Good evening. Well, I look around and see a
lot of very familiar faces. And let me tell you, that's just
such a blessing to Robin and I. It really is. And, you know,
I appreciate those words that you had, Rick. But I think you're
not surprised that I don't feel that way. I know that's not me. It's our privilege to be here.
It really is. And I'm always amazed. I've said it more than once.
I'm always amazed that God called me into the ministry of all people. And there's nothing more wonderful
than to serve our Lord. He's there for all of His people.
And we're here tonight to do that. We're here tonight to glorify
Him. The way we do that, above all
else, is to learn of Him. I'd like to do that in these
next few days. I've never done this before,
but In these next few days, I'm going to bring three different
messages, distinct messages, but I'd like to have an overall
thought with each of those. And what that is, is really,
who is this man? In John 12, you remember the Lord is speaking
about his approaching death. And he prays that the Lord would
enable him to glorify the Father. And the voice answers, the Father
answers him from heaven. You remember that. And people
hear, but they don't hear. And Christ speaks about his death
and he says, If I am lifted up, I'll draw
all peoples to myself." And he spoke of that, about the death
that he would die. And the people who were there
said, well, we've heard of the Christ. He'll live forever. Who is this Son of Man? And by
God's grace, tomorrow we'll look a little more at that. But tonight
I'd like for us to have that in our thoughts. Who is this
man that the scriptures speak of all the time, everywhere,
from beginning to end? Who is this man? And so let's
begin, let's look at Luke chapter two. Luke chapter two. I'm going to take
this jacket off because the buttons are banging on it. That won't bother us. Luke chapter
2, and let's begin there in verse 21. And this is when the Lord
has been born, and it's eight days have passed, and when eight
days were completed for the circumcision of the child, his name was called
Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived
in the womb. Now, when the days of her purification
according to the law of Moses were completed, They brought
him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. As it is written
in the law of the Lord, every male who opens the womb shall
be called holy to the Lord, and to offer a sacrifice according
to what is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtle doves
or two young pigeons. And behold, there was a man in
Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout,
waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was
upon him. And it had been revealed to him
by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen
the Lord's Christ. So when he came by the Spirit
into the temple, And when the parents brought in the child
Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law, he
took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, Lord, now you are
letting your servant depart in peace according to your word. For my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light
to bring revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people
Israel. Now, here in this passage, we
read of this remarkable event at the very beginning of the
life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was a time when
He'd just been born. And His parents, Mary and Joseph,
they bring Him into the temple in Jerusalem to present Him to
the Lord. Now, think of that. Think of
that. The Lord presented to the Lord. God presented to God, the eternally
begotten Son of God, eight days old, presented to the Eternal
Father. What a wonder, isn't it? If a
voice had spoken from Heaven at that point in time, as it
did in two subsequent occasions later, it would have said, this
is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. Who is this man? Who is this
man? Who is this child born? Well,
we heard it from the mouth of Simeon. He says, for mine eyes
have seen your salvation. Who is this man? He's salvation. And that's what I want to speak
to you all tonight, to myself. I want us to consider that this
man is salvation in all its fullness. For you and I who know the Lord
in His grace, for you who don't, there is nothing more important
for us to know than this. He is salvation. And I'd like
us to look at that as the Lord enables us tonight. You know,
in most pulpits in the world today,
you hear a message of man redeeming himself, and you hear a message
of man saving himself. But how contrary that is to what
we find in the revealed Word of God, isn't it? The biblical
idea of redemption and salvation is that man is in a state of
bondage and captivity, in a hopeless and helpless state, and he's
without any means to help himself. He has no ability to deliver
himself from that state. He's like that slave, naked,
in chains, shackled hand and foot, on the lot to be sold. And how is he going to deliver
himself? He has nothing, nothing to deliver himself, nothing to
pay the price. That's who we are. That's who
we are. Another, another who has the ability and has the resources
must come and deliver. That's the idea of redemption
we have in the Word of God. another must come and deliver
really with power and with the price. Isn't that true? You know,
to prepare our hearts to have a proper conception of salvation
because it's just not found today, you know. culture that we continually have
this idea propagated to us that man can redeem himself. You see
it in television shows. Here's this character, and he's
done evil and awful things, and yet, in the process, he does
these things which are all geared to redeem himself, and this is
the message we find over and over and over. It's a message
that man loves, redeeming himself, and yet how contrary that is
to the truth of the Word of God. And so, let's think about this.
What is salvation? What is salvation? Well, a few
years ago I was the village of Waterboom to preach Sunday morning
for the church that's there. And, you know, as the people
prepared for the service, they go down, prior to the service,
they go down to wash in the river. And a young teenage girl took
her nephews, it would be, Two boys, one about two years
old, the other about three, roughly. Very small children. She took
them down to the river to wash them and she left them beside
the river on a rock and went up into the bushes to toilet. Now, these two boys, you can
picture it. They're pushing and jostling
each other. And the older boy jostled his son into that river.
Now, that child fell into the river, and for all intents and
purposes, we could say that that child, the minute it hit the
water, was dead. To be carried down the river,
to be recovered at some point in time, possibly, limp and lifeless,
no breath of life, dead, perishing. Perished. But the Lord in his
providence had Micah, this older Christian woman, about 100 feet
further down the river, and she looks up, she's washing there,
and she looks up and sees this child in the stream. And she
plunges out into that water and grabs that child, lifts it up,
and saves the child. Now, I tell you this story because
that's salvation. What is that child going to do
to save itself as it's floating into the current to be cascaded
over rocks and boiled into the water as it goes downstream?
Nothing. Nothing. That's salvation. That's a picture
of us, every one of us apart from Christ. But we're not in
some small mountain stream. We're in a boiling and raging
maelstrom of rocks and boulders and trees that have come down,
mud, and we see those torrents and pictures of mighty floods
that have come. And what is that? That's our
sin. That's what we're in apart from Christ. We're caught and
we're dead already. That's the picture that the Scriptures
give us. And what do we need? We need
a Savior, just like that child did, don't we? There's nothing
that we can do. That's the picture that the Word
gives us. Now, the... Here we read in verse 25, so
let's look at this, because this is what Simeon is speaking about. When he's talking about God's
salvation, this is the type of thing that he has in mind. So
let's go through this passage, and it's a wonderful passage.
Look, we read in verse 25, "...and behold, there was a man in Jerusalem
whose name was Simeon." Now we read of this man named Simeon
and this is the only place in the Bible that we ever have Simeon
mentioned. We know nothing about him before
Jesus was born. We know nothing about him after
Jesus was born. But what we do know is that Simeon
cared about the only thing that mattered. He desired to see the
Lord's Christ before he died. Like Abraham, Simeon believed
the promise of God. And he waited with great expectation
for the salvation of God to be revealed. He was a man who is described
as just and devout. Now the people of Israel at this
time had long left the faith of Abraham. They'd long left
the faith of the prophets. The true worship of God had become
polluted, profaned by the religion of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. People of Israel were... This
is really the state of religion in Israel at this point in time. Here's the religion of the Pharisees
and the Sadducees. Go to the synagogue. Sing the
Psalms, which they did every week. Circumcise your children. Keep the Sabbath. Go to the priest
and make all of the offerings according to the law that had
been given to Moses. Stand in the congregation of
Israel on the Day of Atonement. On that great day when the high
priest went into the Holy of Holies to make offering for sin.
Do that. Do that. Do that and who are you? You're
good. You're the children of Israel. You're the people of
God. Just do all these things. That
was the state of religion at that point in time. It had long
been the state at this point in time. And really, is the state
of religion today any different? No, it's not, is it? The Word
of God is living, isn't it? And it's powerful in all ages
and in all times. It speaks to us today because
this is really the state of religion today. This is what you find
in most pulpits. Do all these things and you're
good. But Simeon was a just and devout
man. A just and devout man. Here he
was. A man in Jerusalem. A man who believed God. A man
who believed the Scriptures. A man who believed the promise
of God given to Abraham that a seed would come. That would
bless not only Israel, but bless all men. A man who believed the sure mercies
of David as the scriptures describe it. The covenant promise of God
that a seed would come. The long awaited son of David
that would sit upon the throne of his father and redeem his
people Israel. This is what Simeon waited for.
Simeon waited. He waited in hope. He was waiting
for what? The consolation of Israel. Now, this is one of the great
names that's given to our Lord. The consolation of Israel. What
does that mean? Well, when I think of what it
means to console, naturally as a parent, I think of consoling
my children when they've been hurt. And I think that's probably
the case for most of you. You know, I'll never forget when
Claire, Ryan's older sister, was about two years old. Robin
and I had this gas stove. This was in New Guinea. And it
was an old gas stove, and whoever had designed that didn't care. didn't believe in insulation,
let me put it that way. So whatever the stove was inside,
it was outside, and it had this glass front, black glass front,
and Claire, she'd walk up to this and see her reflection in
that oven, and she'd put her hands on it, and we'd tell her,
Claire, don't touch the stove. Well, inevitably you know the
story where Robin's cooking one day and that stove is just scorching. And Claire walks up to it and
puts both hands on that glass. And she just, she just screamed. Her, it's piercing. And you've probably all experienced
this too as parents. Screamed until all the breath
was out of her. She knocked the breath right
out of herself, in the fear, in the terror, in the pain, in
the suffering. And then she's trying to draw
breath, and then she's even more afraid. Her eyes are wide. And
you know, what do you do? Do you scold her? No. You go
and pick her up. And Robin went and picked her
up. I can't remember if it was Robin
or I first, but picked her up. But what I do remember is that
sobbing. I mean, the sobbing, and sobbing,
and sobbing, just for so long. And as the scriptures speak about
tears, her tears were like rivers of water, you know. And yet,
you know, as the mother consoles, slowly the sobs subside. in the
child's comfort. The child's consoled. Well, that's
consolation. That's a picture of consolation.
Well, why was Israel looking for consolation? Well, because
figuratively speaking, Israel had put her hands on the stove. Look over to Lamentations. Lamentations
chapter 1. for a moment. This is right after
Jeremiah. The person lamenting needs to
be consoled. And this is what we have. Here
is Israel. And the nation of Israel had
been conquered in a multitude of her people had been taken
away into captivity. And the city of Jerusalem was
desolated. It was destroyed. It was decimated. And here is the prophet Jeremiah,
and in Lamentations, he's personifying the city of Israel. The city
in her pain, and her sorrow, and her suffering, and her distress. And this is over 500 years before
the Lord came. In chapter 1, verse 18, look
there. Look there for a minute. And we read, the Lord is righteous,
for I rebelled against His commandment. Hear now, O peoples, and behold
my sorrow. My virgins and my young men have
gone into captivity. See, verse, skip down to 20. See, O Lord, that I am in distress.
My soul is troubled, my heart is overturned within me, for
I have been very rebellious. Outside the sword bereaves, at
home it is like death. And then skip, we could go through,
the lament is sorrowful and heart-wrenching, but skip down to verse 13 of
chapter 2. And Jeremiah continues here. How shall I console you? To what
shall I liken you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I compare
with you that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For
your ruin is spread wide as the sea. Who can heal you? Who indeed? Who indeed? And the
same is true of you and me, isn't it? What do we read? All have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God. Who can console us? Who
can comfort us? Who can heal you and me? Well, the answer is the consolation
of Israel. The consolation of Israel. And
when a man truly sees his sin, there's nothing that can console
him except the consolation of Israel. You know, this is what the Lord
is speaking about in the Sermon on the Mount, when He says, Blessed
are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. But too, listen to these words
of Christ, spoken by the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 61. You don't
need to turn there. It says, The Spirit of the Lord
God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good
tidings to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison
to those who are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord
and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn,
to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for
ashes. Here they are, covered in the
dust of the ashes of mourning and repentance for sin. Their eyes streaming tears
down their faces. He takes that away and He gives
them beauty for these ashes. The oil of joy for mourning.
He takes away that spirit of heaviness and gives the garment
of praise. The message of the Gospel is
a wonderful message, isn't it? It's a message of the consolation
of Israel. And oh, how the faithful of Israel
longed to see, longed to see the consolation of Israel. They
longed to see this promised Redeemer and Savior. Turn for a moment
to Daniel, Daniel chapter 9. Now, you know, I think of the faith
of the devout men and women of the Old Testament. Rick and I
were talking about this yesterday. Now, can we fully appreciate the faith
of these men and women? You know, I don't think we can.
Think of Abraham, a 75-year-old man from Ur of the Chaldeans,
living in Haran, a man whom the scriptures speak of as the father
of all who believe. Now, why is that? Why is that? Well, here is Abraham, and he's
a man of enormous wealth, immense resources, and great stature. The Word of God tells us, you'll
remember, that when Job, when his son Lot was taken into captivity,
Abraham armed 318 trained servants born in his own household to
go and recover him and all of his. Can you imagine the household
of Abraham, if he can arm 318 men to go fight? This was significant, wasn't
it? In all likelihood, his servants would have numbered upwards of
1,000 people. He was a man of immense resources. And while he sojourned in the
land of promise, he was looked upon by these leaders of these
other nations as a prince among them, we're told. In his own
land, Abraham would have had great dwellings, much land, great
resources, and naturally all the privilege and stature that
goes along with that. And here he is, and the Lord
comes and he says to Abraham, get up out of your country and
go to a place that I will tell you about. And what did Abraham
do? He got up and went. He got up and went. Well, what
moved Abraham to do such a remarkable thing? The Lord Himself tells
us, doesn't He, when He came and He was being questioned by
the Pharisees? And what does He say? He says
that great statement, Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and when
he saw it, he was glad. That's what moved Abraham. The
faith of Abraham was as if the promised seed was standing right
there before his eyes. And if Abraham had lived for
a thousand years, his faith would never have wavered. No. Because
he had seen the Lord. And he rejoiced to see his day
and was glad. This was the hope that completely
captivated Abraham in all his remarkable life. And it's the
hope that captivated the hearts of all the just and devout men
and women in the succeeding generations until Christ came. They were waiting for this promised
Redeemer and Savior. Think of Job. He'd lost everything. He'd lost every one of his sons,
every one of his daughters, all of his livestock, all of his
servants, later, all of his health. For a time, too, as we read,
we see that Abraham, uh, Job lost assurance of his salvation. Job was in a place of intense
physical and emotional suffering. of a sort that you and I can't
comprehend. We really can't. Has there ever
been someone like Job? And here he is, and he's brought to this place
where he wonders, and he's asking this great question, how can
a man be righteous before God? And he had three friends, Job's
comforters. You remember them? It's come
into the idiom of our language, hasn't it? Job's comforters.
What does that mean? Not comforters. He had these three men and they
were no consolation at all. Let me give you a picture from
that earlier story of what these men were like. These men were
like someone standing on the riverbank. And here's that child
going down the stream. This little boy caught in the
current. And they're standing at the riverbank
calling out, just throw one arm forward, then the other. Kick
your feet. Swim a little harder. Swim to
the shore. It isn't hard. Look, go to church. And when the pastor gives the
invitation, walk down that aisle. and give your life to Christ.
Say a little prayer with the pastor. You know, or if you want
to do more, look, here's a little leaflet and it has three spiritual
steps. You know, you go through that
and then here's a little prayer at the end if it's difficult
for you to find the words and you say that prayer and here's
a place where you can put the date that the Lord saved you. You think I'm being facetious?
I've seen it. Well, what are you worried about,
Job? There's nothing hard about this. That was Job's comforters. And here he was, in the state
that he's in, in serious, serious trouble. And
where does Job find consolation? Well, where does... Job turned
to for help. Well, here are his words, you
know, in Job 19. This is what he says. Yes, you
can tell me all of these things, but I know, I know that my Redeemer
lives, and He shall stand at last upon the earth. And after
my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see
God. Whom I shall see for myself,
and my eyes shall behold, and not another, how my heart yearns
within me." That was the comfort for Job, wasn't it? That was
his consolation. Job, too, waited for the consolation
of Israel. You know, is it any wonder that
the Apostle Paul tells us, Peter rather, tells us in his first
epistle, and he says, for this salvation, the prophets have inquired and
searched diligently into, who prophesied of the grace that
would come to you, searching what or what manner of time the
Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when he testified
beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would
follow. Well, Daniel, Daniel was inquiring into this, wasn't
he? He was a just and devout man
and he'd read the scriptures and the scriptures had revealed
to him that the time of the deliverance, at that point in time, was about
to come. And he looked to the Lord and,
you know, didn't think I was going to get to Daniel, but here
we are. He looked to the Lord and He's
inquiring of the Lord, not only for the deliverance of Israel,
Jerusalem at that point in time, but like all the just and devout
men. He was looking for that true
spiritual deliverance, that true consolation of Israel that Simeon
is talking about. And he prays in verse 16, Daniel
chapter 9 and verse 16. Listen, O Lord, according to
all your righteousness I pray, let your anger and your fury
be turned away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain,
Because of our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem
and your people are a reproach to all those around us. Now therefore,
our God, hear the prayer of your servant and his supplications,
and for the Lord's sake, cause your face to shine on your sanctuary,
which is desolate. O my God, incline your ear and
hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations
and the city which is called by your name. For we do not present
our supplications before you because of our righteous deeds,
but because of your great mercies. O Lord, hear. O Lord, forgive. O Lord, listen and act. Do not delay for your own sake,
my God, for your city and your people are called by your name."
And then in verse 20, he goes down, we read that the Lord,
his prayer is heard, and the Lord God sends the angel Gabriel. And he comes, and in verse 22,
the angel Gabriel says to Daniel, and he informed me and talked
with me and said, O Daniel, I have come forth to give you skill
to understand. At the beginning of your supplications,
the command went out, and I have come to tell you, you are greatly
beloved. Therefore, consider the matter
and understand the vision. Here the Lord has sent the angel
Gabriel to reveal to Daniel something that he didn't reveal to any
other prophet. He revealed to Daniel when the
consolation of Israel would come. When the Lord's Christ would
be revealed. And he says, verse 24, 70 weeks
are determined for your people and for your holy city. Here's
the time determined. And Daniel is given wisdom to
understand. Look, I know you've probably
heard all sorts of nonsense about the 70 weeks. Put that all aside. What is this talking about? What
time is determined? Well, continue. 70 weeks are
determined for your people and for your holy city to finish
the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation
for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness. Now, when was
that? At the cross, wasn't it? Can
it be anywhere else? No! No, it can't be. This is what is being revealed
to Daniel. The time when the consolation
of Israel would come. The long expected prophet that
they've been waiting for. Here is the time, Daniel. Now
turn back to Luke chapter 2. And here we have the time determined
by God was complete, the 70 weeks had passed, the fullness of time
was at hand, and in Jerusalem was this man Simeon, and he too
had been given a great privilege. It had been revealed to him by
the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen
the Lord's Christ. And here is Simeon, he's waiting. He's waiting, isn't he? He's
waiting for that promised seed of David, David's son and David's
Lord. He's waiting to see that anointed
of God, the promised Savior of Israel, the Lord's Christ. He's the Lord's Christ, isn't
he? You know, we tend to think of Him as our Christ. And He
is, isn't He? But He's the Lord's Christ. He's
the Lord's Christ. The Lord purposed to send Him. The Lord called Him to do this
great work. The Lord sent Him as this final
prophet to bring in all revelation. The Lord anointed Him Chief Priest. to finish the transgression,
to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for the people
and to bring in everlasting righteousness. And the Lord appointed Him King
to rule His people Israel. He's the Lord's Christ. He's
the Lord's Christ and what a comfort that is to us. The Lord speaks
about Him in this way in the prophet Isaiah, My righteous
servant. He's the Lord's Christ and what
a Christ He is. And the Holy Spirit was upon
Simeon and he believed and he waited for this promised Savior
to be revealed. This is true spiritual life,
isn't it? You know, so often, even we can get into thinking
about Christianity as church, coming to church. Yes, hearing
the word of God, singing hymns, wonderful hymns, doing certain
things, but really, think about this. Isn't this true for every
one of you who know Christ? True spiritual life is to know
Him, to know this consolation of Israel. That's life. That's life. You know, Simeon, he was a just
and devout man. He was a just and devout Jew.
He observed all of the ordinances and all of the law that God had
delivered to Moses. He made the sacrifices. He observed
the Sabbath. He did all of these things. But
was his hope in those things? No, no. He was waiting for the
consolation of Israel. That's His hope. And that's our
hope too, isn't it? Don't let us ever forget that.
He waited with great, great anticipation to see the Lord's Christ. In
verse 27, So He came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the
parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him according
to the custom of the law, he took him up in his arms and blessed
God. Here he is. Simeon went into
the temple and he sees this young couple holding a newborn child. And the parents had brought this
baby Jesus to do what? To do for him according to the
custom of the law. to be circumcised the eighth
day. Now, it's an incomprehensible
mystery that God became flesh. But just as startling is that
He was brought to Jerusalem and to the temple to present Him
to the Lord in accordance with the Law of Moses. to present him to the Lord in
accordance with the law of Moses. The lawgiver was born under the
law. We read that in Galatians. But
when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son,
born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who are
under the law. And here we find the Lord Jesus
Christ, a week old. taking the place of his people
to fulfill all law, to fulfill all righteousness, and entering
into this great work of redemption to save his people from their
sins. And Simeon came into the temple.
He came at the exact place in time where he would see the Lord's
Christ. I wonder how that happened. Simeon
came by the Holy Spirit into the temple. That's the only way
to ever come. He came in and he sees the parents
of Jesus, this young Jewish couple and they're holding this baby
and he walked over to them and he took that baby up in his arms. Who did Simeon take up in his
arms? He took up into his arms an infant
child. Picture that. Picture that. An infant child, eight days old. Who did he take up into his arms?
He took up into his arms the fullness of the Godhead bodily. He took up into His arms God. Who did He take up into His arms?
He took up into His arms the Creator and Sustainer of the
universe. He took up into His arms the
promised Son of David. He took up into His arms the
Only Begotten Son of God. Who did He take up into His arms?
He took up into His arms the Bread of Life. He took up into
His arms that fountain of water that Christ promised that woman
of Samaria that would become in her a well of water springing
up into eternal life. He took up into His arms the
way, the truth, and the life. The only way to come to the Father.
He took up into His arms His Redeemer. He took up into His
arms the Lamb of God. Who did He take up into His arms?
He took up into His arms the offering for sin. He took up into His arms, think
of this, He took up into His arms our great High Priest who
would enter in behind the veil once for all and make offering for sin to
perfect him forever." That's who Simeon took up into his arms.
He took up into his arms the one who is his life. He took
up into his arms his Savior. And Simeon took up into his arms
salvation. And he blessed God. He blessed
God. He blessed God and he said, Lord,
now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to
your word. For mine eyes have seen your
salvation. This is true faith, isn't it?
For mine eyes have seen your salvation. This is God's salvation. Simeon trusts in God's salvation. Like Daniel who prayed, for we
do not present our supplications before you because of our righteous
deeds, but because of your great mercies. Simeon knows that he
has no righteousness of his own. He has nothing before a holy
God. He has nothing to commend himself
to God. He has no ability. But he knows
this. Not because of His own righteous
deeds, but because of His mercies. His mercies. He pleads not His
own righteous deeds, but God's mercies, and that's enough. That's enough. And why is that? Why is that? Because they're covenant mercies.
These are promised mercies. He's not just believing in some
fiction. He's believing in the truth of
the Word of God. These are promised mercies. Think
of that great passage in Isaiah 55. Ho! Everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters. And you who have no money, come
buy and eat. Yes, come buy wine and milk without
money and without price. Why do you spend your money for
what is not bread and your wages for what does not satisfy? You know, there's nothing in
this world that will satisfy except the consolation of Israel. Why? Why do you spend money for
what is not bread and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen
carefully to me and eat what is good and let your soul delight
itself in abundance. Incline your ear and come to
me. Here and your soul shall live. and I will make an everlasting
covenant with you, the sure mercies of David." These are covenant
mercies, and they're sure mercies. These mercies are sure because
they're according to an everlasting covenant, which God made before
this world ever began. Verse 30, Simeon continues, For
mine eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared before the
face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles,
and the glory of your people Israel. Now, this was prepared
by God before the world began, but it was not a hidden salvation,
was it? This salvation was prepared by
God from the beginning of time, from the beginning of creation.
And you think, think of the wonder of the grace of God in this.
The very day that Adam sinned and pledged the entire human
race into sin and death and destruction, the gospel comes to him. And
the Lord says what? He says, the promised seed would
come. that would crush the head of
this great enemy, crush the head of the serpent, the seed of the
woman. And down through the ages, as
we know, the Lord revealed in successively greater measure
through the prophets and through the types and the shadows, through
those sacrifices given to Israel, through the historical events
that this salvation of God was prepared and would be revealed. And here is Zacharias, and he's
waiting for this promised Savior. Zacharias We read the father
of John the Baptist shortly before this was filled with the Holy
Spirit and he prophesied of the coming Savior. And this is what
he said, listen. He said, blessed is the Lord
God of Israel for he has visited and redeemed his people and has
raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant
David as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets who have
been since the world began. that we should be saved from
our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us to perform
the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant,
the oath which he swore to our father Abraham. And this is what
Simeon is waiting for. And he says, he takes up this
child in his arms this long-awaited consolation of Israel, and he
says, Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace. Beloved, this is all that matters.
It's all that matters. Seeing God's salvation. Seeing the Lord's Christ, holding
this salvation in your arms. This is what Simeon is saying.
Nothing else can give him peace. Not in this life, and not for
eternity. Nothing else. Simeon knows that in his arms
is the one who is his life, the one who is his all. His all now,
as he holds him, his all for eternity. And he says, Lord,
now you're letting your servant depart in peace. You know, and we're all getting
older. One way or another, we're all
approaching that time, aren't we? This is the only peace we'll
find in that day, whether it's tomorrow, whether it's years
from now. To depart in peace, a man must know the Lord's Christ. That's all that matters. Nothing
else in this. Put aside everything. You'll
come to the end of your life. And this tells us that, doesn't
it? This is something that Simin is telling us. Nothing else matters.
It's been my privilege in New Guinea to see the death of many
of the Lord's people. Hear the testimonies, if I haven't
been there, of other believers that tell me. And people there,
Naturally speaking, they die often in real suffering. You know, they're in their houses,
they're in their huts. Primitive conditions. Very little,
if any, medical help. And so, whatever it is that's
bringing them to that last point in life is is without all the
painkillers and all the comforts that we have. And the suffering
is often great, very great. And yet the believers die with
real joy, with real peace. And it's a startling testimony
because, just like here, Those who die without Christ die in
fear. Real fear. I've seen it. And
that too is cushioned here in our culture, because usually
when a person's reaching that end-of-life stage, they're just
pumped full of all sorts of drugs. And so it's muted, but I'll tell
you, A person without Christ dies in fear. I don't care what
anyone tells you. And yet, hear of these believers
who die, and often, and I think that the Lord For these people,
for His people, He comforts them. He consoles them in that time
of need. Many of them testify of seeing, as they're dying,
of seeing Christ. And, you know, that's what Stephen
testified of, didn't he? He said, I see the Lord standing
at God's right hand. And that's the consolation that
the Lord gives to His people in that time that Simeon is speaking
of. Lord, now you are letting your
servant depart in peace. I'm ready to die, and I'll die
in peace. Why? Because mine eyes have seen
your salvation. That's all that matters. Little ability in my stumbling
lips. That's the message that I have for you tonight. Seeing
God's salvation. Seeing God's salvation. That's
all that matters in this life and the next. Take this person up in your arms.
take salvation up into your arms. And what does the Prophet Isaiah
say? Let your soul delight itself in abundance. And we'll say too,
like Simeon, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,
for mine eyes have seen your salvation. Amen.