:04:19] So as you can see here, we're right in the middle of the story of the Nativity of Christ. Verse 22 begins at about day 40 went after the Lord has been born. Because there was, according to the law of Moses, which is what they followed. They were Jews under the law of Moses and Joseph and Mary. And according to the law of Moses, when a baby was born, the lady was to remain basically at home. There was ceremonial uncleanness for seven days. And then on the eighth day was the circumcision and naming of the child. And of course that's significant, especially in the book of Matthew, because that's when Joseph, Matthew says Joseph called the baby Jesus. And his name is of course, significant.
[00:05:07] And then, and then the lady, the family was to wait 33 days.
[00:05:13] And after 33 days, they were to bring an offering to the Lord in Jerusalem. And that's exactly what they're doing in verse number 22, the days of her purification. That's the 7 and then the 33. So it's been 40 days. 40 days.
[00:05:30] They brought Jesus to present him to the Lord. And of course that goes back to. It goes all the way back to the Passover, when the Lord spared the firstborn of Egypt, or rather the firstborn of Israel, when he slew the firstborn of Egypt. And so all the firstborn children belonged to the Lord. And this is what of course, Jesus is in this case.
[00:05:51] And so in verse number 24, they're offering a sacrifice, the pair of turtledoves and two young pigeons. And of course, that's a little, a little, a little detail, but it reveals the lifestyle of Joseph and Mary, that they were, they were poor people, they were not wealthy individuals.
[00:06:08] And then we meet in verse number 25, this man named Simeon. And Simeon is a man who is apparently an old man. All right, The Bible doesn't say he's old, but we assume that from the context. But this man Simeon, in verse 25, he was in Jerusalem. So Mary and Joseph, they lived in. At this time, they lived in Nazareth, which is in Galilee, you know, far north. And they're at this time in Bethlehem, which is just kind of a walking distance from Jerusalem.
[00:06:41] And so they're in Bethlehem because that's when the taxing happened and all of that. But they're near to Jerusalem, so they can go up to the temple and do the sacrifice 40 days after the birth of Jesus. And Simeon is in Jerusalem.
[00:06:56] And it says he was a just and devout man. So I want you to get the picture. Cause I wanna give you a principle from this. So you have a devout and just man. You have an old man who has been living for God for a long time. And as we've studied this period in history, kind of incidentally, as we've gone through the Gospel of Matthew, what have we seen? We've seen that the society into which the Lord Jesus was born was not a holy society, right? We've seen a society where they have found ways to lie and commit adultery and cheat and steal and hate and commit murder in their heart. And all of these things. Like in Matthew chapter five, that's what the Lord Jesus addressed. He stepped into a society that was highly religious, but wicked. Right? Now, they weren't involved in idolatry, overt idolatry, or anything like that, but they stepped into the Lord, stepped into a society where the Pharisees, and you all know about the Pharisees, were of the different groups that lived in that society. The Pharisees were the ones that were most highly regarded. And most people would identify as a Pharisee, which was a conservative, traditional religious person. And that's what Paul was. And Jesus himself would have doctrinally aligned with the Pharisees.
[00:08:19] Now, so that's the world into which the Lord was born. That's the world in which Simeon lived. And what stands out from Simeon, not only Simeon, but. But also Zacharias and Elizabeth, is that the Lord goes out of the way to say that they were just and devout.
[00:08:37] So even in their religious world, they stood out because they weren't like everybody else.
[00:08:43] They really had a faith in God. They really had a true faith in God that was distinct from the society. This is what our Lord later on talked about in Matthew 5. This kind of distinctive faith. Real. They were the real deal, not just the facade.
[00:09:02] And so that's Simeon. And it says in verse 25 that he's waiting for the consolation of Israel. And the Holy Ghost was upon him. He's walking with God, verse 26. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ, verse 27. And he came by the Spirit into the temple. Now, I love in these stories, especially in the story of the nativity of Christ, I love the providence of God. The providence of God is a beautiful thing if we can just see it. But the providence of God is often. Is often it's sort of hidden. It's kind of behind the scenes. You know, if you got married in a situation where, you know, like, as a believer, especially, because sometimes, you know, when we don't know the Lord and we make decisions and, you know, it's just. It kind of falls out the way it falls out. But when you get married, oftentimes you'll find that your spouse and you met in the providence of God. Of course, we know there's a lot of things happen that we're not aware of, but you kind of bumped into each other. Like my wife and I, we met in that kind of way. And I'm sure that's true of some of you.
[00:10:11] The providence of God is beautiful in this passage because here you have Mary and Joseph just trying to live for God, right? I mean, they're on a roller coaster. They don't have a clue what's happening. Nine months ago, 10 months ago, maybe Mary has been informed by the angel that Gabriel, that she's going to have a baby, and her world just totally turned upside down. At that time, she was a spouse. Now she's in a marriage. She's totally married to Joseph. And you know what I mean, if you understand a spousal, she's married to Joseph now in a year's time, her life's totally different. Her baby is the Son of God and all of those things.
[00:10:50] So they're just kind of reeling, trying to do with what little information that they have. And really, it's been 10 months since they've had any word from God.
[00:11:02] So what are they following?
[00:11:05] What do you do? What do you do when you don't have any specific direction from the Lord? What are you supposed to do as a believer? What are you supposed to do? Anybody know?
[00:11:15] You follow what the Lord, the last thing the Lord told you. And you follow the scripture. The scripture is the direction that the Lord gives us.
[00:11:30] I say in the absence. It's really consistent with his specific direction for us. But when we don't know what to do, do what God says to do in the Bible. That's the bottom line. That's what Mary and Joseph are doing.
[00:11:41] Why are they going to the temple? Because God told them to. That's what 22 and 23 and 24, those verses are telling. They're just trying to live for God. Trying to live like God told them to live.
[00:11:53] That's what it. Listen, Christianity, I know it's sensationalized. Walking with God, living for God is often like, you know, I got a word, I got a word. You have the Bible, live by God's word. And when the Lord needs to direct you specifically, you know what he'll do? He'll do that at the time that it's needed. But that's not what's happening with Mary and Joseph. They're just following the Bible. You see that? Just living, like we might call it a Bible Christian, trying to do what God says. But you know what? The Lord is leading them in that way. But then you have this man, Simeon. Simeon is a man who is walking with God, and God has given him Simeon. Unlike Mary and Joseph, he's given Simeon a specific direction because God has told Simeon however he did it. We don't know. God has told Simeon that you're going to see the Lord's Christ, the Lord's anointed. You're going to see the chosen, the chosen one, the one that all of the prophecy is pointing to. You're going to see him before you die. And that is specific direction for Simeon as an individual, as he lives for the Lord. Okay, so you understand what's happening here.
[00:13:15] And Simeon is also, as a result of what God told him in verse 25, he's waiting.
[00:13:20] Mary and Joseph are not waiting.
[00:13:23] Up until 40 days ago, they were waiting for something, right? They were waiting for a baby to be born. But now, you know, a lot has happened in the past year in their life, and they, you know, it's been going fast. But now Simeon. But on the other hand, Simeon is a man who is. Who's waiting. He might have been waiting a long time. We don't know.
[00:13:49] As a believer, waiting on the will of God is not wasted time.
[00:13:56] Sometimes the Lord wants us to wait, right? Sometimes he wants us to wait.
[00:14:04] Just because we know something is God's will does not mean it is time for that thing. Simeon knew something was God's Will. But it wasn't time for that thing. Brother Stewart always used to say, God's will, God's way, God's time. How many remember that? I'm sure you've heard many, many times he said that. Well, the timing is what we're looking at here with Simeon. He's waiting.
[00:14:25] So here's what you have.
[00:14:27] You have a family who is living for God, but not anything specific. They're just trying to follow the Bible and they're on this track.
[00:14:34] And then you have Simeon, who has specific directions from the Lord for his particular life. And he's on this track, and he's been waiting a long time. This. This family has not been waiting. Mary and Joseph have not been. And they're on the track. They're on a collision course, a collision course of the will of the Lord.
[00:14:53] That's what I want you to see.
[00:14:56] They had no idea that God is working to reveal the Lord Jesus to others. They had no idea.
[00:15:07] I just want you to understand, and this is not the main point of what I want to say today, but I just want you to understand that this is the way the Lord, if you're a child of God, this is the way God directs you. This is the way he does stuff in your life.
[00:15:23] He will lead you with the scripture.
[00:15:27] If you have the written directions of the Lord in the Bible, you need to live by the Bible, not by the way you feel, not by what you think, but by what thus saith the Lord. You say, well, you know, I just don't feel it. That's not the point. You see, sometimes we have to exercise faith in what the text of Scripture says without the associated feelings.
[00:15:52] That's what it means to live by the Bible, live by God's word. It's not just a religious book. This is God's very word, right? So we, doing what it says are. Doing what it says is doing the will of God, okay? And then God comes along and gives us specific direction for me, for Adam, for you, for Pam, you know, individual direction, things like who I should marry, where I should work, where I should live. You know, all of these things that are important questions. And at the right time, he'll give you specific directions. But here's what I want you to understand, that the way the Lord works out his will is he takes those different things, those specific directions. He takes those just the plain, regular, boring, living according to God's word. He takes those things and he throws it all together into his providence. And he causes things to come to pass. Because People are just doing what the Lord wants them to do. And he puts people on these collision courses.
[00:17:00] Both are doing the will of God. This collision course is the way God will fulfill his will.
[00:17:08] Even though one has been waiting just a brief time or not waiting at all, and another one's been waiting many years. The fulfillment of the Lord's word to Simeon came as a result of just a couple people that are just living by the Bible.
[00:17:27] He's in Jerusalem, they're in Bethlehem. Before that, in Nazareth. Now they're in Bethlehem. He's been in Jerusalem a long time. And here he is. The Lord directs him. He goes into the temple. And at that moment, at that moment is when Mary and Joseph bring Jesus in.
[00:17:42] So we gotta remember, sometimes we have to wait for the will of God.
[00:17:48] Sometimes God gives us specific direction. But in absence of specific direction, of course, that is always consistent with the Bible.
[00:17:56] We always have the scripture to tell us how to live and what to do.
[00:18:01] Sometimes we have to wait a long time to understand and see the will of God fulfilled. And sometimes there's no waiting at all. I mean, for me, I mentioned my wife when we met. I just got. I literally met my wife just like a couple weeks after I got saved, you know, and then I was engaged within a few months and shortly after that. And I wouldn't recommend that for everybody. I'm just saying I'm not the example here. I don't even recommend it for my own kids. I've told them. But that's the way the Lord worked it out, and that's okay.
[00:18:37] There's a lot of questions revolving around this thing about how do you know God's will?
[00:18:43] How do you. I feel like I need to do something.
[00:18:46] Well, sometimes that doing is waiting.
[00:18:50] Sometimes that doing is looking at what God says and obeying the Lord will work out the others.
[00:19:00] He will work out the others just like he worked out this meeting.
[00:19:04] That's the providence of God here.
[00:19:06] Now let's go down a little bit further to Simeon, verse 26.
[00:19:15] And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. Verse 27. And he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents. It's interesting because the Bible says parents here. And then it says at the bottom in verse number 34 or 30.
[00:19:41] I know what's in here.
[00:19:44] Verse 33. And Joseph and his mother. There's a distinction made because, of course, Jesus was the son of God. Joseph was not his birth father.
[00:19:54] He should not see death. Verse 26. Before he had seen the Lord's Christ, and he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the child Jesus for to do for him after the custom of the law, then took he him up in his arms and blessed God and said, now notice this, Lord.
[00:20:12] Now let us thou, thy servant, depart in peace. Let me ask you a question.
[00:20:19] If you look at verse number 26, you see that he expects after this meeting to what?
[00:20:26] He's going to die. So when this says depart in peace, what does that mean? That means Simeon knows.
[00:20:34] He knows that after this meeting that the Lord has told him he's checking out.
[00:20:41] He's checking out.
[00:20:47] But before he checks out, his eyes are first going to see.
[00:20:57] Notice he didn't say Baby Jesus. Notice the words, okay? He says, verse number 29.
[00:21:09] Now let thy servant depart in peace according to Thy word, For mine eyes have seen thy salvation. He's like, I'm ready to die now. Think about that.
[00:21:25] He says, let me, Lord, depart in peace, because mine eyes have seen thy salvation.
[00:21:33] Not Baby Jesus, God's salvation.
[00:21:38] And I just want to draw this application to you.
[00:21:42] There is no departing this life in peace without your eyes first seeing God's salvation again. Simeon is old. His death is approaching.
[00:21:55] And the truth is, all of us.
[00:21:59] That's true of everyone, is it not? It's just that the only difference is time.
[00:22:06] All of us. To all of us, death is approaching. And we, as much as we don't like to think about it, as much as we put it out of our mind, the fact of our death is a reality. The only exception is if you're a child of God and you're alive and remain when the Lord returns. And that's it.
[00:22:26] That's a pretty depressing thought. Simeon was not depressed. You know why? Because his eyes had seen God's salvation.
[00:22:35] But notice he says, let thy servant depart in peace.
[00:22:41] You see, there is no way. Please listen now. There's no way to depart this life, peace, unless your eyes have seen Christ.
[00:22:55] Now, all of us want to depart this life in peace. All of us want to be the person who, you know, we go into the hospital, we slowly fade, and then, you know, we fall asleep and never wake up. But there's. And I'm not even talking about the process of death. I'm talking about the departing part.
[00:23:15] It is not possible without the Lord Jesus Christ to depart in peace.
[00:23:23] So I think we should all listen. Every one of us should. Should have this prayer in our heart, especially if the question of our eternal life is not settled, is not certain we should be saying in our heart of hearts, lord, please don't let me depart this life without first seeing Christ.
[00:23:47] Because if you.
[00:23:50] If you as an individual depart this life without first seeing Christ, there will be no peace.
[00:23:59] There will be no peace.
[00:24:02] If you would look at. Hold your place here. If you would. And look at Romans, chapter 2, Romans 2, and verse number.
[00:24:22] Look at verse number 6.
[00:24:34] Verse 6 says this. Who will render God will render to every man according to his deeds, to them who by patient continuance in well doing, seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life. Now hold your. Hold your place there. You might say, well, I've done good. I'm a good person.
[00:24:53] Listen, verse 7 does not apply to any person in this room.
[00:24:59] There's not a person among us that has done well and sought for glory and honor and immortality. You know what we've done? We've given ourselves to sin. We love it. It runs in our veins. We want it. We give ourselves to it. And we have demonstrated that by our transgressing and breaking of God's law, over and over and over and over, we have not earned eternal life. Forget it.
[00:25:23] All right. So if there's any idea in our mind, well, if I just do good, I'll, you know. Well, if you did, maybe. But you don't. You haven't. I haven't either.
[00:25:32] So let's keep reading.
[00:25:34] Verse 8. But unto them that are contentious, that's us. And do not obey the truth, that's us. But obey unrighteousness, that's us.
[00:25:46] What do we get?
[00:25:48] Indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentile. Notice this. This is why I pointed this out. Verse 10. But glory and honor. And what's that next word? Peace to every man that worketh good. Again, that's not you, and that's not me.
[00:26:14] Well, I've done a good thing here and there.
[00:26:17] Filthy rags to the Jew first and also to the Gentile.
[00:26:23] You see, the Lord says, here. Here is peace. But the thing is, where there's a promise. I know this is a little bit of a confusing passage, but when the Lord says, if you do good, eternal life, you do evil, tribulation, anguish, death. And the thing is that part, that second part applies to us.
[00:26:42] The peace is not there.
[00:26:44] We have earned. We have rightly earned tribulation and anguish and judgment and condemnation. This. Listen, this is where we live. This is where sinners live.
[00:26:57] This is why I say there's no way to depart this life in peace.
[00:27:02] We've earned. We've earned judgment.
[00:27:07] We've earned judgment.
[00:27:10] The peace. Going back to Luke, chapter two. Look at what Simeon. He says. He's holding the baby in his arms, and he says this. He says this.
[00:27:20] Now let thy servant depart in peace. For mine eyes.
[00:27:25] I'm probably misquoting it, but mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Why is Simeon departing in peace? Why is he leaving this life in peace? Because, and only because, his eyes are upon Jesus.
[00:27:44] His peace is wrapped up in the Lord Jesus Christ, this baby that he's holding. And that is the only hope that you and I have to lead this life in peace.
[00:27:55] He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. And listen. So many times when. Listen, I know. I've been a teenager. I've been a young person sitting in church, hearing verses that I've heard before.
[00:28:13] Yawning and being bored because I've heard them all. And brushing it aside because I've heard them all before. Oh, yeah, I've already. I'm already saved. Yeah, whatever.
[00:28:23] And there's nothing in my heart. Listen, there's nothing in my heart that desires the Lord. There's nothing in me that indicates that I'm a child of God. There's no spiritual fruit or hunger or thirst in my life at all. I've heard all the verses before, and every time the subject is brought up, I just. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I've done all that before.
[00:28:44] And yet the fact that you are standing totally, spiritually dead and you think everything's good and one day in the sweet by and by, you're going to die and you're going to depart this life in peace. Let me tell you something. You are very likely not going to.
[00:29:06] And the fact that you.
[00:29:08] That reality is testified by the fact that you are afraid to meet God because you know there is no peace in your heart.
[00:29:26] There's no peace and assurance in your heart of hearts when nobody's around. You are terrified to meet God.
[00:29:35] You know why?
[00:29:38] You don't have Jesus.
[00:29:41] That's what it's about.
[00:29:43] We could say we do. We can know all the verses. We can hear it our whole life, and none of that matters.
[00:29:49] The. The peace comes from having the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:29:54] That's where the peace is.
[00:29:56] Simeon got his peace from knowing the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:30:05] The Bible says that Jesus is our peace.
[00:30:09] Second thing, I want you to see In Luke chapter 2 is this verse 30.
[00:30:19] For Simeon says, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.
[00:30:26] What is Simeon looking at?
[00:30:29] He's looking at one thing and one thing only. That little baby.
[00:30:35] That little baby. He's looking at the Lord Jesus Christ and nothing else. And here's what I want to tell you this. And we'll look at John, chapter six.
[00:30:45] Our eyes must see Jesus and nothing else.
[00:30:52] This is where Simeon's peace is. This is Simeon's salvation right here. What are his eyes looking at? Jesus. Looking at Jesus. Look at John, chapter six, if you would.
[00:31:02] I want to show you something in John 6.
[00:31:18] Look at verse number.
[00:31:21] It actually starts at verse 2. We will not read the whole chapter.
[00:31:25] So Jesus comes to them. Jesus is doing miracles. Verse 2 says, and a great multitude followed him because they. What's that next word? They saw his miracles. So they're seeing Jesus miracles. Okay, verse 14.
[00:31:41] Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, this is of a truth. That prophet that should come in the world. Well, that sounds good. But they saw the miracles again.
[00:31:54] Then we go on down to verse number. Of course, in this context is the. Is the feeding of the 5,000, right? Jesus did miracles, then the feeding of the 5,000. Everybody loves that they saw that miracle. That's like, wow, that's awesome.
[00:32:08] And then they go down to verse number. We go down to verse 30.
[00:32:13] Look at what they say. They said therefore unto him. Now this is remarkable.
[00:32:20] He has been healing people of their diseases. He has fed the 5,000 beside women and children with five loaves and two fish. Right? He's done all that. And then they said unto him, verse 30, what sign showest thou then that we may see and believe. Believe thee. Here's what are they looking for? They're looking for something besides Jesus to see. Do you see what I'm saying? They're looking at a miracle. And they're like, wow. They're looking at feeding the 5,000. And they're. Wow. And they're looking at. They're demanding another sign to see. But in every case, the one thing they're not looking at is on Jesus himself.
[00:32:58] Then you go down to verse 36, verse 35. We know this verse. Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger. And he that believeth on me shall never thirst. But I said unto you. Notice what he says here. That ye also have seen me and believe not. So they, yes, physically seen him, but it's almost like they Saw him, but didn't see him.
[00:33:23] Right, but that's not all. Look at verse 40.
[00:33:29] This is where it kind of comes together.
[00:33:34] And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which. What's it say, Seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life. And I will raise him up at the last day.
[00:33:49] So they. And we can go even further. Look at verse 42. And they said, is not this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven? Now, verse 42 doesn't use the word see, but you get the idea. They saw Jesus Father, stepfather and mother and his brothers. They saw Jesus as he grew up. They've seen miracles. They've seen feeding of the 5,000. They've seen. They demanded a sign. So they're looking for a sign to see. And they know his. His father and mother.
[00:34:23] And then you get down to verse 46.
[00:34:26] Jesus says, not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God. He hath seen the Father.
[00:34:36] And you go all the way down to verse 68.
[00:34:40] Then Simon Peter answered him. Now I gotta get the context. Verse 66, from that time, many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him.
[00:34:49] You think this is the culmination, the defeating of the 5000?
[00:34:53] Didn't turn out very good, did it?
[00:35:00] A lot of people, you might say, left the church, right, and walked no more with him. And then said Jesus unto the twelve, will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered and answered him, lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of life. What did Simon Peter see? What did the disciples see?
[00:35:25] They saw Jesus.
[00:35:27] They were not distracted by the miracles. And these other things, these other shiny objects, they were not distracted by the Lord's human parentage. And all those things, they look solely on Jesus and nothing else. This is what Simeon is saying. Mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Here's the problem, is that people listen the world over, even people in the Christian religion have their eyes set on something other than Jesus to save them.
[00:36:04] It's a church, it's a religion, it's a religious work or whatever.
[00:36:08] They have their eye on something other than Jesus, but Simeon's eye was on Jesus and only Jesus. All those jews in John 6 had their eye on something else and they totally missed it. Until you get down to the. To the disciples down in verse number 68. And they say, you're it.
[00:36:27] All these other things are great. But Lord, you Are it?
[00:36:34] Third thing I want you to see if you'd go back To Luke chapter 2 is this.
[00:36:47] Notice what it says in verse 30.
[00:36:50] For mine eyes have seen thy salvation.
[00:36:58] God's salvation.
[00:37:01] The salvation of God is found in a person.
[00:37:08] What is the question? What is the thy salvation that Simeon is talking about?
[00:37:13] Is he talking about something God does for him? No, he's talking about the baby, right?
[00:37:20] He's calling Jesus God's salvation. That's remarkable.
[00:37:26] That means that salvation is not a thing so much as a thing that God gives us, but a person.
[00:37:36] And all the things that God gives us come out of that person.
[00:37:42] Jesus is salvation.
[00:37:45] See, the problem is this. We think. We often think of salvation as something we get from God and that, you know, I mean, I understand that language. Obviously. God gives us eternal life. He gives forgiveness and all that. We understand all that, but the problem is we. We. We go to Jesus to get something from him, whatever that thing is that we want. Maybe we want a home in heaven. Maybe we want forgiveness. Maybe we want eternal life. Maybe we want to escape hell fire. We want to get. Get something from God. This is like a transactional relationship. In other words, we're not really. We don't really care about the. About Jesus. We care about the thing that we want from Him.
[00:38:31] Be careful when we're sharing the gospel. It's about Jesus.
[00:38:36] Every benefit of. Listen, please. Every benefit of salvation that is desirable, Right?
[00:38:42] Every benefit of salvation that is desirable is found in Jesus and cannot be obtained without Him.
[00:38:55] He's not a vending machine.
[00:38:57] God's not a vending machine. Where you get the things from God that you want? No, no. When you get saved, you get the vending machine.
[00:39:05] It's yours. You understand? And there's no other way to get what's inside, except you get the Lord Jesus.
[00:39:11] So all the benefits are kind of secondary to himself. Does not one John tell us that eternal life is Christ himself?
[00:39:25] People think that they can make this kind of transaction with God using a religion, do this religious work, and in return, you get this thing that you want. Eternal life, forgiveness, whatever, peace. Even if I do this thing, I get this thing. If I say this prayer, I get this thing.
[00:39:44] If I make this pilgrimage, I get this thing. If I go to confession, I get this thing. If I do A, I get B. Do A, I get B. That's a transaction, right?
[00:39:56] Here's the thing again. All of those things that would be desired can only be had in Jesus himself and are totally off limits and unavailable outside of Him.
[00:40:17] Jesus himself is salvation. Jesus himself is God's salvation.
[00:40:27] There is no way to get all of those things everybody wants apart from Jesus Christ himself. That's why the Bible says, I just said it. He that hath the Son hath life. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. I mean, think about the I am statements of John. You all know these, right? I am the bread of life. John 6, I am the resurrection and the life. John 11, I am the door. John 10, I am the way, the truth and the life. It's not, I'll give you bread. It's not I'll give you resurrection. It's not I'll. I'll give you a door to go through. I'll show you the door. He said, I am that.
[00:41:11] You know, in Cambodia, that's one thing we talked about in relation to Buddhism that Christians in Cambodian Christians would describe it as Buddha would show you the way. He would point out the way to go.
[00:41:26] Jesus is the way.
[00:41:30] It's all about him. He is God's salvation.
[00:41:36] Many people want all the things Jesus offers, but they don't want him.
[00:41:42] They don't want to know him.
[00:41:44] They do not want to be right with him. They do not want the Lord Jesus Christ to lord over them. They want to live in sin and contrary to his law and his word, and rebel, continue to rebel. They do not want Jesus. They want all the benefits.
[00:42:03] Back in John 6, I'll read this real quick because we were just there. In John 6, verse 26, after the feeding of the five thousand, they crossed. They crossed the sea to find Jesus because their bellies were filled. Verse 26, Jesus answered them and said, verily, verily, I say unto you, ye seek me not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled. In other words, you wanted the benefit. You don't want me.
[00:42:32] If some other dude was doing it, you'd be happy. It's not me you want.
[00:42:38] And listen, please, please listen.
[00:42:41] That is the crux of this matter of why if you're not born again, that is the crux of why you're not born again right now. That is the reason. The reason is that you do not want Jesus.
[00:42:57] You want to go to heaven. You know you want to. You know you want to have peace. You want all the. All the other things.
[00:43:06] But the reason that you're right now, if you're on the way to the Lake of Fire right now, the reason you're there is because you do not want Jesus.
[00:43:16] Because in Jesus is where everything else is.
[00:43:22] That's what you must face.
[00:43:25] And one of these days, the Lord says, every one of us will give an account to God. And we will stand before this same Jesus and we will give an account. And no doubt the Lord is going to ask us, why did you not want me give a reason?
[00:43:46] The last thing I want you to see is this.
[00:43:49] Back in Luke 2, Simeon says this, verse 30, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, God's salvation. Which thou, Simeon, speaking to Jesus, to God, which thou, God, hast prepared before the face of all people.
[00:44:12] Jonah 2, verse 9 says this.
[00:44:16] He says, but I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that I have vowed. He says, as a sentence, it's a period. And then it starts, salvation is of the Lord. Period. That's what it says. Jonah says, salvation is of the Lord. That's what we read here. The salvation of God is that salvation that God has prepared, not that we have prepared.
[00:44:43] This is fantastic.
[00:44:46] Even the name of Jesus means Jehovah saves. That is Jehovah's doing, the saving, not salvation, but Jehovah saves. When Jesus came into the world.
[00:44:59] When Jesus came into the world, he was coming as salvation. That's why he's called Savior. He was coming as our salvation. He was preparing salvation himself.
[00:45:10] It's amazing.
[00:45:12] He does not give us a recipe and say, make the bread.
[00:45:16] No, the Lord did it all.
[00:45:23] The Lord did it all.
[00:45:25] And in Scripture there is a clear distinction made between the salvation that God himself has provided, like we read here. It's in the verse which thou has prepared and the means that man has devised. So you have both of these, and they're opposites. Man has a way that seemeth right, but the ends thereof are the ways of death.
[00:45:52] And then there's a way that God is provided.
[00:45:55] That way is Jesus. He said, I am the way, the truth and the life.
[00:46:00] He says, no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. Even the way to the Father is himself, not the way he points out, but himself.
[00:46:14] This false salvation the man has devised is a salvation in which he, man is his own Savior. It is a salvation in which man can retain his own delusion that he is righteous. It is a salvation for which he himself gets the credit.
[00:46:35] It is his own salvation.
[00:46:38] That's not what Simeon says.
[00:46:41] The salvation of God is the salvation that which God provides without the aid of man.
[00:46:49] You know, a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. As he grew up without sin, he went to the cross bearing our sin. We didn't have a part in that at all. God did it all, you say. Well, hold on. I prayed the prayer, God. Listen. That prayer means nothing if there's not a cross.
[00:47:09] That prayer means nothing if God did not provide salvation. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him whom they have not believed? How shall they believe in him whom they have not heard? Look, there's not even a message to hear, to believe, to call. If it's not for the cross, that which God provided.
[00:47:29] God's salvation was provided in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, his cross, his resurrection, in which he substituted himself for guilty sinners and died their death in their place.
[00:47:45] God's salvation requires that man come to the Savior empty and hopeless.
[00:47:51] God's salvation requires that man come to God without reliance in anything but God's salvation.
[00:47:58] God's salvation gives all glory and praise to God and none to man.
[00:48:05] Simeon says, mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared. The question I have to you is. I don't want to know. Let's just put this aside for a minute. I don't want to know. Are you saved? All right, let's put that aside.
[00:48:21] I want to know. Do you have God's salvation?
[00:48:25] There's only one kind. Or. Or do you have some plan that you have devised, something that you have invented that will keep you. That will keep your, you know, sanctimonious facade, that will keep you looking good, still providing for yourself, still respectable, not going to come to God as a dirty sinner, as a guilty one?
[00:48:50] Or do you have the salvation of the Lord that He provided? Without your help? You just come begging, begging, God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Do you have God's salvation that Simeon saw? Have you seen the Lord Jesus Christ? In this way, there is no peace.
[00:49:14] There's no departing this world in peace without it.
[00:49:18] Let's pray together.
