Our brother Mike is going to read scripture for us and lead us in prayer. Would you all please stand?

Do you want them to stand to read the scripture? Yes. This morning we're reading from Isaiah 53. We're going to take a little break from the Psalms today because it's Christmas this week and it's just an amazing thing that the prophet Isaiah from 2700 years ago prophesied and every prophecy has come true.

Isaiah 53 verses 1 through 12

he who have believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed for he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground he hath no form or comeliness and then we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire him he is despised and rejected of men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and we esteemed him not.

Surely he hath borne our griefs, he carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord had laid on him the iniquities of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is done, so he openeth not his mouth.

He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off of the land of the living, for the transgression of my people was he stricken. and he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death, because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him, and he hath put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, and he shall bear their iniquities.

Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoiled with the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors. And he bear the sin of many, and make intercession for the transgressors.

Our dear Heavenly Father, we humbly come to you Thank you for this time for this worship service. We pray that you'd bless your word, Lord. Bless your word to our heart. Cast out any worldly concerns and thoughts. Pray that you'd bless our pastor with boldness and utterance. Give us eyes and ears to understand as only the Holy Spirit can do, Lord. We pray that we would glorify you in the songs that we sing, and everything that we do would be good in your sight, Lord. We thank you and praise you in Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen. Thank you brother, thank you so much. Turn in your Bibles to the second chapter of Luke. Luke chapter 2.

This is a wonderful time of year. We're a little different, though, in the way we look at it as a wonderful time of year. We don't know when, what time of year the Lord was truly born. Scriptures give us little idea, and there are those who go through and think that they've figured it out enough to make December 2nd.

What's wonderful about it is this. This is a time for family to get together. Kathy and I, as you know, have been doing so much traveling. We were down in Texas visiting our son. We were up in Medford visiting my daughter. And I, most of you know the situation with my daughter and I, and Kathy and I, and the door's not been opened yet. But I have hope. I have such a great hope. My hope is not in anything I see with these eyes. I don't have any hope in what I see in you folks here. My hope's in Christ. That's the only place I can have any hope. He's perfect in everything He's done. And when He tells us, when He says to you and I, there's no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus as we read in Romans 8 verse 1. It doesn't just apply to me. It applies to my daughter, if she belongs to him. I know she's walking a different life right now. I know it seems to be a path. Well, you know what? My son's on the same path. He's maybe not going down the exact same path, but he's on a path to the world.

So this is family time. We can spend time with those that we love, who we would love to hear. And the world seems to be so acceptable of talking about Christ right now, even though most of them don't talk about the true God, the Lord Jesus himself. They don't talk about him in truth, according to scriptures. They still talk about him. You see, there was a man who walked this earth, and every religion has mentioned it, including the Koran. Oh, they talk about Him as a prophet, but they still talk about Him. They still mention Him.

The glorious aspect of what God did, it's so wonderful that even the wicked, even the wicked, and we know what that means. We used to be walking that very same path of fulfilling the desires of the flesh, looking for a Jesus that fit our path, maybe. fit what we wanted from him. So this is a wonderful time of the year to come together with family. It seems like people just have more of a love for their brethren, for the people around them. It seems like we do more to help those who can't help themselves. What a great time to spend in this world that we might have the opportunity to speak of the true and living God, the Lord Jesus Christ.

We're going to look at a lot of scripture. I'm going to spend most of my time, our time this morning, reading scripture. So I'd like to begin in Luke chapter 2 beginning at verse 1. And it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus.

Now, I want to stop there for a moment. Who's the one behind this decree? That's it. Absolutely. Amen. The sovereign Lord of all that is. You know, people, since I was a little kid, I've heard about this one called the Lord, who is even in control of the dust. that comes down. You can look in this window when the sun's shining through and you see, yeah, I'm not very clean. I know, there's dust. And I remember, when I was a little kid, I remember the pastor doing that very same thing. See, that's the Lord. That's the Lord who works all of that. Every snowflake, the Lord has got His stamp on it.

So, we could really kind of read it this way, and it came to pass, that God's purpose in those days was service, was served. And there went out a decree of Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. Caesar was the big guy at the time. All the world should be taxed. And this taxing was first made when Serenius was governor of Syria. And all went to be taxed, everyone into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into Judea and the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and the lineage of David, to be taxed with Mary, his espoused wife, being great with child. should be delivered.

And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Now I want you to go over to verse 25 with me. So we see here the picture the Lord has painted, inspired inspired Luke to write the picture of the two as they came into Bethlehem. And we know the story, the star, the manger, and all of that. And then over here, we jump forward a few years, and look at verse 25 with me.

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, speaking of Mary and Joseph, brought in the child Jesus, To do for him after the custom of the law, they took him up. Then took he up in his arms. Then Simeon took this child up in his arms and blessed God and said, verse 29 now, Lord, now let us thy servant depart in peace according to thy word. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Mine eyes have seen thine salvation.

I want to bring you folks on a little tour today. I want you to see this child, this child who grew up, this child who walked this earth, Thy salvation.

You see, as sinners, we understand that there's nothing in us of any good that would warrant God to look on us by anything other than a worm. I'm just like Adam. Not like Adam was, I'm like Adam is. I'm like Adam was after he had sinned against God. And every single one of you are exactly that very same thing.

Now you notice I'm doing this, I'm pointing my finger, but there's three of them that are pointing back at me. Because I'm the worst sinner that I know. I'm thankful that I don't know your sins. I don't want to know. You need some help getting past some things. I'll do everything I possibly can, but I don't need to know your sins. Telling me your sins is not going to relieve you of them. Confessing them to Christ is the only thing that will. Confessing what we are inside to the Lord Jesus is the only thing that will give us any comfort, and even that is something that we can't do unless God does something in us first.

You see, we have to be shown that we're sinners. We have to be shown. For us to see God's salvation, for us to see who He is, The Spirit has to do a work in us. He's got to give us life. We're all dead in trespasses and sin. Isn't that what the Scripture tells us? Folks, I can look back at my life before the Lord called me out of darkness, and I'll tell you, I was dead. Spiritually dead. There was nothing in me that had any desire to look to Christ for anything. It was all about John. And I see you all, I see several of you bouncing your heads up and down. It's not about John, it's about you, isn't it? It was about you before the Lord called us. Before the Lord gave us life, that we would see the light of life, the Lord Jesus.

And we see it in His Word. It's in the preaching of His Word. Simeon, he held the Lord Jesus in His hands. Do you know you and I hold the Lord Jesus in our hands? Really? Yeah. Is He not the Word of God? Is not the entire Word of God all about Him? We mentioned this in our Bible study this morning, the hymn book. Oh, might not have been as good as holding Him in our physical hands. But we, folks, we live by faith. We walk by faith. We walk in the belief of who he is. We walk in the belief that as Jesus, as God in the flesh, everything he did was right. Everything he did was perfect.

It still amazes me to this very day that God was made sin. The Lord Jesus, who knew no sin, was made sin that I would be made righteous. The righteousness of God. Not the righteousness of John Rhys, there is none there. Not the righteousness of some other man, but the righteousness of God in him.

Oh. I hope that you're seeing Christ today. I hope you're doing what John the Baptist said. Behold! Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. We know when we look back that we never did that before. The Lord Jesus Christ is Himself. God's. salvation. That's what Simeon was saying. This one whom he held in his hand, this one whom we read about from cover to cover, this is the one that is God's salvation. When Simeon said, I have seen thy salvation, he was talking about Christ.

We like to talk about those who preach the gospel. Well, what is the gospel? Some say it's just the good news. No, folks, the gospel is Christ. The gospel is Christ and Him crucified for a people, not for the whole world. He didn't die for the whole world. He clearly says in John chapter 17, verse 9, I pray for them that thou hast given me. I pray not for the world. If my Lord Jesus Christ died for the whole world, then the whole world would be saved. Or He's not God.

Look over 1 Timothy chapter 3. We're going to read several verses here. I know I said that earlier and then I went on talking like I knew what I was doing. Look at verse 16. 1 Timothy chapter 3, verse 16, and without controversy. I don't debate, folks. I don't stand around and debate about what Scripture means. I read it. I declare it. And without controversy, great of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, and seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up into glory.

Now turn over to Matthew chapter 20. Go to the left over to the beginning of the New Testament. Chapter 20. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, this very one that Simeon held in His arms, who He declared, I have seen thy salvation. Look here at verse 28. Matthew chapter 20, verse 28. Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give His life a ransom for many.

You know, that ransom He gave, as we read in our Bible study this morning over in Hebrews chapter 10, by one offering, by one offering, that very one, this one who laid down His life, this one who came to minister and give His life for the ransom of many, that one offering perfected forever them that are sanctified, them who are set apart by God.

Look over at Galatians chapter 4. Go over to Galatians chapter 4. You got Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians. In Galatians chapter 4, there's two verses I want to look at with you there. We're talking about that one, who Simeon held up. That very One who He held up in His arms and He said, I have seen Thy salvation. That's our subject for today if you haven't got it by the way. I hope God shows you His salvation.

Look here at verses 4 and 5. But when the fullness of time. .. This is Galatians 4 verse 4. But when the fullness of time was come, You know what that means? That's taking two parties who have been separated. We were separated when Adam fell in that garden. All mankind were separated from God. He can't look on sin, folks. God cannot be in the presence of sin. Yet He sent His Son in the likeness of sin to walk this earth for us, didn't He? This is good news. This is the Gospel. This is what points sinners to Christ.

When the fullness of time has come, God said, for this Son made of woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. Go to the right a little further to Philippians, just the other side of Colossians. Just the other side of Ephesians, before Colossians. Go to Philippians chapter 2. Flip in chapter 2 verses 5 through 8.

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And then here in verse 8. Grab a hold of this, folks. This is that one that Simeon said, I have seen thy salvation. It wasn't just that child, but it was what that child represented. It was what that child was going to do. It was going to grow up in perfect harmony with God Almighty, which no man can do. He was going to walk this earth establishing a righteousness that was perfect before God for you and I. That's what it means when he was made sin, he who knew no sin, that we would be the righteousness of God. Christ did that. We can't do that. There's nothing I can do that is anything of righteousness. That's why I need another. I need a substitute. Not only do I need a substitute to go to the cross and die in my stead, I need one who walked perfectly. That's what the Lord Jesus did.

Oh, that's so hard for us to understand in this flesh. We go through this life, people break promises, people do this, people do that. There's so much going on in the world, we just shake our heads. How can people do that to each other? I used to do that! And if I'm not careful and prayerful, I'll do it again. Oh, folks. Let this mind be in you which is also in Christ Jesus. who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men and being found in that fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Turn over to John 14, look at one more if you would. Our Lord says this, we're talking about God's salvation. My question for you today is, have you seen Thy salvation? His salvation? Have you seen God in the flesh? In the sixth verse of John 14, our Lord speaks these words. He says, I am the way, the truth, and life. No man cometh unto the Father but by Me."

Remember the story of the Lord when He was speaking to His disciples? He asked them, He says, what do the people think of Me? What say the people about Me? Oh, well, you know, some say you're a prophet of one kind or another. Some say you're this, some say you're that. And then the Lord looked him in the face and he said, what say ye of me? Peter stepped right up to it. And he said, why thou art the son of the living God. And Christ said, blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed this, but my Father, which is in heaven. upon the rock, upon the statement, what say ye of me? Why you, Lord, my Lord, are the Son of the living God. That's His salvation. That's the one He sent here to die in our stead. that you and I would live in Him for eternity. That's the rock the Lord says I will build my church upon, and the gates of hell shall not prevail. The fact that He is God Almighty in the flesh, He is the Son of the living God.

It is good to see salvation in the works of Christ, His glorious incarnation, His life of righteousness, His effectual atonement, His mighty resurrection. Did you know when the Lord spoke of His death, every time He said this, and in three days I shall rise again. That's one who's confident about what he has purposed shall come to pass. Isn't that what the Lord tells us in the Old Testament? If I had purposed it, shall it not come to pass?

That's why this Jesus that the world wants to serve so badly is such an imitation. I don't know, Chris, if you noticed it or not, but there's a poster that our brother Mike Loveless made for me, and we put it up there above the walkway. It says, if your God is trying, if He's trying to save somebody, if He's trying to save some people out of the world, your preacher is lying. The Creator of all that is has never tried to do anything. He does what He has purposed to do.

That child, that one who would grow up and hang on the cross, did exactly what He had come here to do, and that was to die. That's what we read again in the 10th chapter of Hebrews. A body was prepared. He came to do His Father's will. What's His Father's will? That He should lose none. That's His Word, not mine.

In the 8th chapter of Romans, the reason Paul is so confident that nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus is because it's God who's doing it. It's not something we have any ability to do, let alone responsibility of. Folks, Jesus Christ is the faithful one. Don't look to me for any faithfulness. Don't look to yourself for any faithfulness. Look to Him who is perfectly faithful.

Our Lord's triumph and accession and His gracious intercession for us right now as He sits on His throne working all things out for our good. Without these things, we could never have been saved. But it is our Lord's gracious person that makes all of his work effectual. Could you imagine, Mike, if it was something other than Christ that we had to depend on to be saved? We wouldn't have any insurance. If it had something to do with this world to be saved, we wouldn't have any assurance.

A statement was made. to me that we are saved by faith. I had to correct that. No, we're not saved by faith. We're saved by grace. Not only are we saved by grace, Christ Jesus is that grace. Everywhere where it talks about faith, it's through faith. That means we have to believe God. We have to believe His Word. We have to believe what His Word tells us about Him. But it's still grace. Because if it wasn't for his grace, we wouldn't believe at all. Even our belief is by his gracious, merciful, loving hand.

Had he not been a man like us, he could not have died as our substitute. Had He not been God, His dying could have never availed of our redemption. Look over Isaiah chapter 9, if you would. Go over to Isaiah chapter 9. I want to look at one verse over there, and there's a lot in this verse. A lot of men will be using this verse for their Sunday services or their Christmas services, whatever they have on Wednesday. Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6. Unto us. You can stop right there. We can expound on that for a few minutes, right there. Not unto the world, not unto all mankind. Not unto everybody who's walked this earth, but unto us. The whosoever believeth. The ones who have received the gift of God, who have been enlightened.

Oh, John, you're calling yourself enlightened? Yes! If it wasn't for Him enlightening me, I wouldn't know anything about it. I'd still be running around like I was back when I was 40 years old, doing the things that pleased John, and John alone. I'd have no regard for Him, for who He is. It wouldn't break my heart that I sin against Him every time I think, every time I do anything.

Our Lord says, Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. I pray the Lord loves me. For if I'm one whom He hates, then I will receive my just reward. But if I'm one who he's loved, his son came here to die for me. And that's the way it is with every one of those who belong to him. A number that no man can count throughout every tribe, throughout every tongue, throughout every nation, throughout all time.

I was talking with Chris earlier about this. So few in the world. He travels quite a bit, and he's been to a lot of different churches, and a lot of them hadn't heard anything. So few. It's so sad. It so breaks our heart. But that's what the Lord has told us. Elect. That election might stand. God chose between two. It's not that I'm standing here before you and going, look at me! I'm loved of God! It's look at me! One so undeserving, yet God still loves some. Maybe He loves you too. If He does, He'll be showing you. Here's my salvation. My Son, the Lord Jesus. who came to the world and died for your sins.

Unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. A child who could come into this world, who would die in this world, is the son of God. He was born And God the Father had given him unto you and I, and the government, everything that runs, everything that we can imagine, everything we can't imagine, all that is, the government shall be upon his shoulder. And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

It is who Christ is that gives virtue and merit to what He has done. My friends, Christ Jesus is the only salvation there is. That's what we read in John 14, verse 6. He says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me.

The Holy Spirit tells us that Simeon was a just and devout man, yet he did not rely upon his goodness for the acceptance of God. Simeon, who observed the ceremonies and ordinances of worship as God prescribed them in his days, but he found no hope of salvation in those things that he did. His hope God's salvation was in this one who the Lord had brought into this world as His Son.

Are you catching the idea of what God's salvation is? It's not in what we do. It's not in anything of this kind. It says in Romans 3 verse 20, Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For by the law is the knowledge of sin. Simeon trusted Christ alone. When Simeon said, Mine eyes have seen thy salvation, he was saying that the Lord Jesus Christ is the whole of salvation.

Turn over to 1 Corinthians chapter 1 if you would. Look at verse 30. Grasp a hold of this. But of him. Now let's read verses 29-31. That no flesh should glory in his presence. This is why Simeon had no confidence in his devoutness, in his holiness, in his doing the things that God had instructed him to do. There was no confidence in that, but in the one that he held in his arms.

It says in verse 30, But of Him, but of God, are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom. All the wisdom we need, folks, is in Him.

It was 1999 when I first heard the Gospel preached. I don't know how many years ago that was. I forgot what I was going to say. We'll go on.

In him. In him. All the wisdom in him. Christ Jesus is my wisdom and my righteousness and my sanctification and my redemption. Everything I've heard over the last 26 years, 27 years, whatever it's been, has been Christ. The man who stood in this pulpit before me, And I pray that the Lord will continue this with me as well, has always been the message of Christ in Him crucified.

People have come and gone from this church over and over again who have said, that's not enough, I need more, I need to learn this, I need to do this, I need to know more about how the Spirit does works in us, I need to know about how I should walk with God. over and over and over again, Christ and Him crucified is all the wisdom I've needed. How about you? You've been coming here a lot longer than I have. You've been coming here a lot longer than I have. You've heard the same thing. That young man right there has been coming longer than I have and he's heard the same thing. You two ladies as well.

When Christ is your righteousness, when Christ is your sanctification, when Christ is your redemption, you don't need anything else. I need that. I need Christ in all those different points that God has made in me, made me in Him. I need those things because in this flesh I'm nothing but a sinner. Christ is salvation. He that gets Christ gets full, complete, perfect salvation.

When God You read in Ephesians 1, verse 3, that all spiritual blessings in heavenly places are in Him. And He will not withhold any good thing for those to whom His sign is given. Look over at Romans 8. Another one of those pages that all I've got to do is open the Bible and it flips right to it. Look at verse 32. He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

Folks, this is a wonderful time of the year, as I said earlier. People ask me, should believers celebrate Christmas? No one knows the day of the Lord's incarnation. The Holy Spirit did not reveal it to us, and as believers we must not be brought into a bondage observation of any day. We must not honor one day above another. We do not observe holy days or Sabbath days of any kind.

To be sure, the world's observance of Christmas has little, if anything, to do with the worship and honor of the true and living God, Jesus Christ. For those reasons, and many other reasons, some of the Lord's people consciously choose not to join in any form of Christmas celebration. And that's alright. That's okay.

At this season of the year, people everywhere, and this is why I believe that celebrating Christmas is okay. I respect the opinions and the convictions of some, but I believe that at this season of the year, people are everywhere are reminded of the fact that Jesus Christ lived and died in this world.

Above all else, some have chosen to celebrate Christmas because it gives them an open door for preaching the gospel for the honor of Christ and for the salvation of men, as I had mentioned a moment ago. Another motive for celebrating this season of the year is the fact that it is a time of giving. Have you noticed that people are giving more now in these days than they do during the rest of the year? That's a good thing, isn't it? And Christmas is a time for family, as I mentioned earlier. I think, yes, I think it's okay for us to celebrate Christmas.

But I want to make it very clear, it's not a religious holy day. God has not established this day on the calendar that we call Christmas a holiday. Every day we look to Christ, and him crucified is a holy day. Not a holiness in us, but looking to the one who is holy.