two good hymns, three good hymns.
Sherry played great as thy faithfulness and I was, Brother John and I
were just rejoicing in that hymn. Under His Wings, I know I told
you this story but I couldn't help but think about that. We
used to have some chickens and we knew that one of the mother
hens had given, had hatched a couple of biddies, and I went looking
for them one night to take the mother and chicks out of the
storm. It was a storm, and she liked
to hide her babies from us. And I went out and I found the
mother under an old tractor implement or something, and I picked her
up and looked for those chickens, those little chicks. Couldn't
find them anywhere. I looked everywhere for those
little bitties. And finally, they fell out from under her
wings. She had them literally tucked
up under her wings. Oh, there you are, under her
wings. And so it is, Godspeed. What
are his wings? Right there. Old and New Testament,
God's Word, the Law and the Prophets. Apostles. Wings we hide under. Hope is covenant. You can go
on. His mercy is truth. His love is great. On and on.
His wings, where we run for refuge. All right, Psalm 25. Look at
verse 3 with me. Psalm 25, verse 3, let none that
wait on thee be ashamed. Let none, Lord, let none that
wait on thee be ashamed. What is a believer? What is a
believer? Let me tell you what a believer
is. A belief, a true belief. is one
who has heard from God, one who has been called by God, one who
has been chosen. Let's start there. One who has
been chosen before the foundation of the world, loved, foreloved
by God, and in time, heard from God, the word of God. They hear
the word of God. And it's not just a sermon. but
it's a it's God speaking the word of God speaking to their
heart and it convicts them God through his word convicts them
of their sin. That's the first thing God convicts
them of their sinfulness what they are not what they have done
just that although that's included. but what they are, convicts them
of their rotten self, and shows them they need what God says
they need in the Word. They need a substitute. They need a righteousness. They need a representative. They
need a Messiah. They need Christ. They need his
righteousness to make them holy before this God. his blood to
really pay for their sin, to put it away, and he shows them
Christ on the scriptures through the gospel. He shows them, every
one of them, shows them who Christ is, and they believe God. They
believe the word. They believe the record concerning
his son. They believe the gospel, and
they receive it. They hear it, and they are so
glad. It's good news to them. of this righteousness provided,
and this blood that actually forgives, actually puts away
everything. And they believe God. They believe
God's record, and they believe God's Son, and they call on Him. Every one of them, every true
believer, they call on God. First thing they do is they repent. Lord, forgive me. Please, I've been an unbeliever. Up to this point, I haven't cared
for you. I've lived my life, though you
have provided for me, nurtured me, sustained me, and been so
merciful and gracious and kind and done all that you've done
for such an ungrateful, unthankful one as me. But Lord, forgive
me. I repent. I want to turn from
that ungratefulness. I want to turn from my godless
life, and I want to, I believe you, and I want to follow you.
I want to, I want to be like, I want to be one of your children."
And they repent toward God, and they believe the gospel. Lord,
you said, you said that you would receive all that come unto you
by Christ. I come. really means, but I come,
I believe." He said to confess him, and they confess him in
believers' baptism, every one of them. That's what a believer is. And
then, after they confess him in baptism, what they do the
rest of their lives is wait. They're waiting. They're waiting on the Lord.
They live their lives, go on about their duties and responsibilities. They follow Christ, but they're
waiting. Waiting on what? Waiting on Him
to come back, just like He said He would. Waiting
on Him to come back and get them and take them home to be with
Him forever. Our Lord said this in Luke 12.
He said this in talking about his return. He said, you need
to be like men that wait for their Lord. You need to be as
men who wait for their Lord. They're waiting on their Lord
to return. He said he would. This is said
so often in the scripture. It's so often. Look with me in a couple,
OK? 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. This
is not normally my way of preaching. I take a verse, a text, and expound
upon it. I usually go verse by verse. But this just really impressed
me. Let none that wait on thee be
ashamed. And Isaiah 49 says the same thing. Oh, none that wait on me, he
said, will be ashamed. None that wait on me. And I began to think, what's
it mean to wait on the Lord? David said it several times there. Wait, I say, on the Lord. Wait. Wait. Those that wait on
him. Well, in 1 Thessalonians 1, look
at this. 1 Thessalonians 1.10. It says this about his people,
that we, verse 9, have turned to God from idols to serve the
living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven. You
see that? That's what they're doing. They're
waiting on him to fulfill his promises. But 2 Thessalonians,
one more. 2 Thessalonians, chapter 3. Look
at this. Second Thessalonians 3. I want
you to see in this message how that this is what God's people
are doing. They're waiting. Verse 5. Second
Thessalonians 3. 5. The Lord direct your hearts. May the Lord direct your hearts
into the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ. Patient waiting. All right, now, in the beginning,
God said to the first man and woman in the garden, in Genesis
3, 15, He said, I'm going to send the woman's seed. I'm going to send the Messiah.
The man and the woman sinned and They were about to be kicked
out of the garden, and they were now in misery and guilt and sin
and shame. But God clothed them. You remember
the story. God clothed them. God spoke to
them mercifully, kindly, graciously, and made an oath to them, to these
sinners, that though they were now sinful, yet I'll get him
out of it. I'll be merciful to him. God
said he would send his son. In the very beginning, God said
he would send the woman seed, the Messiah. God promised he
would send the Redeemer for sinners, the substitute for sinners, woman
seed, the Christ. He would send him to this earth.
And he came. Didn't he? Yes, he did. he came. Four thousand years
went by a long time, and there were a lot of people waiting on him. Edward Sinner, Job, the book of Job, that's
one of the oldest in Scripture. Job said, After all his troubles and living
a long life, he said, I know my Redeemer lives. God promised. And I'm going to see him, and
that's what I'm looking forward to. I want to see him. He's going
to stand on this earth the latter day, he said, and I'm going to
see him. I'm waiting. just can't wait. I want to see him. I'm waiting
on him. Many waited on him, were watching, looking for him, and
he came. He came just like God said he
would, didn't he? He came just in the fullness
of time. Paul wrote, God sent forth his
Son. That's what John said when he
finally, John was waiting on him. There he is. He came, he
lived, He died, he rose, and God promised in his word that
he's coming again. He's coming again. This same
Jesus, when he was leaving, the angel said, this same one whom
you see go, shall still come in like manner as you've seen
him go. He's coming again. Don't stand there gazing up into
heaven, he's going to come again. And Peter wrote this, the Apostle
Peter wrote this in his second epistle, chapter three. He said,
though in the last days there will be scoffers and mockers,
see much time will go by and the scoffers and the mockers,
the unbelievers, those that are not looking for him, those that
don't care, those that don't believe and don't care. that
he came the first time makes no difference to them.
Those who scoff and mock at his second coming, that he's coming
again, they will say, they'll keep saying, where's the promise
of his coming? Everything's just like it has
been. We don't see any sign that he's coming back. He's not coming
again. And Peter said, though they say
that, now don't you Don't worry. He said, the Lord will come.
That day will come. He will come. And then Peter
went on to say, you look for him. You watch for him. You wait. He's coming. You wait. And God
said, those that wait on him will never be ashamed. They'll
never be ashamed. The world, see, tries to make
people feel like fools that believe this. You know that? This clever, godless world, these
wise fools that they are, try to make believers feel foolish
for believing all of this unseen, all these things that are unseen
and realized, hoping, wishing for a Messiah to come and save
them. Well, that's a foolish notion
of ignorant mountain folk. How foolish. You ought to be
ashamed. Well, get a life. All those that wait on Him shall
not be ashamed. Those that are going to be ashamed
That's what this is all about, the waiting on. The waiting on. I want to show
you some examples in the scripture of people that were waiting on
the Lord. All right? Go with me to Genesis
chapter 6. Let's go all the way back in
the beginning. Knows it, let none be ashamed
that wait on me. They won't. They won't. The Lord
promised he can't lie. He'll do what he said. All right? Genesis chapter six. Look at
this with me. I hope you'll get a blessing
out of this. I did study it. Genesis chapter six. You know this story. The story
of Noah. Genesis chapter 6, verse 5, God
saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and every
imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord, or
that is, God is speaking in a language that we can understand, as if
to say, I wish I'd never made man. But he knew what he was doing.
It made him on purpose. He repented the Lord that He
had made man on the earth, had grieved him at his heart, and
the Lord said, I will destroy man that I have created. From
the face of the earth, man and beast, creeping thing, fowls
of the air, it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah, though he's one of them, though
he's a sinner, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. God
chose Noah. God elected Noah. God foreknew
Noah and revealed himself to Noah. God was gracious to Noah. God was merciful to Noah. Read
on, verse 9. It says, these are the generations
of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect
just before God. Just man, perfect in his generation,
walked with God. Why? Noah found grace. You see what
came first? The grace of God, the sovereign
calling, electing, keeping, saving grace of God. Noah found, God
found Noah, and was gracious to him, and redeemed him, regenerated
him. And so then on, and gave him
faith. And from then on, Noah was just.
Just. perfect in his generation. Upright,
that is, righteous by believing God. It was counted unto him
for righteousness. And he walked with God, that
is, he believed God. In the face of the whole world,
it didn't. In the face of the whole world,
it didn't. And God said this to Noah. Read on. Verse 11, the earth was corrupt
before God, the earth filled with violence, and, Lord, God
looked upon the earth, behold, it was corrupt. God said to Noah,
verse 13, He said to Noah, He didn't say this to others, He
said to Noah, the end of all flesh has come before me, the
earth is filled with violence through them, and behold, I will
destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark. Make an ark,
Noah. This is going to be your salvation. And God gave you instructions
about the ark, and as you know, every bit of that is a picture
of Christ. Christ, the ark of God's salvation. As God has said, I'm going to
destroy this planet. Man, women, children, and beasts,
all of them. You get to Christ. He's the only
hope. He's salvation. You get in Christ. Come to Christ now. He's the
ark of safety. Better believe him. Better trust
him. I don't want to destroy this plan. So know what Noah
did. Noah believed God. And he built
an ark. How long did it take? A hundred
and twenty years. hundred and twenty years. He worked and he lived. He lived by faith, didn't he? Every day. First day he started was probably
roughest. What are you building, Noah?
A boat. Noah, we are about 300 miles
from the ocean. And there's not a lake in sight.
You build a boat. Why, Noah? Because God said that
he's going to destroy this earth by water. The first day was probably the
roughest. Up to this point, you see, Noah
was just like everybody else. And then, now God revealed himself
to him. He begins working on a boat on
dry land, and there were a drop of water had fallen from the
sky. But he's working. And people are passing by and
just mocking him. Old Noah's building a boat. He
thinks it's going to rain. 120 years. Can you imagine the ridicule
that he. Can you imagine the persecution
that he endured? Can you imagine that he believed
God? He lived by faith and he waited. He worked and he waited. Well,
he finished the ark. 120 years. He finished the ark. Look at chapter 7. Chapter 7
here in Genesis. He finished that ark. And he
had to wait a little longer. Chapter 7, verse 1. The Lord said unto Noah, Come
now, and all thy house into the ark, for thee have I seen righteous
before me in this generation. Verse 4. For yet seven days I
will cause it to rain upon the earth, forty days and forty nights,
and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from
off the face of the earth. God just repeated to Noah what
he'd already said. There was nothing new. He just
confirmed what he'd already said to him, what he'd already said
in his word, what he'd already promised a hundred and twenty
years ago. Nothing new. Same thing. Noah, I'm going to do this, but I'm going to wait seven more
days. Now folks, the first day was
the toughest. A hundred and twenty years, that
was tough. But, you know, time passes, doesn't
it? Seventy years, just boom, they
go by. Forty years, forty-three years,
just fly by, don't they matter? Fifty years, sixty years, seventy
years, a hundred, it went by pretty quick. But boy, these
last seven days. Think about it. The boat's finished,
the ark's finished. God says, all right, Noah, come
on in. And he went in and sat. And waited. The door was open. That big door. The elephants walked through.
The worms wiggled through, and elephants walked through freely.
a key door of mercy, of salvation, an emblem, a symbol of God's
mercy. He's going to destroy the planet.
How do you know? He said so. Yet that big door
was wide open. just wide open. And Noah, first
day, he said, came in, ran in there. He believed God after
a hundred and twenty years. And he sat on a bale of hay. Now, I just believe those seven
days were about the toughest. One day went by and people walking
by that big wide door opened up. What are you doing, Noah? Waiting. Why don't you come on in? Two days went by. Three days
went by. Maybe the first day somebody
saw the boat and the door. Maybe there's something to this
boat's finish. Maybe tomorrow. The door's open
tomorrow, I'll go in tomorrow. Three days, four days, five days,
finally, everybody. Six days. He's waiting on it to rain. Seven
days. Verse 10. And it came to pass. That door shut. After seven days, the waters
of the flood were on the earth. There wasn't a light sprinkle. It was a day when it hit. And there were people pounding
on the door. It happened just like God said. Yes, it did. Noah believed God
by God's grace, by God's mercy he believed God, and he waited
120 years and seven days. He waited. And bless God, it
happened just as God said. And what happened to Noah? Nothing. He was saved. flowing scourge
of God's wrath came through and destroyed every inhabitant on
planet Earth. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. And by his grace, he waited.
And it happened. It happened. Who's ashamed now? They tried to put Noah to shame
when he's Put him to shame. Maybe he did
hang his head every now and then. Oh, Lord. You are coming, aren't
you? Maybe he did. He's flesh, isn't
he? Lord, I believe you. I really, help my unbelief, though.
Everybody's putting me to shame, Lord. Waiting on you. Oh, those
that wait on me should never be shamed. No sir. Those that
don't are going to be everlastingly shamed. So Noah was saved. Noah was saved. Right now, Noah
is praising God to the top of his lungs. Right now, as we meet
together, Noah is right now praising the Lord for his mercy and his grace. Genesis
chapter 12. There's one fellow that's waiting
on the Lord. Genesis chapter 12. Here's another. Genesis 12. You know these stories. You know
them well. Genesis 12. A fellow named Abram. Abram. He found grace just like Noah
did. The Lord found him when he was
75 years old. It says in chapter 12, verse
1, Now, the Lord had said unto Abraham,
Get out of thy country, from thy kindred, from thy father's
house, unto a land that I will show thee, and I will make of
thee a great nation. Verse 2, Thou shalt be a blessing. I will bless them that bless
thee. Curse them that curse thee. God said, called old Abram and
said, I've chosen you. Now, follow me. Get out, leave
your idols, serve the living and true God, and follow me,
because I will, and you shall. I will make you one of mine. You are mine, and I'll make of
you a great nation. Many people's seed will come
from you. You're mine. Follow me. Come
on. Seventy-five years on. So he did. Verse four, he made
them departed, just like the Lord spoken to. Why did he leave? Because God called him. God called him. So he went out,
departed, seventy-five years old, left his home, left his
family. You think how tough this was?
Huh? You ever thought about how tough
this was? He's seventy-five years old. He's waiting on retirement. Maybe he already was. And all of a sudden, he's going to
start over. Seventy-five years, you think
of the ridicule and the persecution in his family. hurled at him. You think about it. His family, his mom and dad,
if they were still living. You're doing what? Leaving everything? Where are you going? I don't
know. Why? Because God told me. Who told you? How do you know,
Abraham? What are you talking about? We've
got a God. Stay here. Worship our God. No, that's not
God. That's not God. It's not the living and true
God. I've heard from God. Don't follow
him. Oh, Abram, what a fool. He's
75 years. Time to settle down. How do you know that? Because
God said so. Where do you go? I don't know,
but God said go. Well, how do you know it when
you get there? God says so. I believe God. Chapter 15. So years passed. Years passed. Chapter 15. The Lord appeared The Word of
the Lord came. The Word of the Lord came to
Abraham. That's significant. I don't have any children. You
said that my seed and I'd have to be a great nation come from
me. But I don't have any seed. Verse 4, But the word of the
Lord came unto him, saying, He that shall come forth out of
thine own bowels shall be thine heir. And he brought him forth
and said, Look, look out there. Can you count the stars? That's
your seed. That's the people. I'm the Lord
that brought you out. I'm the Lord that called you.
I'm the Lord that said these things, promised these things. I'm going to do it. So it says
in verse 6, I like this, Abraham believed in the Lord, and it's
counted unto him for righteousness. And Paul the apostle wrote a
whole book about that, several books, in which he mentioned
old Abraham just believing in the Lord. It's counted as righteousness. Well, so what did he do? He waited. God said, I have a seat. Anyway,
he waited years, years went by. Look at Chapter 17, Chapter 17,
quickly. Now he's 99 years old. 14 years
have gone by, 24 years. 24 years have gone by. No son. He's waiting on this son. Abram
was ninety-nine years old. The Lord appeared to Abram and
said, verse one, I am the Almighty God. Walk before me and be thou
perfect. I will make my covenant between
me and thee and will multiply. What's he telling him? What's
he telling him? The same thing he said twenty-four
years ago. He didn't change a word. It's
the same thing Abram heard twenty-four years ago. First thing he heard.
This was the beginning of his confidence. This was the first
of his hope. This was the first good news
he'd heard ever. First word he heard from God
was now, twenty-four years later, the same word, the same promise,
the same oath, the same covenant. What's your hope, Abram? God has promised. You still waiting on a boy? Yeah. Yeah. Still waiting. Still waiting. Oh, people, this is how God does
all of his people. He just keeps confirming the
same thing. Paul wrote this, didn't he? To
write to you the same things. It's not grievous to me. It's
my hope. That's my hope. I'm waiting like
you are. We're all just waiting. We've
got promises, though, and they're as good as true. Huh! Because
God made them. What are you doing? Waiting. Just waiting for them to be fulfilled. And you know they will, because
God Folks, we live on a promise.
You know that? David said in Psalm 25, I lift
up my soul to thee. Here's my soul! Here's my all! My life, my children, my home,
my life, my all of my days on earth! My very being here! And I am waiting Is it going to happen? Sure as
God is God. None that lay on me shall be
ashamed, he said. You just wait and you'll see. I love that story of that boy,
you know, over years ago, days of horse-drawn carriages. took his young son into London,
England, true story, took his young son into London, England,
I think he was one of those old preachers, and told the boy,
he let the boy out at the front of a shop there, gave him some money, told him
go in and get some sweets or something, and he said to the
boy, I have business to attend to, you wait. on me. You wait
right here. Don't go anywhere. You just wait
right there. I'll be back to get you." And the man got caught up in
his business. Unbelievably, he got caught up
in his business and he forgot about that boy. This is just
a man, not a hat. And he headed home. You know, my parents did that
to me one time. When I was three or four years
old, and I was sleeping on the pew during the service, Sunday
night, and they left. If you had four kids, it's easy
to do that, I'm sure. Maybe they didn't intend to.
Maybe they did it intentionally. But they left. Turned the lights
out, went home. Can you imagine if I'd have woken
up and, oh. Well, anyway, where's the ball?
Where's Paul? Oh, he's with you. Oh, no. They went back, and I was...
Anyway, this man headed home, and he... in the carriage, and...
Oh! The boy, the son is... I left
him on the doorstep. And he raced that horse carriage
back into London as fast as he could, all his mind was racing,
and what, you know, what could have happened to him. And finally
he, where do I look for him? Where could he be? I'll just
go back where I told him to wait. And he pulled up in front of
that, and there he sat. He said, son, he embraced him
and said, son, I'm so glad to see you here. I'm so sorry I
left you. I didn't know where you would
be, and I was so worried. He said, Well, Dad, I was right
here where you told me to wait. You told me to wait right here,
and I did, and I knew you'd come back. And so it is with the Lord. He
says, You wait. I'm coming. You wait. The Lord told old Abraham, You're
going to have a son. Go on, chapter 21, turn over
there, all the way over to chapter 21. Oh, Abram waited now many
years, more than thirty years to pass by, since God first called
him and told him this promise. And chapter 21, the Lord, verse 1, visited Sarah
as he had said. The Lord did unto Sarah as he
had spoken. Said, done. I've spoken it, God said, I'll
do it. I purposed it, I'll bring it
to pass. And he did it. And, oh, Abraham
had a feast. Sarah laughed. Verse six, God
made me to laugh. And in verse eight, At the time
of that child's weaning, Abraham had a feast. What do you reckon
he was telling everybody? God is true. Waited a long time. I have to
admit, I had some doubts. But why? Why did I? God's true. God's true. It doesn't matter if you wait
a hundred and twenty years. It's going to happen. Or if you
wait 30 or 40 years, it's in God's good time. He just said,
wait. It happened. Attaboy. I got to
show you this one. Will you give me one more? Let's
go to the New Testament. Luke chapter 2. Luke chapter
2. Time would fail us. Oh, folks,
I wanted to go over and talk about Jacob. Oh, he waited, didn't he? Remember,
Jacob, Joseph, what about Joseph? Oh, I wanted to go over there
and tell that. I had so many I wanted to choose
from. I just had to choose one of them. Time wouldn't... Moses, 40 years
back there watching sheep. God said, you're going to...
I wanted to tell you about him. Luke chapter 2. Here's another
old man waiting on the Lord. Luke chapter 2. Now, 4,000 years
went by. God promised that the the Messiah
would come, that he'd send his Son, that he would be born of
a virgin. God said this in Isaiah 7, verse
14, Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and thou shalt bring forth a
son, and thou shalt call his name Immanuel, being interpreted
God with us. Isaiah 7, 14 years, hundreds,
thousands, a thousand years before it had And in chapter 9 of Isaiah,
God said, A son, a child is born, but a son is given, and you shall
call his name one, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace. Yes, a child will be born, but
it's none other than the Eternal Son of God, the Christ, the Redeemer,
the Messiah, the Consolation of Israel. The hope of all who
look for him, all who wait for him. This is the Lord. This is,
as he said in Isaiah 25, this is my God. I've waited on him. He'll save us if we've waited
on him. And so this time there's a man
named Simeon. And God told him, look at Luke
chapter 2, Luke chapter 2, God told him in verse 21, Luke chapter
2, well, when eight days were accomplished, Mary brought this
child in, named Jesus, into Jerusalem to have it circumcised. Verse 25, 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.
Just waiting. Say he was just. What does that
mean? He believed God. He was a believer. He'd heard
the word of Isaiah, the prophet. He'd heard that, especially chapter
53. Oh, he loved that. The gospel
of Isaiah, chapter 53. He loved that. And he heard Isaiah
7, about the virgin having a child. Isaiah 9, the Son coming and
being a child, but the Son given, the eternal Son of God. And who
is it? God with us. It's going to be God, the Messiah. He read Isaiah 25 and 9. This is our God. We've waited
on him. He'll save us. And he believed. He believed.
He needed this Messiah, this Christ, this Savior of sinners.
That's what he was. So he waited. He waited. And God told him, he was dressed,
he believed God, and he was devout, it said. Just, devout. Devout
means what? He was waiting. He kept coming. When you're devoted to something,
you don't quit. Right? You don't give up. You're devoted to something,
you keep doing it. He was devout. God said, he's coming. I'm going
to show him to you. You're going to see him, Simeon.
Now wait. And so he did. He kept coming.
Day in and day out. You know he had his own responsibilities,
things to do. that whenever he possibly could
come to the temple, he came. He's waiting on somebody, he
said. He's devout. And it says he waited
for the consolation of Israel. Waiting for the consolation of
Israel. The hope, the help, the rest,
the covenant head, David's son, the prophet, the priest, the
king, the savior, the redeemer, the Christ, and the Holy Ghost
was upon him. That's why he was waiting. You
see, that's why he was waiting. He was in the temple on the Lord's
Day, just like John much later, right? Waiting. Waiting on a
word from the Lord. The Holy Ghost was upon him. And God had told him, it was
revealed, verse 26, unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should
not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And God says
that to every single believer that waits on him. You're not going to see death.
If you see Christ, you're going to have life. He that believeth
on me shall never die, Christ said. You believe that? God promised. And you who keep coming, looking,
hoping, waiting on the Lord to appear to you, He will. If you're
really waiting on Him. This man did, didn't he? Noah
did. You and I won't have to wait
a hundred and twenty years. Noah did. Did he come? Yes, he did.
Abraham did. Did he come? Yes, he did. Those of you who look and hope
and wait for him, the Lord will appear to you and call upon him.
Verse twenty-six and seven. He came to pass. Verse twenty-seven. So he came by the Spirit into
the temple one day. Now, he'd been coming for years. God didn't tell him when, but
he'd been coming for years and coming, waiting, hoping, wishing
to see the Messiah. And here on this certain day,
the light was cast in the lamp. He had to work the day before.
This day, where are you going, honey? His wife said, going to
the temple. Again? He just went the other day. You
just went on Wednesday night. You going again? Yeah. I love
it. What are you doing? I'm waiting.
Waiting on the Lord. He ain't coming. Well, he said
he was. I'm going to go. Why don't you
come with me? Right in. So he went. Just on this day, like any other
day, right? Like any other day, he went in
the temple, he's hearing the Word, reading the Word, calling
on the Lord, and in walked a little Jewish woman with a baby in her arms. There's a man following along
behind her, and he thought, could it be? He saw her come in, had
that child circumcised. Look at it, verse 27, when the
parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him after the
custom of the law, he went over there. That woman said, pardon
me, excuse me, ma'am, can I have a look at that child? Why certainly. Here. He took him up. He laid hold of salvation itself. He laid hold of it. God said
that's Him. This is who you've been waiting
on, Simeon. This is whom the whole world's waiting on, Simeon.
This is whom the whole world revolves around, Simeon. This
is your God. This is your Savior. I know it's
a baby. It's just a child. This is the Son. This is the
Son of Righteousness, with healing in his wings. This is the Messiah. This is your Lord. I know you
have him in your arms. Send him a—really, you're his. And all of a sudden, this is
what you've been waiting on. He took him up in his arms and
blessed God. Blessed God, said, Now, Lord,
now. Verse 29, Let thou thy servant
depart in peace. It's all happened Just like you said, according to your Word.
I've waited, and here he is. How could I have doubted? How
could I have doubted? Waiting on the Lord. Let those
that wait on thee never be ashamed. Never be ashamed. He went home
to his wife, you know, he went home to his wife. He said, honey,
I saw him. I saw him! I held him, I touched
him, I handled him, I burned him alive, just like God said. Honey, you need to see him too.
That old Samuel was not ashamed anymore. He'd seen God's salvation. He
knew for certain that Christ was, is Christ. All right, let's,
in closing, let's sing a hymn that John picked out. 268. 268.
268. Come on, John, lead us, please. 268. Let's sing, oh, that's a good hymn. Sing the first and last verses,
okay? How firm a foundation, ye saints
of the Lord, is laid for your faith in his excellent Word.
What more can he say than to you he has led, to you I will not, I will not desert
to his foe. I'll never, no never, no never
forsake.