Open your Bible if you would
to Luke chapter 2. Luke chapter 2. The name of the
message is God's Salvation. God's Salvation. Now God's Salvation
is not in a process or a step, three-step thing to do or something
that man may perform. No, God's Salvation is in a person. It's in a person and that person's
name is the Lord Jesus Christ. who is provided by God and sent
by God to this world to save his people from their sins 2,000
years ago. And the man who came down from
heaven, or the man, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the God-man.
He's God incarnated in the flesh. He's the Word of God become a
man. fully God and fully man. Turn, if you would, to Luke chapter
2 and we will read verses 25 to 30. We see a man called Simeon who holds the Lord Jesus Christ
in his hands. And the Lord Jesus Christ at
this time is just a little baby born to Mary. At this time, Simeon
will proclaim that the Lord Jesus Christ is God's salvation. planned
and purposed by God and provided by God to save chosen sinners
who are called his people in Matthew 121. His people, called
the elect in scripture, called children of God, my, called the
beloved. Luke chapter 2 verse 25 to 30,
the scripture declares, 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. He's waiting for the
Messiah to come. He's waiting for the long-promised
Messiah, and the Holy Ghost was upon him. This is one of the
Lord's sheep, looking for the Messiah. And it was revealed
unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before
he had seen the Lord's Christ, or the Lord's Messiah, the sent
one of God, the one who came to save his people from their
sins, the very one Abraham looked to by faith, the very one Moses
looked to by faith, the very one we look to by faith, that
he would see 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 unto
the temple. And when the parents brought
in the child Jesus to do for him after the custom of the law,
then took he up in his arms and blessed God and said, now look
at this, verses 29 and 30. Look at the proclamation of this
man, Simeon, who had been promised that he would not see death until
he saw the Lord's Messiah. It says, Lord, now lettest thou
servant depart in peace, according to thy word, for mine eyes have
seen thy salvation. Oh, what wonderful words. For
we believers in Christ, we've seen by faith not with our physical
eyes, but with spiritual eyes. We've seen God's salvation, planned
and purposed by God for eternity, the Lamb slain from before the
foundation of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ, the only Savior
of sinners. And Simeon here sees him face
to face, beloved. in this wonderful, wonderful
declaration. For my eyes have seen thy salvation. God's salvation is not in a formula. God's salvation is a person.
The Lord Jesus Christ, the perfect man, totally sinless in thought,
word, and deed, the sinless, perfect, spotless Lamb of God,
provided by God, sent by God to redeem His people from their
sins by the shedding and the giving of His life, the shedding
of His precious blood on Calvary's cross. Oh, it's wonderful. It's wonderful. Now think of
this too. Simeon found Christ in the temple
according to the promise of God. It was a gracious promise of
God that brought him to the right place, where people find Christ. Note, they're led by the Holy
Spirit of God. We don't willingly come to Christ. We're led by the Holy Spirit
of God. And what a picture we have here. Look at Luke 2.27. And he came by the Spirit into
the temple. He's led by the Holy Spirit to Christ. to Christ beloved,
just like we are. We're led by the Holy Spirit
to Christ. Oh, he willingly came, didn't
he? Oh yeah, he's looking for the
Messiah. He's looking for God's Messiah,
sent by God. He's looking for him. And he's
come by the Spirit in the temple. And when the parents bought him
the child to do for him after the custom of the law, then he
took him in his arms and blessed God. Oh, my. Simeon took the Lord Jesus Christ
into his arms as a little babe. And here's this little babe lying
in his arms, and look what he says. For mine eyes have seen
thy salvation. Oh, he's seen God's salvation,
beloved. He's looking at him. And salvation's
in the person, isn't it? It's in the person. It's not
in something we do. It's in the person. It's in the
Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. My. Again, we never come of our
own will or understanding. We must be drawn by the Spirit
to Christ. We must be born again by the
Holy Spirit. We must be granted faith to see
Christ, to look to Him as the only Savior of sinners. And God, the Holy Spirit, gives
us faith. to trust Christ, to rest in Christ. Gives us repentance
before God, faith and repentance like the same piece of paper.
If you have faith, you're gonna have repentance before God. Oh,
they're both gifts of God, beloved. And so we see that there's no
salvation outside of this person right here. There's no salvation
outside of the Lord Jesus Christ, because note, In Luke 2.30, this
is God's salvation. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation. God given salvation in and through
the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh my. Salvation shows us that,
Simeon shows us that Christ is God's salvation. He is salvation
itself. is the essence of who he is,
lies in who he is. The reason he's God's salvation
is because of who he is. He's the Son of God. He's the
Word of God became flesh. He's God incarnate in the flesh.
And there's no salvation. There's no salvation when the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ is left out. And there's no salvation
when you mix any kind of man's works in with Christ. It's Christ
alone or there's no salvation. It is none. And had Christ not
been a man, he could not have died. Had he not been God, his
death would have no value to redeem us. But because he's God
and man, he can die as a man. And because he's God, he can
redeem his people from all their sins, beloved. He's the Messiah
we see, the sent one, the God-man. He's the only salvation there
is. He's God's salvation, beloved, the Lord Jesus Christ. And God
the Father purposes the salvation of his people in and through
the Lord Jesus Christ. God the Father in eternity, before
there ever was a world or before there was ever anything, God
the Father chose a people in Christ. For the foundation of the world,
Ephesians 1, 4 says. And then God the Father sends
the Lord Jesus Christ, who's the lamb slain before the foundation
of the world. He sends him into this world.
to save sinners, to save me, a sinner. I stand before you,
a sinner, saved by grace, saved by God's salvation, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And I say, praise his mighty
name along with the other saints of God. Oh my, what a salvation
we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. What a salvation we have in Him.
God the Father gave us to Christ in eternity. And God the Father
put His purpose and plan to save sinners into action when He sent
the Lord Jesus Christ into this world to save sinners such as
me, such as we. Oh my. He sent the Lord Jesus Christ
to this sin-cursed world to save his people from their sins. How?
By the sacrifice of himself. When he died on Calvary's cross,
he's the sinless man dying for sinners. Oh, he's God dying for
the ungodly. What a Redeemer. What a Savior
is Jesus Christ, our Lord. And here's the good news of the
gospel. God sent Christ into this world to save sinners. The
question is, are you a sinner? Has God shown you're a sinner?
Everybody in this world is a sinner, whether we believe it or not.
But God shows some of us that we're true sinners, that we're
bona fide sinners, that we need Christ so desperately, and we're
led by the Spirit to Christ, born again by his almighty power
and given faith to look to him. And it's God, only God, who made
us to differ. So we say to you, sinner friend,
flee to Christ. He's the only hope for sinners.
He sent into this world to save sinners. Oh, and we who are the
born-again, blood-washed children of God, we're proof of that.
We're proof of that, that He saved sinners. Oh, He didn't
turn us away when we came to Him. Praise His mighty name. Oh, and all who come to him drawn
by the Holy Spirit of God. You may not have a care for him,
and then all of a sudden you start getting an interest in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, and then you start wanting
to hear the gospel. Oh, and then you start really
hearing something, and you hear we're just sinners who desperately
need Christ. And by the grace and mercy of
God, When we're born again, we cry out, oh, Lord, save me. Save
me from all my sins, Lord. I'm a sinner who needs thee.
My, oh, my. Our great God is glorious. He saves sinners. He saves bonafide
sinners. Hell's full of good people, and
heaven's full of sinners saved by grace. supposed good people
in hell, people who thought, well, I don't need Christ. But
heaven's full of saved sinners, redeemed by the precious blood
of God's salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ, praise
his mighty name. And he was sent into this world
to shed his blood See, this is not just the blood of a mere
man, this is the blood of the God-man, the sinless, perfect
Lamb of God that was pictured in the Old Testament sacrifices.
Shadows and types in the Old Testament sacrifices. And it
was pictured with Abraham. Abraham brings Isaac up to the
mount. He gets ready to raise a knife
to slay his son, and God says, stop. And there's a ram caught
in the thicket. And he goes and gets that ram
out, and that's a substitute. That's a substitute, and he sacrifices
that ram. That pictures the Lord Jesus
Christ being sacrificed as our substitute. As a substitute of
God's people, in our room and place, for our sins. He's innocent. I'm the guilty one. Oh my. He dies in the room and place
of his people. It's absolutely amazing. And Simeon came to that
temple. that day, looking for God's salvation. He's led by the Spirit. And now
there was many who rose up in that day saying, I'm the Messiah,
I'm the Messiah, but the Holy Spirit didn't lead Simeon to
them, because they weren't the Messiah. But when God, the Holy
Spirit moves on us, we'll never be content with any other salvation,
because no other salvation can save. There's only salvation in the
Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I am the way. The way
to what? The way to God. Oh, I'm the truth. He's truth incarnate. He's the
word of God. And I'm the life. Oh, there's
only eternal life in Him, not by anything we do, but all by
what He's done. He's God's salvation. Listen
to this in Acts chapter 4 verses 10 to 12. Be it known unto you
all, to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth, whom he crucified, Peter's talking to the Jews here,
whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand
before you whole. Peter's standing beside the man
who was healed at the gate, called Beautiful. This man never walked.
Never walked. And Peter said, in the name of
Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And by the power
of God, that man walked. He got up and walked. And he
was leaping and jumping and praising God. And now him and Peter and
John are bought before the Sanhedrin. And he says, this stone which
was set at nought of you builders, which has become the head of
the corner. I'll read this again. Be it known unto you all, unto
all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ,
whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by
him this man doth stand before you whole. He's walking, he's
leaping, he's praising God. This is the stone being Christ,
which what said it not of you builders, which has become the
head of the corner. Christ is the head of the church.
He's the head. And in this beautiful statement
by Peter about God's salvation, and that's Christ, it's in a
person, right? Neither is there salvation in any other! Not Mary,
not Buddha, not Muhammad, not all these different false gods
in this world. Neither is there salvation in
any other! For there's none other name given
among heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Neither
is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name
under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. The
Lord Jesus Christ is God's salvation. Here is the salvation which God
has promised for eternity to bestow on his people. His name
is the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the salvation of which
the prophets spoke. This is the salvation to which
all the symbols pointed, all the shadows and types in the
Old Testament pointed to the Messiah, pointed to the Lord's
Christ, pointed to God's salvation, pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ. My, oh my. Oh, the law and the prophets,
they testified of Christ. And the law of God was never
given to save us, beloved. No. It was given to point us
to Christ, to show us our insufficiency, to show us that we could not
save ourselves, beloved. All the law can do is kill, condemn,
But God's salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ, He came to save
sinners. And praise God, He cries these
beautiful words about the salvation of God's people. Now let this
sink in for us. It is finished! We're complete in Christ, beloved! Oh, beloved of God, if you have
seen Christ, You've seen all his work of redemption. You,
by the grace and mercy of God, know who he is. There was a time
when we didn't know who he is. Now we know who he is. He's God's
salvation. Now we know why he came. He came
to save sinners. He came to save sinners. That's
why he came to this world. Now we know how he came. He was
sent by God. The Word of God was in heaven
and becomes a man sent by God to save his people from their
sins. What great love must have motivated
them to do that. It's called the everlasting love
of God and it's absolutely wonderful and beautiful. And because of
God's holiness, we can't stand in the presence of God. So motivated
by the everlasting love of God, God the Father sends the Lord
Jesus Christ, the word of God, into this world to become a man,
to save us from our sins, that we might receive the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ so that we can be in the presence of
our holy and righteous God. It's absolutely amazing. Christ
came to save us from our sins. He came to save us from the wrath
of God. And he did it, beloved. He did
it. My, oh my. So now we know how
he came. We know why he came. And we know
what he did when he came here. By the grace of God, now we know
what he did. He saved sinners. And we who are born again say,
He saved me. Praise His mighty name. Oh, and
now we know where He is now. He's back in glory, blood. He's
ruling and reigning right now. You know, He's not waiting to
reign. You think God would be waiting to reign? He's reigning
already. He's on the sovereign throne
of power, beloved. He's God. Oh, my. And he's mediating for his people.
That's what he's doing. Oh, Jesus Christ is God's salvation. And for the believer, he's my
salvation. He's my salvation. You know what? He's complete
salvation. He's so complete that there's
nothing for me to do or for you to do. Ain't that amazing? You ever heard of a God like
that? That's the true God. You ever hear salvation like
that? That's true salvation. Jesus Christ is God's salvation.
Provided, planned, provided, purposed, sent, completed. He did it all. He didn't say,
well, it's mostly finished, now the rest is up to you. No. He said it is finished. Finished! Praise God. My, oh my. Salvation is finished. He's complete with salvation.
Listen to this. He that believeth in him hath everlasting life. Look at that. He that believeth
in him hath everlasting life. My. Rejoice, beloved God, we
are saved from all our sin in and through the Lord Jesus Christ,
God's salvation. God's salvation. And praise God, the Lord Jesus
Christ has purchased his people with his blood. With his blood. All that was required for our
salvation, everything, Now let this sink in. Everything that
was required for our salvation was all done by Christ. All done by Him. That's why the
scripture says salvation's of the Lord. Religion says, well,
salvation's by the Lord, and then you've got to produce evidence
of the Spirit. Well, it's called the fruit of
the Spirit. It's God working in us. And as we grow in grace,
we don't see ourselves getting better, beloved. We see ourselves
getting worse and worse. Because we're being conformed
to the image of Christ. Isn't it wonderful? We see our
sin more now than we've ever seen it before. My, but praise God, we're redeemed
by the blood. And you know what it is that
constrains us from sin? It's the love of Christ. It's
the love of Christ, beloved. It's not rules and regulations.
It's the love of Christ. That Christ did this for me.
That God sent his salvation for me. To save me from all my sins. Praise his mighty name. That's
what constrains us from sin. My. God's salvation is perfect salvation
because it's performed and done by God. It's purposed by God.
It's executed by God. It's performed by God. It's perfected
by God. It's God's salvation. It's all
in Christ. It's all in Christ. We just look
to him by God-given faith. That's amazing. My, we muddle
the waters, don't we? We humans muddle the waters,
don't we? Look unto me, and be ye saved. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Oh my! The question is, have
you believed on Christ? Flee to him, sinner friend, because
this is just one sinner telling other sinners where to find bread.
The Lord Jesus Christ has purchased his people with his blood. And
all that was required for our redemption is completely finished
by the Lord Jesus Christ. By His, listen to this, perfect
work of salvation. His perfect sin-atoning work. It's perfect. Christ's work of
salvation is perfect. And because He lives, we're led,
beloved. And the Lord laid on him the
iniquity of us all. He laid our sins upon Christ,
and Christ bore it all. He obtained eternal salvation,
and his blood was shed to redeem us, to purchase us out from under
the law, beloved. It was a wonderful salvation. So do not look for any part of
this salvation, God's salvation, to finish for yourself. This is God's salvation. The
Lord Jesus Christ is God's salvation. This is the good news of the
gospel. Christ saves sinners. Christ redeems sinners at Calvary's
cross. Oh my, so take God's salvation
into your arms as your own, embrace him. and you will have all the
life you need. No wonder Simeon said, Lord,
now let us thou thy servant depart in peace, because Christ is our
peace with God. We have no other peace. And then
he says, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. And we believers,
we see Christ with eyes of faith, don't we? We looked at him. Oh, he's wonderful. He's the
fairest of 10,000 to my soul. He saved me from all my sins.
So, sinner friend, may you find all your salvation in the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is God's salvation, provided for sinners. The only
one who can save sinners is the Lord Jesus Christ, is the one
who's called God's salvation, the one who, Simeon said, I've
seen thy salvation, and it's in a person. Again, it's not
a formula. It's not something you do. Salvation,
God's salvation is in person. His name is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved. Amen and amen.