All right, brethren, let's go
to Colossians, I'm sorry, to Luke chapter two, Luke chapter
two. Gonna begin reading in verse
25. Our Lord is at the temple, 41
days after he'd been born. And it says, verse 25, and behold,
there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. 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. 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 a part in peace according to
thy word. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
which thou hast prepared before the face of all the people, a
light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel. Simeon is described here as a
just and devout man. He was just toward men in his
life. He was devout toward the Lord.
But that was not how he hoped to be accepted of God. He was
looking, he was waiting. His hope was Christ alone. That's who he was waiting for.
That's who he was looking to behold. And that's who the Holy
Spirit revealed to him. Now there's five titles given
in this passage to our Lord Jesus. In verse 25, He's called the
consolation of Israel. Verse 26, he's called the Lord's
Christ. Verse 30, thy salvation, God's
salvation, prepared by God before the face of all people. Verse
32, he's called the light of the Gentiles. And in verse 32,
which is a similar or should probably go with the like, he's
called the Glory of God's People. Five titles. And in these five
titles, we behold who Christ is and what Christ is to those
that he saves. This is who he is and what he
is to those that he saves. Now, before anybody's gonna know
Christ, before anybody, any sinner, is gonna see Christ and believe
Christ, we're gonna have to be born of the Spirit of God. You
have to be born of the Spirit of God. He said in verse 25,
the Holy Ghost was upon Simeon. Clearly, the scripture tells
us, 1 Corinthians 2, that until born of the Spirit of God, we
will not believe on Christ and we cannot We cannot receive the
things of the Spirit of God. They're spiritually discerned.
In my nature, we just, we don't have a spiritual nature. We're
dead in sins as we come into this world. So we're gonna have
to have the Holy Ghost and be born from above. Christ will
have to be revealed. Verse 26, it was revealed unto
him by the Holy Ghost. that he should not see death
before he had seen the Lord's Christ. That's gonna be so if
everybody God chose to save. Everybody Christ redeemed will
not see death until Christ is revealed in their heart and they
see him with the eye of faith. They will not taste death. They
must be brought to faith in Christ because Christ justified his
people. He justified his people. Each sinner that's been chosen
of God has been justified by the Lord Jesus and so each one
shall be drawn into the temple. Just like Samuel, verse 27, he
came by the spirit into the temple. Why is it telling us that if
that's not vital? It is vital, that's why, that's
why he says it. Everyone the Lord chose, everyone
Christ redeemed, they will be drawn by the spirit into the
house of the Lord to hear this gospel of Christ go forth, and
the Spirit of God will reveal Christ to their heart, and they're
gonna see Christ by God-given faith. That's so, of everybody
God saved. Salvation is all of the Lord.
It's entirely of the Lord. So, I pray today will be that
day. I pray today is the day that
God's pleased to, by His Spirit, bring one of His lost sheep into
His house, and send this gospel into their heart and power by
the spirit of God and reveal Christ to them so that they believe
on him and rejoice that God saved them from their sin. I pray that'll
be so today. Now let's look at these five
titles. First of all, the Lord Jesus, verse 25, he is the consolation
of Israel. He's the consolation of God's
Israel. God's Israel. There's a difference
between Israel and God's Israel. We know that he was not the comfort
of everybody in the nation Israel because the majority in Israel
rejected him. The majority in Israel wanted
to see him crucified. He wasn't their comfort. He wasn't
their consolation. But God's Israel, are those God
the Father chose before the foundation of the world. That's who God's
Israel is. Let me show you that, Romans
9. Romans 9. Don't ever take a preacher's
word for anything. There's too many lying preachers
in the world. Look here in Romans 9, here's
what you want to look for. You want to look to see what
the word says. Chapter 9, Paul is praying for
his kinsmen after the flesh, talking about children of Israel. And he said, in verse six, he
said, it's not as though the word of God hath taken none effect,
just because there's so many in Israel that didn't believe.
It's not because, it's not the fault of God's word. God, we
saw God makes his word always accomplish the thing whereto
he sent it. He said this, for they are not all Israel which
are of Israel. That's what I just was saying
to you. Not everybody in Israel is the Israel of God. He said,
neither because they're the seed of Abraham are they all children. But in Isaac shall thy seed be
called. That is, they which are the children
of the flesh, these are not the children of God. That right there
ends this notion that God sent Christ to lay down his life for
everybody in the world. That one statement right there.
They which are the children of flesh, these are not the children
of God. but the children of the promise
are counted as God's seed. Those that God chose and trusted
to Christ, those he promised, Christ promised to come forth
and save, those God promised he would regenerate and produce,
those are counted by God as his seed. For this is the word of
promise. God told Abraham and Sarah, this
time will I come and Sarah shall have a son. It was God who produced
Isaac. There was another son born before
him named Ishmael. Same father, Abraham, that was
not a child of God. He was produced by Abraham, by
his flesh, by his wisdom. Isaac was the son of promise
produced by God. So when it says Christ is the
consolation of Israel, it's not talking about everybody in that
nation, Israel. He's talking about God's chosen
seed, his elect in the nation of Israel. But it's not just
talking about them. We're gonna see he has an elect
people outside of Israel. That's who Christ is the consolation
of, God's chosen people. God's chosen people. And don't
we need consolation? Consolation is comfort. God's
people need comfort. You know why? Because of our
sin. Our sin, like David said, our
sin is ever before us. We see our sin continually. We know what God says about it,
we know God has promised us, Christ has put it away, but we
see in our flesh dwells nothing good, nothing. We cannot produce
anything from this part of us that came from Adam, the only
thing we produce is sin. That's it. That's it. And it plagues God's child. We
need consolation. We need comfort. And Christ is
that comfort. Our Savior's not only our consolation,
he's the giver of it. And he makes sure that his people
have it. Turn with me to Isaiah 61. Remember
in his sermon on the mount, the Lord Jesus said, blessed are
they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are they
that mourn, for they shall be comforted. The things our Lord
declares here in Isaiah 61, this is him being consolation to us. This is how he comforts his people.
Verse one, this is Christ speaking. He said, the spirit of the Lord
God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good
tidings unto the meek. That's how he's gonna give this
consolation, through preaching. He's anointed me to preach good
tidings unto the meek. Somebody say, well, Christ is
not here preaching. I beg to differ. Wherever his
gospel goes forth, wherever he sent his messenger, it's Christ
speaking through the word that's preached. And when he speaks
into the heart, you know it's him. You stop hearing a man,
you start hearing the Lord speak. He sent Christ to preach good
tidings unto the meek. He sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison
to them that are bound. What's the prison? What is it
that binds us? What is it that breaks our heart?
Your sin nature is the prison. Our sin nature is the prison.
Only the Lord can open that prison and create a new heart in us
and give us faith to be freed from that prison to believe Christ. He said, verse two, he sent me
to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance
of our God That's how he frees us, that's the message. What
does that mean, the acceptable year of the Lord? That was the
day of Jubilee, the day of Jubilee. They blew a horn, picture of
the gospel going forth, and they declared liberty, liberty. Everybody that had become so
indebted and couldn't pay their debt were given liberty. All
their debts were forgiven. Imagine today. of all the people
in this country, it's in debt. And imagine if they blew a trumpet
and said today, all your debts are forgiven. You don't owe anything
else. It's even better when it's the
gospel trumpet, because God's declaring in Christ, all our
sins are gone. That's how he gives you this
consolation. And all that they had lost, all
the inheritance of theirs they had lost was restored to them,
given back to them. and they were brought to cease
from all their works. And this all happened on the
day of atonement. A lamb had been offered, blood
had been shed, and ceremonially, and picturing tight, their sins
had been forgiven. And it's all picturing what Christ
has accomplished. The gospel goes forth, declaring
this is the acceptable year of the Lord. Christ Jesus, our Lord,
declares liberty to the captives. He has paid all the debts of
his people. He has put away our sin forever.
He restored to us more than we lost in Adam. He's given us righteousness
and holiness that will never be taken from us. He's given
us the inheritance with God. Everything is in and by the Lord
Jesus Christ. That is our comfort and our consolation. That's it. Verse two, he came to comfort
all that mourn. See, he gives you this mourning.
He has to reveal to you your sin and your inability and show
you that you cannot save yourself. That's the mourning we're talking
about. We're not talking about mourning because you wanted a
Cadillac and you have to sell for a Corolla. We're talking
about mourning over sin. We're talking about mourning
because you know you're ruined, mourning because you know you,
God, you're guilty before God. He come to comfort all that mourn,
to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, here's what he appoints,
to give beauty for ashes. When somebody sinned or somebody
had died, they would cover themselves in sackcloth and ashes to show
they were just sinners, they were just dusty, dirty, Sinners
he come to give you beauty for that. Who's the beauty? He's
the beauty. He's the beauty He comes to give
the oil of joy For the morning the new spirit of God in you
give it creating this joy the garment of praise His garment
of righteousness in place of that spirit of heaviness That
they may be called trees of righteousness Evergreen full of life made perfectly
righteous by Christ, the planting of the Lord, that he might get
all the glory. And he's gonna get all the glory.
That's what he commands his preacher to preach. Back there in Isaiah
40, verse one, when he says, comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
he says, declare to them their warfare's accomplished, their
sins are put away, I've rewarded them double for all their iniquity.
I've saved them, that's the message. We got brethren right now, brother,
brother Laxman and sister Davika who are mourning the loss of
brother Laxman's brother. You know who's gonna comfort
them? I want to, you want to, but you know who's gonna comfort
them? Our Lord's gonna comfort them. He's the only one who can
give his children real comfort and the comfort he gives is himself. He is that comfort. Secondly,
let's go back now to Luke chapter two. Verse 26, our Lord Jesus is called
the Lord's Christ. The Lord's Christ. Christ means
anointed. That's what the word means, anointed.
And we just heard the Lord say in Isaiah 61 that he was anointed
of God. The Lord, Jehovah, has anointed
me, he said. That's who he is. Jehovah, God
our Father, chose his son. Go to Isaiah 40 and let's look
at verse one. get so upset about the doctrine
of election. Oh, I don't like to hear that
God chose a people. I'm sorry, Isaiah 42. Is that
what I said? Isaiah 42. Well, if you don't
like the fact that God chooses whom he will, you're going to
have a tough time being saved because the preeminent elect
child of God is his son, Christ Jesus. If you're gonna throw
election out, you're gonna have to throw salvation out entirely
because God chose his son and anointed him the savior of his
people. Isaiah 42, one, God says, behold
my servant whom I uphold, mine elect and whom my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles. See that next word there, he
won't cry, lift up, cause his voice to be heard in the street,
a bruise read, shall he not break? We know from the Gospels where
that's quoted that this is speaking of the Lord Jesus. He's the one
the Father chose. He's the one the Father anointed.
Why? Why did he do that? Go to Colossians
1. Here's why he chose him. Colossians
1. Colossians 1. Look, go to verse 18. He is the head of the body of
the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he might have the preeminence. That's why God
chose his son. For it pleased the Father that
in him should all fullness dwell. He's the Lord's Christ. God chose
him. It was God's will to glorify
his son. It was God's will to give him
all preeminence for all fullness of salvation and every need of
his children to be in his son, Christ Jesus, that he get all
the glory. That was God's purpose. Speaking
as wisdom in Proverbs 8, 22, Christ said, the Lord possessed
me in the beginning of his way before his works of old. I was
set up from everlasting, from the beginning, wherever the earth
was. You realize, brethren, before
we fell in Adam, before we sinned in Adam, before we were conceived
in sin in our mother's womb and came forth speaking lies, before
there was a sinner, God had already anointed his son to be the Savior. He had chosen his son, and he
elected the people in his son that he would save. The Lord
has never looked to his elect for any aspect of salvation.
He's never looked to you or me at all. He's only looked to his
son, only looked to his son. In Psalm 45, seven, he said,
we saw when he was baptized, the spirit came upon him, And
God said, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased.
In Psalm 45, seven, he said, thou lovest righteousness and
hatest wickedness. Therefore, God, thy God, hath
anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. See, in this thing of salvation,
there's God the Father, and then there is the Son of God taken,
taken, the human nature like his people without sin, holy,
and he's representing all his people. God's the Father's looking
to his son only. And his son came forth and did
everything perfectly before God, went to that cross and put away
the sin of his people. And he alone is the one God looks
to, the one God's pleased with, the one God accepts, and he accepts
his people in his son and due to his son. That's why he anointed
him, to be the Christ, to be the preeminent one, the salvation
of his people. And you know how you know him?
You know how you know the Lord? He gives you an unction. He anoints
you, Christ does. You have an unction from the
Holy One and you know all things. You scared me for a minute. I
was sitting in a congregation when my wife squeezed my hand
and we had to hot foot it out of there to the hospital. I thought
I saw that look. He's kidding me. But he anoints us. That's how
we hear and believe the gospel by him. Let's go back to Luke
2. Here's the next title. The Lord Jesus is God's salvation,
verse 30. Simeon said, mine eyes have seen
thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all
people. The Lord Jesus is God's salvation. He's God's salvation. God our
father has provided salvation for his people. He's provided
salvation. He's provided one to save his
people and that's the Lord Jesus If you can get there look at
Jonah chapter 2 Jonah chapter 2 Look at look at verse 9 Jonah chapter two, verse nine. Here's what Jonah was taught
right here. He said, I will sacrifice unto thee with a voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that I have vowed.
Listen to this word right here. Salvation is of the Lord. Where's man in that statement?
Where's the sinner in that statement? The only thing the sinner has
to do with that statement Is to be the one being saved He
doesn't contribute to his salvation Salvation is of the Lord from
eternity God the Father As I said anointed his son and look to
his son. He's God's chosen salvation He's
God's predestinated salvation. When the fullness of time was
come, God sent forth his son made of a woman, made under the
law to redeem them that were under the law. He's God's promised
salvation. Whenever Adam and Eve sinned,
when Adam sinned in the garden and plunged us all into sin and
death, he was set up as the first federal and seminal head to give
us a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as soon as he fell,
God the Father came and found him hiding in the trees and pulled
him out of the darkness, set him free, and brought him to
God. And God declared right then,
there's coming a seed of woman that's gonna crush the devil's
head and it's gonna save my people. He promised Christ from the garden. to the first sinner there was,
Adam, and said, Christ will be my salvation. He's the promised
salvation of God. He's the salvation of which all
the prophets spoke about. The prophets are not given for
us to try to predict the end of the world. Our Lord told us
no man's gonna know that. Our Lord said, told when he was
on this earth, he said he didn't know. He had given it for us
to know that. The prophets are given to preach
Christ. Romans 3, Paul said, the law
and the prophets bear witness of God's righteousness, the Lord
Jesus. He's the salvation pictured in
all the types and shadows of this book. The lamb that was
slain in the garden to cover Adam and Eve's nakedness, that's
Christ. The lamb by which Abel was accepted of God while Cain
was rejected. Cain didn't come with blood.
Abel came with blood, that is Christ Jesus. The ark in which
God saved Noah and his family and shut them up in there so
that the ark bore the flood of justice and Noah and his family
came through that flood and came out into a new earth, that's
Christ who delivers his people to the new heaven and new earth
because he satisfied justice for them. He's the lamb. sacrificed,
pictured in all the Old Testament sacrifices, but none of those
lambs ever made atonement. They never put away sin. Hebrews
10 tells us they had to be offered every year again and again, because
they never, never, never put away sin. The Lord Jesus is the
Lamb of God. John the Baptist saw him and
said, behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of his
people all over this world. That's who he is. So he's God's
salvation in all the types and shadows. And he's God's salvation
that he, it says here, he prepared before the face of all people.
Nothing was done in a corner. The Lord Jesus came into this
world. The shepherds that we saw last time, the shepherds,
it was revealed to them and they went everywhere declaring this,
that Christ had come. Christ went to that cross and
laid down his life on that cross and everybody knew about it.
He's been preached ever since all over this world. Nope, this
thing wasn't done in a corner. Why then don't everybody come
to it? Why don't everybody believe on him? Because none of us by
nature think we need a savior. Nobody by nature thinks they're
a sinner. When you hear men say, well, I know I'm not perfect.
You know what they're saying? I'm not a sinner. That's what
they're saying. When you hear somebody say, well,
I know I've sinned, but now I'm doing some works and I'm hoping
my good outweighs my bad. You know what they're saying?
I'm not a sinner. People don't think they're sinners. We didn't
think we were sinners until God came and revealed to us, you
are a dead dog sinner, ruined, unable, incapable of doing one
thing to please God. Until the Lord reveals that,
And it takes the Lord revealing it, because if he didn't reveal
it, we'd boast that we learned it on our own. We'd brag that
we made ourselves know that. We can't even confess our sins
without the Lord getting the glory from bringing us to confess
our sin. That's why people don't call
on him. This thing was done before the
world was made. That's why we have to be born
again of God. That's why we have to be taught
of God. That's why we have to be drawn to Christ and given
faith by the gift of God. That's why we have to be kept
by God. Salvation, beginning and end,
is of the Lord. He has to be revealed. That's
what we see next. The Lord Jesus is the light of
his people. Verse 32, Luke 2, 32, he's a
light to lighten the Gentiles. I wanna show you a couple of
scriptures. I like to like the Gentiles. Go with me to Isaiah
49. And look at verse six. This is the Lord speaking to
Christ Jesus. He said, it's a light thing that
thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to restore the preserved of Israel. He's saying it's a
light thing for you just to save my leg in Israel. I will also
give thee for a light to the Gentiles that thou mayest be
my salvation unto the end of the earth. That's what God, that's
what God said of Christ. Now go with me. to go with me
to Isaiah 42, six. This is again, the Lord God speaking
to his son, Christ Jesus, verse Isaiah 42, six. He said, I, the
Lord have called thee in righteousness and will hold thine hand and
will keep thee and give thee for a covenant of the people
for a light of the Gentiles. And here's what it means. This
is what Christ will do. to open the blind eyes, to bring
out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness
out of the prison house. I am the Lord, that is my name,
and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise
to graven images. That's why the Lord chose Christ.
That's why he sent Christ forth. He's gonna get all the glory.
He's gonna get all the glory. And Christ is that light He is
that light. You remember when the Lord Jesus
in John 10, he said he's the good shepherd. He laid down his
life for the sheep. And he said, and other sheep
I have which are not of this foe. He came to the lost sheep
of the house of Israel. That means his elect lost who
were in that nation Israel. He came to them first and began
calling out the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But he said
that day, as he's standing there before him, he said, I have other
sheep, and they're not of this fold. They're not called out
from among the Jews. They were Gentiles. Most of us
sitting here are Gentiles, unless you're a natural born Jew, you're
Gentile. This is salvation for us. And
he said, them also I must bring. He said, I must bring them. He
gets the glory for bringing his people into the fold. I must
bring them, and they shall hear my voice, he said, and there
shall be one foal and one shepherd. That was Christ's word. See,
Christ must be our light, because we're in darkness by nature.
We have no light by nature. He must be our light. Until he
gives you light, you know how we hear this gospel? When you
hear the doctrine of election, until he gives you light, you
hear, that excludes me. That's how you hear it. That's
why men, we hated the doctrine of election. We hear, that excludes
me. I don't think that's fair. I
deserve a chance. I don't want salvation to be
a crapshoot, do you? I don't want it to be a lottery
that just gives me a chance. I want it to be sure. I want
to know that I am saved assuredly. And when he gives you the light,
he makes you see I'm a sinner that doesn't deserve even a chance. I don't deserve anything from
the Lord. I'm a sinner. Only thing that
I have earned by my sin is condemnation from God. That's all I deserve.
And then he makes you hear that he chose you, and you love the
doctrine of election. You love that salvation's by
grace. You love that God's a merciful
God, and he's a just God and a safe God. You love that salvation's
in Christ alone, but He has to give you that light. He has to
give you that light. The only way we'll know and believe,
and when He gives you that light, and makes you see that Christ
has put away all your sin, that He has roped you in His righteousness,
that He has made God accept you, and that He is all your salvation
from beginning to end, That's when you believe God. That's
when you believe God, because he gives you something so good,
it's impossible not to believe him. You cannot not believe him,
because you behold Christ's glory. The psalmist said, with thee
is the fountain of life, in thy light we shall see light. That's how we have light, is
the light of Christ. And when he's done all this for
you, here's the last thing. Verse 32, he's the glory of God's
people, Israel. He's the glory of God's people,
Israel. Christ is the only one his people
give glory to. We're not taking glory for having
understood the gospel, we give him the glory. We don't take
glory for coming to Him, we give Him the glory for drawing us.
We don't take glory for our faith, He gave us the gift of faith.
We don't take glory for righteousness, He's our righteousness. We don't
take glory for holiness, He's our holiness. We don't take glory
for persevering in faith, He's preserved us. We don't take,
when we get to glory, we won't take glory that we resurrected
ourself, that we glorified ourself. All the glory will go to God
that he did it all in his son Christ Jesus. We'll give him
all the glory. But there's something even better
being said right here in this verse. Go with me to John 17
real quick. Everything Christ is, God the Father, I mean in salvation,
everything he is as the mediator, as our prophet, priest, king,
our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption, our consolation,
our life, everything, God the Father gave him to be that for
his people. He gave him that glory of being
everything, of being salvation for his people and everything
that's included in that. And when he reveals himself in
us, that's what he gives to us to make, he gives us everything
he is. And that makes us one as one
with him and with each other in him as he and the father are
one. Look here, John 17, 22, he said
the glory He's praying to the Father. He
said, the glory which thou gavest me. God the Father gave him the
glory of being everything in salvation. The glory that you
gave me, I've given them. He gives you this understanding
of his glory, that he's everything in salvation. And here's the
result, that they may be one, even as we are one. That's the
glory he is to his people. That means A to Z, he's everything
we need. And when he's done all this for
you, when he has all these five things to you, you know what
you are? Listen now, you're prepared to
die. You can die now. Look, 28. Luke 2, 28, Then took he him
up in his arms, and blessed, he praised God, and he 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. When you have
Christ, you have peace with God, and when you have peace with
God, you are prepared to die. You're prepared to die. He's
everything we need, full acceptance. Now he commands us, brethren,
if he's all this to you, if he's made himself all this to you,
he commands us to take this bread, this unleavened bread and this
little cup of wine and remember his broken body and his shed
blood by which he saved us. He commands us, do this in remembrance
of me. Brother Adam and Brother Jeff,
will y'all pass out the elevators?