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Jim Byrd

Searching for Jesus

Luke 2:25-52
Jim Byrd December, 5 2021 Video & Audio
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Jim Byrd
Jim Byrd December, 5 2021

In "Searching for Jesus," Jim Byrd explores the early life of Jesus as depicted in Luke 2:25-52, emphasizing the obedience of Joseph and Mary to God’s law and the significance of Jesus' mission. The key argument is that both Mary and Joseph exemplified true faith by adhering to the Scriptures, fulfilling the Law of Moses, and recognizing Jesus' role as their Savior. Byrd supports this by highlighting repeated mentions of their actions in accordance with God's Word (Luke 2:22-39) and illustrates how Jesus grew in wisdom and favor, ultimately fulfilling the Law to redeem His people (Luke 2:52). The sermon underscores the practical significance of seeking Jesus, stressing that true faith involves more than mere assumption of His presence; it requires an active pursuit of Him through the Gospel and communal worship, warning against complacency in spirituality.

Key Quotes

“This entire passage shows us how committed they were to obeying and following that which God revealed in His Word.”

“Don't just suppose that he's with you. Never take that for granted.”

“If you're a searcher today, I'll tell you where you'll find him, in the gospel, in the scriptures, on his throne, ruling and reigning.”

“His entire life was about the father's business. He came here on the father's business.”

Sermon Transcript

Auto-generated transcript • May contain errors

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I led in a couple of choruses
and a song. And then after I preached, they
said, let's sing some more songs. Well, we didn't have a song book.
And there were several songs I figured they knew, at least
the first stanza. And so we must have sang 10 or
12 songs, at least the first stanza. I told Joe, I said, I'm
going to take him over there next time. I need a song leader. But we enjoyed singing very much. And I also wanted to say I appreciate
the men who spoke for me in my absence. I've heard very good
reports. And I'm thankful for Ron and
Alan and Brandon speaking this past Wednesday. And I appreciate
you wear the necktie when you preached. And don't think you
can dress as I dress over there behind this pulpit. He might
don't dress that way. But we're thankful to be back. Appreciate the safety God gave
us as we journeyed. And I'm thankful for his faithfulness. Well, let's bow and ask God's
blessings upon the service. Lord, we acknowledge your greatness
and your goodness in all things. We fall at your feet to worship. All honor and all glory, Lord,
is due unto thee. You created all things, and for
Thy pleasure they are and were created. And we meet this evening
according to Your eternal purpose, that Your name would be glorified,
that Your word would be faithfully proclaimed, and that Your dear,
only begotten Son would be exalted. Bless us sinners as we meet,
Thank you for the gift of your great salvation. Thank you for
your free and sovereign grace that you have bestowed upon us
in Christ even before the world began. So speak tonight, Lord,
as we gather together and do us some good and exalt your name. For Christ's sake, I pray. Amen. We know that Joseph and Mary
were devout followers of the Lord, and they loved the scriptures. They were both believers. Both
of them looked to Messiah for their salvation. Both of them
lived in expectation of that one who would save them from
their sins. It's interesting as you read
down through here, and I don't know that you noticed this as
Matt read for us, but it often says that they did what they
did out of great respect for God's law. Notice there are five
times the Spirit of God draws our attention to those things
that Mary and Joseph did. And they did these things because
they had respect for God's word, God's law. Look at verse 22. And when the days of her purification,
according to the law of Moses, were accomplished, They brought
Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord. Why did they do
this? Because of what God's Word said. Look at the next verse,
verse 23. As it is written in the law of
the Lord, every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy
and sanctified to the Lord. Verse 24. and offer a sacrifice
according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, a pair
of turtle doves or two young pigeons, that is one for a burnt
offering and one for a sin offering. And then drop down verse 27,
this is about this man Simeon. And he came by the Spirit into
the temple. And when the parents, when Joseph
and Mary brought in the child Jesus to do for Him after the
custom of the law. And once again in verse 39, and
when they had performed all things, according to the law of the Lord,
they returned into Galilee and into their own city of Nazareth. They had the greatest of respect
for the Word of God. This entire passage shows us
how committed they were to obeying and following that which God
revealed in his word. Here's a righteous couple. They're
just and they're devout. They're justified through the
imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. They're saved. Their sins have been forgiven.
They're right with God through Christ Jesus and the offering
that he would offer unto God on their behalf. But I would
remind you that not only were Joseph and Mary obedient to the
law of God, there's another one involved in all of this, and
that's the Savior himself. Yes, he is a little infant. at least as the reading began,
when we finished the reading, he was 12 years old. And then
the last verse, and I'll give you this, verse 52, Jesus increased
in wisdom and stature and in favor with God. That one verse
sums up 18 years. Eighteen years of our Lord's
life is summed up in those few words, He increased in wisdom
and stature and in favor with God. But He's involved in all
of this. Because you see, He was made
under God's law in order to redeem them that were under the law. And so in all points, in everything
that he did, he was obeying, he was fulfilling God's Word,
God's Law. He was made under the Law to
save us. from the condemnation of God's
law. God's law had a just case against
all of us. We have offended God in breaking
His law, and the law says the soul that sinned shall die. But our Lord Jesus came. He entered
into this world. He knew who He was, and He knew
who sent Him, and He knew the reason for being sent, to save
His people from their sins. While this had been appointed
to Him in old eternity in covenant grace, He obligated Himself unto
the Father to save those that the Father gifted to Him by His
free and sovereign grace. He came willingly, He came voluntarily,
but also He came because God chose Him and God sent Him to
do this work of redemption, and that which was due, that is,
the payment for all of our sins, it became due. He came in time
to fulfill that, to pay everything that we owed to the justice of
God. He's born of this virgin Mary. The Spirit of God conceived Him
in her womb. In fact, the angel of God said
unto her, that's a holy thing in you. That's a holy thing. That's the Son of God. And we
behold Him with amazement as He enters into this world just
an infant. Born as the result of the very
power of the Spirit of God coming upon her. And He's conceived
and then He's born. He's born like any other child
into this world. She had birth pains. and she
birthed the Son of God, the Lord Jesus, the Son of Man. He entered
into this world, but He knew, as I said, who He was and He
knew why He came, to save His people from their sins. When
He was eight days old, He was at that point circumcised. Circumcision
was not a picture of baptism. Be careful here. It wasn't a
picture of somebody sprinkling a baby. Circumcision was a picture of
regeneration, the new birth. You read the last couple of verses
of Romans chapter 2 on that. The circumcision which is not
of man but of God. We need to be wounded in the
heart. We need to be cut with the very
sword of the Spirit of the Lord. And that's what regeneration
is. Election, God chose us unto salvation. Redemption, our Lord Jesus redeemed
us. He bought us from the law of
God. He didn't buy us from Satan.
Satan was due no payment. He didn't buy us from demonic
forces. He bought us from the justice
of God that held us for ransom. And God said, release him and
let him go from the pit. I have found a ransom, the ransom
being the Lord Jesus Himself, the Savior of sinners. And He
is the One who entered into this world fully aware of his mission
because he took it upon himself in old eternity to redeem his
people from the curse of the law. So he was circumcised, a
picture of regeneration. And then he was officially given
his name. Male babies weren't officially
named until they were eight days old. His name is Jesus, which
indicates he shall save his people from their sins. And then verse
22, when the days of her purification, 40 days, 40 days, when the days
of her purification were accomplished, according to the law of God,
they brought him to Jerusalem. to present Him to the Lord. And they did this in obedience
to the law of God because the Lord, you see, the Lord had redeemed
the firstborn of Israel on the Passover night. And the Lord
said, then the firstborn, the male firstborn of man and beast,
God said, that's mine. That's what he said. They're
holy. That's sanctified unto me. And our Lord Jesus is, he
is called the firstborn of many brethren. And I would remind
you, in the Old Testament, the firstborn in any family was immediately
considered the priest of the family. And our Lord Jesus is
the firstborn of God. He's the priest of all of God's
family. He is the great high priest as
we talked about this morning. Well, they go to Jerusalem to
present Him to the Lord. Verse 23 says, as it is in the
law of the Lord, every male that openeth the womb shall be called
holy to the Lord and offer a sacrifice. Now this sacrifice was for Mary. You can read about it in the
book of Leviticus. But this was a sacrifice unto
God to purify her in a ceremonial way, reminding us of our need
of purification before God to be washed in the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if you were wealthy, you
could bring a calf or a a goat or a sheep, but Joseph and Mary
were poor, and so they brought just a couple of birds, and they
offered them to the Lord, took them to the priest. You know
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who though he was rich, yet became
poor, that we through his poverty might be rich. He was born into
a poor family. They didn't have much of this
world's goods. They had enough. God fully supplied
their needs. And God blessed Mary with this
son, the son of the highest. And as they entered into the
temple, and this is a fulfillment of Malachi chapter three and
verse one, The one whom you seek, he shall suddenly appear in his
temple. And one day, everybody's working
around the temple, the priests and so forth, and this man Simeon,
it was his turn to be serving in the temple. And all of a sudden,
the Messiah appeared in the temple in fulfillment of that which
the prophet had spoken. Like I said, Malachi chapter
three and verse one, And when he appeared in the arms of Mary,
and we've heard this story, we've preached on this story, we love
what's said here about Simeon. Our Lord was taken up in his
arms. And remember, our Lord now is about 48 days old. That's about a little bit better
than six weeks old. So he's still just a little fella.
Isn't that amazing? the Son of God, the Son of Man,
yea long, held in the mother's arms, and she brings him into
the temple, that place which he called at first, my father's
house. Where would you expect to find
the Lord Jesus but in his father's house? And that's where he appears,
in fulfillment of the scriptures. And there was a man there, his
name is Simeon. And he's waiting, he's waiting
for the consolation of Israel. And he came by the Spirit of
God. And he was the one who met Mary.
Now you got, people were bringing babies all of the time. And they
had many priests who were in attendance at the temple to meet
and greet people and then to offer sacrifice for them. But
he's the one God appointed in old eternity to meet Joseph and
Mary and take the Lord Jesus in his arms. And as he did so,
he said, I'm ready to die. Lord, now let us, Thy servant,
depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation. Let
me tell you something. None of the elect of God can
possibly die until they see God's great glory in the face of Christ
Jesus. All of the elect of God are going
to see Him by faith. They're going to believe Him.
They're going to be brought to rest in Him. God's ordained it. The elect of God are absolutely
immortal until, number one, they see Christ Jesus as God's Lamb,
as God's appointed Savior, as the one by whom God remains just
and yet justifies the ungodly. They see Christ Jesus by faith. Have you seen Him? And number two, they're immortal
until God gets through with them. And until then, Death is not
going to come your way. Those of us who are the people
of God, we should not fear death. The lives and the deaths of God's
people are in the Lord's hands, as are the lives and deaths of
all people. And when death comes for us,
it's not a cruel thing. It's a wonderful thing for the
child of God to be taken into the presence of the Savior. I
know it's hard on the family, there's no denying that. But
for that one who's a child of God, that's a glorious day. That's a happy day. I preached a funeral not long
ago down in North Carolina. And one of the sons spoke up
as I was preaching, and I said, this is a day of rejoicing. He
said, it's a day of celebration. That was his mother who passed
away. It's a day of celebration because she's with the Savior
where she wanted to be. She wanted to be in His presence.
She wanted to awake in His likeness. She wanted to see Him face to
face. She had been redeemed by His
blood, robed in His righteousness. She wanted to be with Him. Her
body was wore out. She longed for glory. She was
done with sin. She wanted to be done with sin.
And when she died, that's what her boys said, both of them.
This is a time of celebration. So old Simeon said, Take me now. Take me now. I've seen your salvation. Watch it. In fact, he even mentions
three things. He says in verse 30, my eyes
have seen thy salvation. He didn't see something, he saw
somebody. Salvation is in somebody. It's
not in a plan. It's not in some facts. It's
not in some doctrine. It's in somebody, Christ Jesus,
a real living, eternal person. To see Him is to know Him, and
to know Him is to have life eternal. And then he says, He's not only
thy salvation, he says in verse 32, He's the light. to lighten
the Gentiles. Who do you think enlightened
your darkened heart, your darkened mind? Who taught you about God? Who taught you about your neediness? Who taught you of the gospel
of God's grace? The light came in, it shined
into your heart. And then you saw what you'd never
seen before. You saw God the Savior. You saw
this has to be of grace. You came to the conclusion, it
sure isn't of me. This is of God. What happened?
Light filled your heart. And then he says this in the
rest of verse 32, and the glory of thy people Israel. He's our
glory. We don't glory in ourselves.
We glory in Him. To God be the glory, great things
He hath done. That's what we sing. Oh, to Christ
Jesus be all the glory. And Joseph and his mother just
marveled at the things that were spoken. Oh, Simeon bless them. He said to Mary, he said, behold,
this child is set. He's appointed. He's destined
for the fall and rising again of many in Israel and for a sign
which shall be spoken against. A sword shall pierce your own
soul that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. While
that's going on, as somebody came into the temple, her name
is Anna. She's the daughter of Phenuel.
Why is that little piece of information important? Do you know what Phenuel
means? The face of God. The face of God. His daughter
has seen the face of God. When Simeon held the Lord Jesus
in his arms, He's looking in the face of God, and Anna comes
in and she looks over there, and she sees the face of God.
And she's an old woman. She is an old woman, there's
no question about it. She had been married for seven
years, and she's been a widow for 84 years. We know that girls sometimes
got married as young as 12 years old then. Well, that'd make her
103 years old. But she's still a believer. See,
true believers don't quit. They don't quit. She served God with fastings
and prayers night and day. She just kept worshiping God. And verse 38 says, and she coming
in that instant, right when Simeon was holding that baby, that six
week old or so baby in his arms, she came in in that very instant. And she saw him. And she began
to speak to people who were looking for redemption. You're looking
for redemption? I've seen the Redeemer. That's
what she said. He's here. He's come. I've seen Him with my own eyes.
Brother Simeon is holding Him in his arms. I saw Him. I saw
Him. She said to everybody who's looking
for redemption. And then in verse 39, when they
had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, They
went back to Galilee, to their own city of Nazareth. So, they go home. And the scripture says in verse
40, that child grew. There's so much of our Lord's
humanity, His birth, His growth, His maturity, His increase of
stature and wisdom and knowledge, so much of that we can't understand. You'd have to be God to understand
all these things and we're not. But we believe, we believe. What
a declaration of the true humanity of the Savior in verse 40. And
the child grew, and he waxed strong in spirit, in his soul,
and he was filled with wisdom. Scripture says he was filled
with wisdom and knowledge. And the grace of God was upon
him. He had the grace of God without measure. He was full
of grace and truth. It's what the Scripture says.
He's so full of grace that He gives grace. And when He gives
grace, grace within Him is not diminished. So He gives grace
to all of His children all over the world throughout all of the
ages, and yet He is still full of grace, just as much as He
had when He started giving it away. And I'll tell you this,
He does give it. You don't earn it. You can't
buy it. You can't merit it. He gives
it. Here's his true humanity. His soul acts strong in spirit. And then we get to verse 41,
and I won't spend the rest of my time here. Searching for Jesus. Searching
for Jesus. Have you ever wondered, and I'm
sure you have, what was the early years of our Lord's life like? What did he do? How did he occupy
his time? What games did he play as a little
boy? Well, though we may honestly
say we have a curiosity about those things, it is needless,
needless to enter into it because if God wanted us to know, he'd
have told us. You see, God in this book, he
gives us the information that we need to know. I don't need
to know whether he worked in a carpenter shop or not. I don't
need to know the games that he played as a little boy, if indeed
he did. I don't need to know those things.
I need to know how God saved sinners and he saved sinners
through this man, Christ Jesus. That's what I need to know. I
need to know about the grace of God. It's what you need to
know too. The only event of our Lord's
young life that we have recorded as a young man It's set before
us right here. This is it. This is it. And remember two things before
I go on. Number one, Christ Jesus came
to save. I do know that. He came to save. He came to establish righteousness. He came to honor God. He came
to deal with our own sinfulness. He came to make peace with God
through His substitutionary sacrifice upon the cross of Calvary. He
came to honor God. I know that. And also I know
this, He is also our example. He's our example to live by. He is more than an example. I
know that He is the Savior, but He is still the example. He is
the greatest example of a man whose whole life was committed
to the honor and the glory of God. Want to learn how to live? Don't study the lives of the
old saints. Pick up some book and dust it
off and say, well, let me see how they lived. You've got the
Word of God. See how Christ lived. See how
His every breath was breathed for God's glory. How every deed
that He committed, every word that He spoke was to honor the
Father. You live like that. You want
a pattern? You want a pattern to go by?
It's Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus. And so I would
sum it up this way. Number one, he is the Redeemer
and he is the rule of life. That good enough summary? Right
there it is. He's the Redeemer and he's the
rule of life. Now note several things here.
I'll give them to you briefly. Number one, attendance at the
Passover. It was required for the men,
but optional for the women. Verse 41 says that his parents
went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover.
Here's a family going to worship God. I like that. Would you like
a family that comes to worship God, Alan? You preach to them?
That's what they did. They go to worship God as a family. Now, for Mary, attendance is
optional. For Joseph, it's mandatory. But he takes Jesus, and he takes
Mary, and they go to worship God. I tell you, the trip from
Nazareth to Jerusalem was not an easy trip, filled with dangers. But you know what? They realized
public worship is vital. And I'll tell you, the most important
thing of a believer's life is public worship. I'm really set
on that. It's just vital. It's so very important. Bring your children to worship.
That's what they brought the Lord Jesus to worship. Here's
something else. Number two, Jesus remained when
Joseph and Mary departed. Now he's 12 years old. This was
his father's house. This was a house of worship.
This was a house of prayer. He remained. He felt very much
at home there. This is where the Word of God
was read. This is where prayers were offered.
This is where the instruction of the Scriptures went forth.
And he stayed there even when Joseph and Mary left. And here's the third thing. Joseph
and Mary, they thought that he was in the group going back home
because they traveled in a caravan. The old writers say that the
women and the children went first as a group, and then the men
and the older children went in back of the women. And as they
leave, as they go back home in this caravan, no doubt Mary thought
he was with Joseph, Jesus was with Joseph, and Joseph thought
Jesus was with Mary. So there was no concern there. They supposed that he was in
the group. It's a very dangerous thing,
verse 44, but they supposing him to have been in the company
when a day's journey. It's a very dangerous thing to
just suppose that he's with you because you made a decision 25
or 30 years ago. You see, just because your name's
on the church roll doesn't mean it's written down in the Lamb's
Book of Life. Just because you got a certificate
of baptism doesn't mean that you've got the certificate of
salvation. I tell you, it can be a fatal
mistake to just suppose that Jesus is with you, and He's not. Just ask those folks in Matthew
chapter 7. They did all these things in
the name of Jesus. He said, I never knew you. You
supposed I was with you. I wasn't with you. Because you
weren't with me. You didn't agree with my way
of saving sinners. You were one of the works mongers. You did things for your glory. You were set on your righteousness.
You said, well, I've done all these good things for God, and
surely God has punched my ticket for heaven. I'm as good for heaven
as if I was already there. Is there anybody here? Is there
anybody out there I'm talking to? And you just suppose that
Jesus is with you? I'm going to tell you something.
I don't want to just suppose He's with me. I don't want to
take it for granted. Every day, every day, I'm looking
to Him. And if there ever comes a day
when you cease to look to Him, in reality, you never look to
Him at all. So they supposed that he had
been in the company, and they went a day's journey. A day's
journey is likened to a lifetime. It sure would be a shame for
you to have grown up under the gospel and go a day's journey,
thinking, the Lord's with me. I've been under the truth all
my life. It's one thing to be under the
truth and to hold to the truth. It's another thing for the truth
to hold you. Oh God, reach down into my heart
with your truth and take hold of me. I've had a lot of people
tell me, I hold to the doctrines of grace. Well, I wonder if the
doctrine of grace holds you. Big difference, isn't it? Big difference. They supposed
Him to have been with them. This is a real tragic supposition. Remember, He is the Son of God. He was right back then, 12 years
old. And Mary knew that, and Joseph
knew that. He's the Savior. They have a
precious treasure in their little family. You'd think they'd never
take their eyes off of Him, wouldn't you? This is Messiah. This is the One whose name is
Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace. This is Emmanuel, God with us. Mary, Joseph, keep your eyes
on Him all the time. That's what we should be doing. They took their eyes off of Him. And you know what that brought
them? Grief and heartache. You want grief and heartache?
You who are the people of God, take your eyes off Christ Jesus.
You're in for grief and heartache. People contact me. This has happened
for years, and it happens to every preacher of the gospel.
They want to tell me their problems, but they don't come hear the
gospel. And I'll say to them, you need
to be under the sound of the gospel. I've had people say,
when I get these things straightened out, I'll come. I do all my counseling. This
is my council chamber right here. This is where I try to help people.
And you see, you will be helped only as your eyes are focused
on the Son of God. Right there is your help. You
focus on your problems, you're going to be in trouble. You focus
on the great trial that you're facing, you're going to be miserable. You'll be like Joseph and Mary,
you'll go to pieces. What are you supposed to do,
preacher, when a trouble, a trial, a wave of grief comes your way? Look to the Savior. This is how
you live your life, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher
of our faith. That's right, isn't it, Alan?
That's right, isn't it, Ron? Look to Jesus. If I didn't know human nature
like I do, I'd say it's astounding they could take their eyes off
the promised seed of Abraham, David's Lord and David's son. They could take their eyes off
of him and not even be aware that he's not even in their midst. But I know human nature and we're
just like them. We are, and you know that. We take our eyes off of Him.
And there are people who look to the law of God. They'll look
to the ceremonies. They'll look to the ordinances.
They'll look everywhere looking for peace. I'm searching for
peace, and there's peace in Christ Jesus only. So here's a word of warning.
Don't just suppose that he's with you. Never take that for
granted. I know how religion is today.
You made your decision with Jesus years ago. Well, you don't have to worry
about anything now. When you get ready to die, you just bring
out that church membership piece of paper that they gave you or
that old faded certificate of baptism and say, yeah, I'm alright. I'm alright. No, you're not alright. You're not alright. Don't be haphazard and careless
pertaining to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's dangerous. Now you're flirting with damnation
now. Well, they began to seek for him. Scripture says, verse 44, they
sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. No need to
look for him among them, he's not there. Where are you going to find the
Lord Jesus? I'll tell you where you'll find him. If you're a
searcher today, I'll tell you where you'll find him, in the
gospel, in the scriptures, on his throne, ruling and reigning,
and you'll find him meeting with his people in public worship,
just like this. but you go ahead and seek him
among your kinfolk who believe a false gospel. I can tell you
right now, you're not gonna find him there. And you can go to the goat pastures
out here that preach a freewill, nonsensical gospel that is no
gospel indeed. You can go out there and seek
him, but he's not there either. Well, where is He to be found?
Where can I find Jesus? Where His gospel is proclaimed. Where He's magnified. Where He's
proclaimed as being the only Savior of sinners who actually
saved His people from their sins by substitutionary sacrifice. He's not a wannabe Savior. He is a successful Savior who
laid down His life for His sheep. Well, here's the next thing,
they found him in the temple. They went out one day, that's
one day lost, and then they come back, took another day to come
back. On the third day, they find him in the temple, asking
questions, listening to the answers. And I would suspect about the
Passover. And as he listened to those teachers,
And as the conversation turned toward the Passover lamb, he
listened because they were talking about him. They didn't know it, but he knew
it. They're teaching about him. They're
the Israelites in captivity and bondage. And God said, I'm gonna
redeem my people by the blood of the Passover lamb. And he
knew, I'm the lamb of God. I'm the lamb ordained from before
the foundation of the world, ordained to die. And then, now watch this. Look at verse 47. and all that heard him." Now,
he's been listening, asking questions of the teachers. That's verse
46. Verse 47, and all that heard
him were astonished at his understanding and answers. He was like a sponge. We got retired teachers in here. Didn't you like it when your
students were like sponges and they hung on every word? You're
talking about a sponge. He was. He listened to everything
they had to say and then he gave things back to them and they
said, wow, that's the best student we ever had. Nobody's ever had
such wisdom. Nobody's ever grasped these things. This is an exceptional young
man. Oh yes, he is. You have no idea
how exceptional he is. This is God's only begotten son
right here. And he spoke to them of things
that they didn't even know. And that just blew their poor
minds. They couldn't grasp it. They
were astonished. Astonished. And verse 48, and when they saw
him, Joseph and Mary, they were amazed, and his mother said unto
him, Son, why hast thou dealt, thus dealt with us? Behold thy
father. Now watch this. Thy father and
I have sought thee sorrowing. He said unto them, how is it
that you sought me? Wished ye not that I must be
about my father's business? You won't talk about my father?
That's with a capital F. You see that? What I'm doing here, you don't
understand, but I'm about my father's business. His entire life was about the
father's business. He came here on the father's
business. He was sent by the father to
save those gifted to him in old eternity. And boy, verse 50 says, and they
understood not the saying which he spake unto them. being the obedient son, verse
51, he went down with them. And he came to Nazareth and he
was subject to them because God's law said, honor thy father and
thy mother. He honored his father being about
his father's business. And he honored his mother, went
home with her. But his mother kept all of these
things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in statue. Now as God, he
had all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. There's no question
about that. As man, he increased in wisdom. I can't understand that. I can't
comprehend that. Once again, it shows the reality
of his humanity. But it says he increased in favor
with God and man. He was always in God's favor. And he just continued to increase
as the Father beheld him with the heart of a father. beholding
the obedience of his only begotten son, obedience that led him all
the way up to giving his life a ransom for his people. And he increased in favor with
man. And so for the next 18 years,
we don't hear any more about him. Searching for Jesus. I started
to give this message, this title, Has Anybody Seen Jesus? Has Anybody
Seen Jesus? Well, I tell you what, if you're
going to see Him, if you're going to find Him, you'll find Him
right in here. You'll find Him upon His glorified
throne in heaven, a King of kings and the Lord of lords. You'll
find him in the hearts of his people, and you'll find him wherever
his gospel is being faithfully proclaimed, and his name is magnified. Well, let's sing a closing
Jim Byrd
About Jim Byrd
Jim Byrd serves as a teacher and pastor of 13th Street Baptist Church in Ashland Kentucky, USA.

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