I really appreciate Phil and
Brad. I'm just glad that you guys are
willing to help out and give something other than just my
voice up here. But I really appreciate the songs. I like the songs. I think about the words of them
as we sing them together. And I especially love to hear
the Bible reading What a blessed thing it is that we can read
what God has written to His church, His people. And I love the prayers. I would be happy to sit down
and let somebody else do this because I just so much enjoy
hearing that. So thank you to both of you and
to all of you for gathering together as such an encouragement to me. We want to turn back to Luke
chapter two. There's a few texts of scripture
I want to look at today with you. One in particular, which
I hadn't really, or at least I don't remember considering
as a text for the birth of Christ, but we'll look at that also.
In Luke chapter two, though, I think that growing up after
I heard the gospel, and first believed that my salvation did
not depend upon what God thought of me, upon my own sincerity
or my own ability to do what was required, but entirely and
only because of what God thought of Christ. Then I realized the
meaning of these words that Brad just read to us when Simeon said,
holding the Lord Jesus Christ as an infant in his arms, mine
eyes have seen thy salvation. And I remember seeing those words
as if for the first time on a bulletin, much like we have, passed out.
And there was a picture of a man who was very old. And he leaned
upon a staff, and I don't know what place he was. It looked
like he was in one of those countries in the Arab world, so it was
very dry. And his skin looked like it was
very dry, too. And he looked to be over 80 or
90 years old. I don't know how old Simeon was,
but he was of a great age. And the Lord had revealed to
him, it says here in verse 26 of Luke 2, that he should not
see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. Now, what
that means to me is that all of God's people are given this
great blessing that God has promised, unbeknownst to them, and has
ensured, has made it certain that they shall see the Lord's
Christ by faith before they die. And this is the great blessing.
This is the one thing we need. This is the one reason why everyone
who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ lives their life, is that
they and their loved ones and all they come in contact with
might know the Lord Jesus Christ, that they might know him in this
way, they might be able to say, my eyes have seen thy salvation. Now, the salvation he speaks
of here is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. When he held Jesus,
Jesus was, I think, 40 days old. I get that from the Old Testament,
because the Old Testament law required that a male child be
circumcised on the eighth day, and that the mother was to be
still in her purification for another, whatever it was, however
many days it was, for her three weeks, I think, for her to be
purified in the, requirement of the law so that she would
have come to the temple to present him to the Lord when he was 40
days old. Very young, just a few weeks.
And here the Lord is the speaker popping. I'm not sure why. In any case,
here he is, this man. God had shown that he would not
die until he saw the Lord's Christ. The Spirit of God brings him
to realize at that point this is the promised Christ. Now, that is a realization, that
is a promised blessing that all of time had been prepared to
receive. When God pronounced a curse on
the serpent in the garden, he said that the seed of the woman
would bruise or crush the serpent's head. That's how early this promise
was revealed from God. But even before that, there was
a promise given in 2 Timothy 1.9. It says, he has saved us,
the Lord has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which
were given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. So the
promise had already been made by God. And it had been revealed
as early as Adam and Eve before they had any children. That's
how long this had been anticipated. And now, at the time appointed
by God, here the Lord Jesus is. And as Brad had read there, the
angel, one angel, announced this to the shepherds as they watched
over their flocks at night. And you can get some appreciation
for the momentousness of that occasion. That here they are
at night, and there's no street lights. There might have been
some stars and a moon, but there were very little light, and suddenly
an angel appears. to these shepherds who were not
expecting this. They're just out there taking
care of their sheep and suddenly an angel appears and announces
to them, I bring you good tidings of great joy. Good tidings, great
joy. Now that's by God's own announcement. This is his evaluation of this
situation. Good tidings of great joy. And God doesn't use hyperbole,
we do, we do. We're always trying to emphasize
things and we use words like great and awesome and wonderful
and those kind of words which are overused. God doesn't, he's
very exact in the choice of his words. Good tidings of great
joy, this is the gospel. Good tidings is another word
for the gospel. And it shall be to all people,
for unto you is born this day in the city of David, which was
Bethlehem, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord, a Savior. This
is the angel. God sent the angel and made this
announcement, a Savior, Christ the Lord, this day is born to
you. And then they say, this is the
sign. You'll see him wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in
a manger, the place where they would feed animals. the trough,
and suddenly they're joined with that one angel, a multitude of
the heavenly hosts praising God. God's army, that's what the host
is. God's army, those that he deploys
to do his will, who look to him constantly, waiting for him to
tell them what he wants them to do, and they do it. The mighty,
the strong ones, the angels. they were praising God, this
multitude. Can you imagine what that was
like at night, out there on the grass with the sheep? And suddenly,
there's a chorus of angels singing. And this is what they say, glory
to God in the highest. This is the first and most important
thing of the birth of Christ, glory to God in the highest. And on earth, peace. peace, goodwill
toward men. Isn't that, doesn't that just
make you relax? Not God at a distance. Not God against us. God with
us. God coming, God born as a man
and the angels announcing this is God to God's glory. That God
would make peace on earth with men and have goodwill toward
men. And it came to pass that when
the angels were gone away, that the shepherds went to Bethlehem
and they saw this." Now, it's this that is being spoken of
here, that shepherds go back, they praise God, and then 40
days later, Simeon, who was in the temple, sees the Lord Jesus,
his mother, his father, bringing Christ as an infant to the Lord
to be presented to the Lord. And he sees him by the Holy Spirit. He understands this is the Christ. This is the one we have been
waiting for, the one promised of God, the one that God promised
throughout the Old Testament since the dawn of time, the one
who would crush the head of the serpent, who would bring us comfort. Comfort ye, O comfort ye my people,
as God told John the Baptist, or foretold that John the Baptist
would do by preaching Christ. And so he was waiting for that
comfort. He waited for the one who was that comfort, the Lord
Jesus Christ, the consolation of Israel. And the Holy Spirit
revealed this to him. revealed to him by the Holy Spirit
that he would not die until he had seen the Lord's Christ. And
then he came by the Spirit, in verse 27, into the temple when
the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him after the
custom of the law, because it was necessary for him. He was
born of a woman, born under the law, that he might redeem us
who were under the curse of the law. And that's what he did. He came to fulfill the law. So
Simeon takes him up in his arms and he blessed God. And he said,
now, now let your servant depart in peace according to your word,
for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Was the birth of Christ significant?
It was significant to God. It was significant to the angels. It was significant to this man
who was indwelt by the Spirit of God. It was significant to
all who looked for redemption in Israel. It was significant,
very significant. Was it spoken of in Scripture?
It was spoken by the angel to Joseph and to Mary. Mary spoke
of it to Elizabeth. And the angels spoke again to
the shepherds. And now Simeon is speaking, and
Anna the prophetess is speaking about it. God spoke. Everyone
moved by the Spirit of God spoke of Christ when he was born. That's amazing, isn't it? And
notice here that Simeon goes on. After this, in verse 31,
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. Now, he's quoting from the Old
Testament, and that's where I wanted to take you back to in Isaiah
chapter 49. This is one of the places Isaiah
was a prophet. Clearly, all of the prophets
spoke of the coming of Christ. That's how significant this was.
All of God's prophets spoke of Christ's coming. In Isaiah 49, And if you just
look at this chapter, what you'll see is this chapter is the Lord
Jesus Christ himself speaking. The prophecy is of Christ speaking
himself, and he's speaking about himself. And it is also a prophecy
of God's people, the church, speaking out to God. about their
condition and about his salvation. Now, we're just gonna read through
this. He says in verse one, the Lord Jesus, the prophecy is of
him speaking. Now, in verse one, he said, listen,
O islands. Now, what this means is that
you islands, not the people of the Jews. These are Gentiles. Listen, O Gentiles unto me. and hearken you people from far,
you people who are far off and strangers from all of the covenant
promises God gave to the nation of Israel. You listen to me. Christ is speaking here. The
Lord has called me, notice, from the womb. The Lord Jesus Christ
was called from the womb. From the bowels of my mother
hath he made mention of my name, and he has made my mouth like
a sharp sword. In the shadow of his hand hath
he hid me, and made me a polished shaft, in his quiver hath he
hid me. So when God speaks of a sword
in scripture, he talks about his word as a sword because his
word divides between the hidden intentions and motives and thoughts
of our heart. He opens us up. And when the
Lord Jesus Christ speaks in scripture, he opens up, he exposes what
we are. He makes known the hidden things
of our heart and he also makes known the hidden counsels of
God. So he's like a sword, he's like
an arrow, and God has prepared him to divide, to open these
things up. When he came, that's what he
did. He spoke and the people were amazed at what he said. He said here, and he said to
me, This is what God spoke to him as his messenger, as his
Christ. Thou art my servant, O Israel,
in whom I will be glorified. Now, Christ was his servant,
but this was not his role as God. This was his role as Christ. He said, I did not come to be
served, but to serve and to give my life a ransom for many. That's from Matthew chapter 20
and verse 28. Here he says, thou art my servant,
O Israel. Now, Israel is usually a name
God gives to the nation of Israel or to his people, the elect of
God. But here he names the Lord Jesus
as Israel. We might wonder, well, how do
you know that? Well, because in scripture, there's
always such a close relationship between Christ and his people
that the names of him are applied to them and their name is applied
to him. For example, they are his body. They are his bride, his wife,
his spouse, and so they share names. He is the head, they are
his body, and in Scripture, he is called their righteousness,
the Lord our righteousness, and they are also called the Lord
our righteousness. He's the cornerstone and they're
stones in that same temple. So in all these ways we see there's
a very, very close inseparable relationship between Christ and
His people so that when God speaks of Him, He's referring also to
them. And when he speaks of them, he's
referring primarily to him as their head, the one with whom
God deals with them. In fact, in order for the Lord
Jesus to be Christ, he had to be the prophet, the priest, and
the king. And in all those roles, he could
only fulfill those roles as both God and man. And so as man, he
is the one mediator between God and men. The man, Christ Jesus,
here is called servant and Israel. So he says, you're my servant,
O Israel, in whom I shall be glorified. He will be glorified
in the Lord Jesus Christ, and he was. And then he goes on in
verse four, then I said, I have labored in vain. I have spent
my strength for nothing and in vain. So this is what it looked
like. When the Lord Jesus came preaching
and working miracles, the nation of Israel, for the most part,
did not believe him. And that's strange. Why would
God send him on a mission where it seemed as if there was no
accomplishment of apparently what that mission was about?
But the Lord himself even said, I'm not sent but to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. So he goes on in verse four,
he answers that evidence. It looked like that they wouldn't
be his people. He says, yet surely my judgment
is with the Lord and my work with my God. Notice, in everything
Jesus did, he trusted his God. He was patient and he waited
for God to do his will through him. Verse five, and now saith
the Lord that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to
bring Jacob again to him, though Israel be not gathered, in other
words, that nation called by his name, though they be not
gathered yet, shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord and my
God shall be my strength. He trusted God and he relied
on him just like we must do. And then he said this, The Lord
is saying to him, it is a light thing that thou should be my
servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved
of Israel, God's elect within that nation. I will also give
thee for a light to the Gentiles that thou mayest be my salvation
unto the end of the earth. Not just the nation of Israel.
He didn't just come to the people of Bethlehem or the people of
Judah and Jerusalem. He came to the world. And not everyone in the world,
but to God's people that were chosen by God before that time,
those who were called by his name. He said, it is a light
thing that thou should be my servant to raise up the tribes
of Jacob, those who were God's people within that nation. And
to restore the preserved of Israel, I will also give thee for a light
to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation to the end of
the earth. Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and His
Holy One, to Him whom man despises, to Him whom the nation abhorreth,
to a servant of rulers, King shall see and arise, princes
also shall worship, because of the Lord that is faithful, and
the Holy One of Israel, and He shall choose thee. Christ was
chosen, and God chose his people in him. Thus saith the Lord,
in an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation
have I helped thee. I will preserve thee, and give
thee for a covenant of the people to establish the earth, and to
cause to inherit the desolate places, that thou mayest say
to the prisoners, go forth to them that are in darkness, show
yourselves. They shall feed in the ways,
and their pastors shall be in all high places. They shall not
hunger nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor sun smite them,
for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the
springs of water shall he guide them, and so on. So you see here,
the way God is speaking here to the Lord Jesus, and Christ
is speaking these things to his people, is how that he would
bring his people from far, the Gentiles would hear, and he would
be the one that would be glorified because he would bring God's
people not only out of that nation, but out of all the Gentile nations. And you can see this as you read
through this chapter, how the Lord is going to make this joyful. He says, look in verse 13. Sing, O heavens, and be joyful,
O earth, and break forth into singing, O mountains, for the
Lord hath comforted his people and will have mercy upon his
afflicted. Now notice the next verse in
verse 14. This is the first reaction that's
recorded here of the church. But Zion, that's the church,
said, the Lord has forsaken me, and my Lord has forgotten me.
That's what it seemed like for 400 years from Malachi to Matthew. There was no written word. God never spoke to people until
Zacharias in the temple, when he was going about his service
in the temple, the angel Gabriel appeared to him and spoke to
him about the birth of John, his son, through his wife Elizabeth. 400 years he was silent. And so you can see, Zion said,
the Lord has forsaken me. My Lord has forgotten me. And
then the Lord answers their distress in verse 15. Can a woman forget
her sucking child? That she should not have compassion
on the son of her womb? And the Lord says, yes, a woman
may forget. Yet will I not forget thee. This can only apply to those
people God will not forget. He won't forget his people. Behold,
he says, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands, thy walls
are continually before me. The city, the people of God,
the walls, that whole congregation of the Lord will not be forgotten
because God has carved them on the palms of his hands from eternity. He said... And look at verse
18, lift up your eyes round about, and behold, all these gather
themselves together and come to thee. As I live, saith the
Lord, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them, with them all,
as with an ornament, bind them on thee as a bride doth. For thy waste and thy desolate
places and the land of thy destruction shall even be too narrow by reason
of the inhabitants, and they that swallow thee up shall be
far away. So here he's describing the fact
that God would bring to his people, the church, So many that they
would say, wow, where did these all come from? Where did they
come from? I didn't know these. He says
in verse 20, the children which thou shalt have after thou hast
lost the other shall say again in thine ears, the place is too
straight, too small, too compressed for me. Give place to me that
I may dwell. Then shalt thou say in thine
heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children,
and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? And who
has brought up these? Behold, I was left alone. These,
where had they been? Thus saith the Lord God, behold,
I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard
to the people, and they shall bring thy sons in their arms,
and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. And kings
shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing
mothers. They shall bow down to thee with
their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet.
And thou shalt know that I am the Lord, for they shall not
be ashamed that wait for me. Here we see God's promise that
not only would he give success to Christ, but he would also
bless his people for Christ's sake and bring in an innumerable
number of people into the church, into God's fold, because they
were graven on his hands. And finally, in verse 24, shall
the prey be taken from the mighty? Is it possible to take from the
mighty their prey? The answer is no. Or can the
lawful captive be delivered? No, they're lawfully captive.
But, thus saith the Lord, even the captive of the mighty shall
be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered,
For I will contend with them that contendeth with thee, and
I will save thy children." This is God's promise. He made it
to Eve and Adam in the garden. He reiterated it throughout Scripture. He actually promised it here
again that God would deliver His people from the captive,
even the mighty. And Christ said, unless he binds
a strong man, he couldn't take away from him his goods. Here,
Christ would bind the strong man at the cross, he would fulfill
all God required for their release, and then they would be delivered,
they would be set free, they would be given the liberty of
redemption paid by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
then he says, and I will feed them that oppress thee with their
own flesh, and they shall be drunk with their own blood, as
with sweet wine, and all flesh shall know that I, the Lord,
am thy savior and thy redeemer, the mighty one of Jacob. That's
what Simeon was saying. Lord, now I have seen the consolation
of Israel. I have seen your salvation. This
shall be a light to the Gentiles and a glory of thy people Israel. The Lord Jesus Christ fulfills
all of scripture. When he came, he came to do the
will of God. He came to do it. And so this
is what we see at this time of the year. Look at Isaiah chapter
nine. Isaiah was probably the favorite
prophet of the Old Testament scripture because he preached
the gospel so clearly. Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 6,
notice God's promise. For unto us a child is born. You would think a child, well
that's not that great, but a child is born, meaning the child Simeon
held in his arms. Unto us a son is given. The child was born, but the son
was given, because the one born was a man. The one given was
God, but they are the same person. The Son is the person, the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and the government shall be upon
his shoulder. The government means the rule,
the dominion. The sovereign ruler is this child. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
sovereign. His will is always done, he has
the power to do it, he has a right from God to do all that he desires,
and he actually does everything he desires. The government is
on his shoulders, and his name shall be called Wonderful. Wonderful,
what is wonderful? Wonderful, we say wonderful about
so many things, but what is truly wonderful? Christ is wonderful. He alone is wonderful. He was wonderful when He took
the obligations of His people before time began. He was wonderful. He was wonderful to God when
He was with Him from eternity. He was wonderful. He was wonderful
when he came into the world and the angels sang his praises.
He was wonderful in his birth, wonderful in his life, wonderful
in his ministry, in his miracles, in his power. He calmed the sea. He raised the dead. He gave sight
to the blind. He healed lepers. He raised up
those who were lame. He gave strength to the withered. He raised up those who were bowed
together. He did wonderfully. Everything He said and did was
wonderful. His life was wonderful. He fulfilled
all righteousness. His death was wonderful. He removed
our sin. His resurrection was wonderful. He justified his people. His
ascension was wonderful. He rose to take his place on
heaven's throne. His intercession there is wonderful. God hears his prayer. His coming
again will be wonderful because he's wonderful. And there's no
one like him that God's people even think of as even being close
to be compared to him. He is wonderful. Wonderful. He's the counselor. All that
He decrees, all that He advises, the counsel of peace is in Him. He is the peace of God. He made
peace by His blood. He's the mighty God. He's God over all. He's not just
like God, He is God. The very image of God, the express
image of His person, the brightness of His glory, there's nothing
that God is that He is not. He is the mighty God, Emmanuel,
God with us. the everlasting father. If you've
seen me, he said, you have seen the father, the prince of peace,
the one who fulfilled all righteousness and therefore is the king of
righteousness and the king of peace. He made peace in himself
for us with God in his own blood. My only peace is that Christ
is all my peace with God. I cannot have peace in my conscience
unless my peace is in him alone and fully in him. And of the
increase of his government and peace, there shall be no end
upon the throne of David, upon his kingdom to order it, to establish
it with a judgment and with justice from henceforth forevermore.
He's going to justify his people and God's justice will be magnified
in the justification of his people before the onlooking universe.
No one will be able to claim that there was any compromise
made. God satisfied his own justice,
fulfilled his own law, and set forth an everlasting righteousness.
By the first Adam, sin and death came into the world. Therefore,
by man also came righteousness and everlasting life and resurrection. That's the Lord Jesus. That's
the one who was born. That's the one we worship. That's
the one angels sing. Let us never forget, as our dear
brother Brad said, he was made sin for us, though he knew no
sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Praise his holy name. He alone is worthy. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the Lord
Jesus Christ, that he stooped so low as to take on not only
our nature, but to serve as your servant to your people, and in
that service to obey in all things, even unto death, taking our sin
as his own and answering God in righteous judgment and justice
for it. putting it away, taking it away
from all memory in God's mind, perfecting us forever by His
one offering and bringing us to God by His own death, the
just for the unjust, to bring us to God. What a Savior. How
we need this Savior. this old Simeon, take up by faith
the Lord Jesus in our arms and say, mine eyes have seen thy
salvation, the glory of thy people Israel, a light to lighten the
Gentiles, how you have enlightened our eyes to see that all of our
life, all of our life is worth nothing, but for the Lord Jesus
Christ, but seeing Him, we're ready and we're thankful to depart
in peace. In His name we pray, amen.