We're going to look at Luke chapter
2 today and we'll be kind of closing out the chapter I think,
unless something else comes up that I run into. Last time we
were in the portion where Simeon was
presenting the baby at the temple in 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, 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
brought in the child Jesus to do for him after the custom of
the law, then he took him up in his arms and blessed God and
said, Now let us, thy servant, depart in peace according to
thy word. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
which thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light,
delight in the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.'
And Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken
of him. And Simeon blessed them and said unto Mary his mother,
Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of
many in Israel. And for a sign which shall be
spoken against, yea, a sword shall pierce through thine own
soul also that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.
And here's where we'll pick up today there in verse 36, but
just a few comments before that. During our time in Luke we've
been trying to kind of tie into the Old Testament wherever Because
that was the gospel that they they declared back then they
didn't have this New Testament writings and and so whenever
they were preaching the gospel, that's what they were they were
just declaring Christ in the Old Testament and Christ himself
said Search the scriptures. They are they that testify of
me and and those two on the road to Emmaus he He expounded to
them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. And
we find practically every line is that way in the New Testament. When we were looking last time
at the light to light in the Gentiles, we went all the way
back to Genesis 1-3, talking about the light of the world.
And today, we'll be back in Genesis again. But I want you to pay
attention here in verse 36. And remember what we just read
about Simeon as he holds that baby up in his arms. and presents
him to God and said, now let thy servant depart in peace for
I've seen thy salvation, to lighten the Gentiles and the
glory of the church. In verse 36, and there was one
Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher. And she was of great age and
lived with a husband seven years from her virginity, and she was
a widow of about four score and four years, which departed not
from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayer night
and day. And this caught my eye, this next
line, and she coming in at that instant, gave thanks likewise unto the
Lord, and spake of him to all them that look for redemption
in Jerusalem." Well, what was that exact instant? That exact
instant was when Simeon was holding up the child and said, I've seen
thy salvation. the light to lighten the Gentiles,
the glory of the church. And so here we have this, it's not just by accident that
her name is brought up in all these details. And I didn't really
go into the age part again, because she'd been widowed fairly early
in her marriage, and she was a widow. But she devoted her
life to, says to fastings and prayer, night and day. And she
waited for the consolation of Israel, like Simeon. She waited
to see the Lord's Christ and his salvation. As Simeon said
there in verse 30, my eyes have seen thy salvation. I'm holding
him, I'm looking right at him. So let's go back to Genesis chapter
32 and take a quick read there. Because it says her father's name was Phanuel, daughter of Phanuel of the tribe
of Asher. And that's a Greek rendering
of a Hebrew name of Penuel. And so I'll turn back to Genesis
32 and verse 24. And let's take a look at this relationship
between the name of her father and what happened in Genesis
that directly has a bearing on what's going on right now. And
this is a story about Jacob and he just separated from Esau,
sent his family and all his goods over the brook, it says. And
in chapter 32, verse 24, Jacob was left alone and there wrestled
a man with him until the breaking of day. And we saw that he prevailed
not against him. He touched the hollow of his
thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he
wrestled with him. And he said, let me go, for the
day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee
go, except thou bless me. And he said unto them, what is
thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said,
thy name shall be called Jacob, or no more Jacob, but Israel. For as a prince, thou has power
with God and with men and has prevailed. And Jacob asked him
and said, tell me, I pray thy name. And he said, wherefore
is it that thou dost seek after my name? And he blessed him there.
And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel. He said, for
I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. And so we see Anna's father named
after this, and we find the very thing that she had just observed
was, I've seen God face to face. I've seen the Lord's Christ.
So she, as well as Simeon, by God's purpose, were at the temple
at the time of the presentation of the Lord, so that all things
according to the law might be accomplished, it tells us in
verse 39. She came at the exact instant, it says. I just thought,
that's not there by accident. She was there at the exact instant,
it says. That's the way God operates.
exactness. They were there at the exact
instant Simeon was declaring, mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
which thou has prepared before the face of all people. A light
to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people, Israel,
verse 30 through 32. She served God according to his
purpose. She just wasn't there at the
temple by accident. She served according to His purpose
in prayer and fasting and giving thanks unto the Lord for sending
the Savior. That's what tells us there in
verse 37. She departed not from the temple,
but served God with fastings and prayers night and day, and
coming in at that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord,
and spake of him to all them that look for redemption in Jerusalem." Thanks to the Lord, God Almighty. Thanks be to him for coming.
He was coming for a purpose. He wasn't just, well, this is
novel. And she spake, it says, of him. To all them that look for redemption
in Jerusalem, she would say, guess who's inside? The Lord's
Christ, the Messiah is here. I've seen him. I've seen God's
salvation. She declared the gospel to them
and the only redemption there is in Christ, he came to give
his life a ransom, a redemption for many. I've seen God face
to face and my life is preserved. That's what it said there in
verse 30. Isn't that just an amazing glimpse
back? Search the scriptures for they
are they that testify of me and every little thing. You know,
maybe when you're just reading through the book of Genesis and
you come to that name Penuel, which means face of God, and
it's translated in the Greek here as Phanuel, face of God. Well, what does that have to
do with anything? But then we see it all come together
and everything testifying of Christ. And so the next thing we have
here coming up, there's kind of a leap in time
here in Luke's account. We go from the Lord being an
infant to being at age 12 here. So let's read on from verse 39. And when they had performed all
things according to the law of the Lord, that's the family there,
and they'd been there for the Passover. The Passover feast
lasted about a week. And sometimes they stuck around longer
and did things in town. But when
they performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they
returned unto Galilee to their own city Nazareth. And the child
grew and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace
of God was upon him. Now his parents went to Jerusalem
every year at the Feast of the Passover. And remember, there
was three feasts every year that was a required attendance. And
so they went every year to the Passover. And when he was 12
years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.
And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, The child
Jesus carried behind in Jerusalem. And remember, he's 12 now, it
says. And Joseph and his mother knew
not of it. But they, supposing him to have
been in the company, went a day's journey, and they sought him
among their kinfolk and acquaintances. So there is probably It was required
to go, so probably they had a big for safety and comfort and travel. Everybody got together and said,
well, we're going to Jerusalem on Tuesday. And they all went
in a caravan, kind of. It was a couple, three days journey
to walk over there. And so they went. And Yvonne and I were talking about
this this morning. Boy, we wouldn't have let Jenny out of our sight
for an entire day, unless we had somebody that said, I'll
keep an eye on her, like we do with family and friends and whatnot.
But they just assumed he was traveling with them somewhere.
And so they, supposing him to have been in the company, went
a day's journey. They sought him among their kinfolk
and acquaintance, and when they found him not, they turned back
again to Jerusalem, seeking him. And it came to pass after three
days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors,
both hearing them and asking them questions, and all that
heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers." And so I was kind of thinking,
you know, what's kind of the relative practical application
for the church here in this little narrative that we just have about
them going back and not knowing where their son was,
and then supposing him to be somewhere that he wasn't. So I was just trying to figure
out how that would be, what would be relevant about that, and it
just kind of came to me that They kind of take for granted
a little bit about the Lord. He
said, well, I think he should be here doing this, or I think
he should be there doing that. And he said, how is it that you
sought me? Didn't you know that I'm going
to be about my father's business? And not my will be done, but
thy will is the prayer that we have in the New Testament. It's
kind of a lesson to us that sometimes we're maybe guilty of dictating
where we think God should be and what he should be doing.
Well, how can you let this coronavirus thing go on? How can you let
this go on? Why aren't you doing something about that? Why aren't
you doing something about that? And he says, I must be about
my father's business. And what is the father's business
but the redemption of the church? And also, it's kind of a lesson
for us not to take our eyes off Christ in the spiritual sense.
They kind of took their eyes off Him and just assumed He was
going to be there. And I think maybe we have a little
bit of that, oh, well, I don't need Christ today. I'm just going
to assume He's going to tag along with me. And we don't have our
eye on Him and looking for Him in the spiritual sense. And to
trust him and know that our well-being depends not in what we do, but
what he has done and where he actually was. It was
about his father's business. And it's funny, I was mentioning
to Norm this morning, well, it was the last place they looked.
They finally found him in the temple. And Norm says, well,
they shouldn't quit looking for him just because they found him
in the temple. They should kind of keep looking for him all the
time. But as parents, they felt a little bit of frustration and
fear and sorrow. They came up to him and says,
didn't you know that we've been searching for you, sorrowing
for days now? And he says, didn't you know who
I am? Didn't you know what I'd be doing? I'd be going about doing my father's
business. And this, it was really interesting
that it was a Passover feast. It was all about him. And it
wasn't just about, well, every year I have to go to the Passover
feast as a religious ceremony and do this, this, this, this,
and this. And then I can check that box
off and then I can go home. It was about Christ coming to
redeem his people. And the way he was going to do
that was by dying. That's what the Passover pictured.
The lamb that was slain, the blood that was applied. When
I see the blood, I'll pass over you. When I see the blood applied
to my people, I'll pass over them. And so it was a ceremony
that was all about him. It was testifying of him and
what he came to do. Not just something to do to achieve
perfect attendance, But what Christ was able to do, it said
they fulfilled all the law. It says that several places here. They fulfilled all the law concerning
Him every time. So we find out that He was able
to keep perfectly all the law that we're unable to keep. I'd
just throw my hands up in the air and say, I can't even think
about doing this. If you just read through all
those Levitical feasts and sacrifices and things that Norm went through,
they all pictured Christ, but I just have to say, I never could
do all that stuff. The other night he says, well,
I didn't even keep one commandment, let alone ten. I couldn't even
keep one for all day. It's just impossible. And it just makes it so much
more for us to cherish when Christ goes and does all that for us,
keeps all of it for us, trusting Him that He was able to do what
we could not do ourselves. And so it kind of brings us about
not to take Him for granted, that He came with a specific
purpose to die in this very feast that He had gone to. Can you imagine a 12-year-old
lad watching them sacrifice that Passover lamb and saying, that's
me. That's me giving my life a ransom
for my people. That's me redeeming the church. How awesome. And can you imagine him after
that going to the temple and talking to all these religious
people that memorized all the scriptures and they were all
the ones that were, he said, they are they that testify of
me. So is it any wonder that he was sitting in the temple
in the midst of the doctors both hearing them and asking them
questions? And all they that heard him were
astonished at his understanding and his answer. He's 12 years
old. How can you know all this stuff? How can you go to Isaiah? and start there and preach Christ
unto them. How can you know all that stuff?
A couple of weeks ago I came across a scripture in Isaiah,
imagine that, Old Testament. Search the scriptures for they
are they that testify of me. Turn back to Isaiah chapter 50. And again, that whole chapter is
pretty wonderful. The previous chapter, he says,
I've graven thee upon the palms of my hands, the church, the
names. Even though we're not looking
for Him, We've written him off in the
fall and in sin. He says, is my hand shortened
that I cannot save? It's not. In verse 4, he said, The Lord
God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should
know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary, He wakeneth
morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear, to hear as the learned. The Lord God hath opened my ear,
and I was not rebellious, neither turn away my back. So I gave
my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off
the hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting." It just
takes us from this time where he's sitting here with these
religious folks in the temple going over the scripture with
him, might even have been that very one. He says, we don't understand
how you know all this stuff. And he says, God has given me
the tongue of the learned. He has given me understanding. He's given me the ability to
speak the words of the gospel in a season. I gave my back to the spiders.
He said, I don't have any whiskers yet, but when I grow them out,
they're going to yank them off my face and spit on me. Can you imagine them? I don't
understand that. The Lord God will help me, therefore
shall I not be confounded, therefore have I set my face like a flint.
And I know that I shall not be ashamed." And isn't that what
it tells us in the New Testament? He set his face like a flint
going to Jerusalem, and he didn't waver one step off of the track
to get there. How is it that you sought me? I must be about my father's business."
And it says a couple of verses later, they didn't quite understand
what he was talking about. They understood not the saying
which he spoke unto them. And so I just wanted to spend
a minute looking at what is the father's business? He says, I
must be about my father's business. And I underlined that and highlighted
it and all that stuff. It kind of reminded me of the
old Testament and Ezekiel and Jeremiah and Isaiah where we
find all those I will verses I Will do this and I will do
this and I will do this and I will do this and I will give you a
new heart I will cleanse you and I will give you a heart to
know me and to love me and I will Cause you to love me and you'll
be my people. I'll be your guy all those things
that he does and And he said that he would do in the Old Testament,
and now he's here, and he's saying, I must. I must. I must be about my father's business. And if we go through the scripture,
we find quite a few musts that the Lord says that he accomplished. I must go to Jerusalem. I must
be turned over to the chief priests. and the elders and be abused
and crucified and raised again the third day. I must go through
Samaria. I have an appointment there with
one of my flock in Samaria. I must fulfill all the law. I
must abide in the house of Zacchaeus. Other sheep that are not of this
fold, I must bring also. I must suffer many things. I
must be slain. If you just go through your concordance
and look up all the musts that Christ said, there's a lot of
them. And they are not just, well, voluntary, it doesn't matter
whether I do them. A must, when the Almighty says,
I must, it's just concrete. I must come to Jerusalem. And as we heard Wednesday night
in the study from Malachi 3, the messenger of the covenant
of grace. He's here. The Lord's Christ
came suddenly to his temple. His mission to present the church
back to the Father, thoroughly purged from their sin, washed
without spot, without wrinkle, and in a pure condition, His
righteousness being imputed to them by virtue of His death."
The very thing they were in Jerusalem looking at a picture, a type,
a shadow of in this Passover feast. picture of his death, burial,
and resurrection, satisfying the righteousness and justice
of God the Father. Behold, I send my messenger,
and he shall prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom
he seeks shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger
of the covenant. And he'll say things, and they'll
say, wow, isn't this guy from Nazareth? How did he learn all
that stuff? Isn't he just a kid? How does he know all that stuff? Behold, he shall come, saith
the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of
his coming? He said, you know what? Over
here, he said, he's going to be a sign which shall be spoken
against. A sword shall pierce through
thine own soul that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.
People that say, I'm really religious are going to find out They're
just really religious. And that's as far as they can
say. Who can abide the day of His coming? You're not going
to be able to stand there in front of Him and give Him your
list of all the stuff you did. It's not going to be of any use. He's like that refiner's fire,
like fuller's soap, and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier
of silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi and purge them
as gold and silver that they may offer unto the Lord an offering
of righteousness. You know, back in the day when
I was a youth, we used to sturgeon fish a lot, and we made our own
sinkers. We scrounged lead from wherever we could. We wrecked
out telephone, old lead telephone cable, and we had a big old burner
and a little steel thing that we put the lead in and it melted
it down and then we poured it in a mold. While it was melting,
all this crud kind of bubbled up to the top and you just kind
of flicked that away because it was that draw stuff that you
talk about, the impurities, the stuff that was no good. You just
purged that away. And man, he'll have his work
cut out for him with me. It's going to do a lot of flicking
away the draws. That refiner's fire that they may offer unto the
Lord, an offering in righteousness, they're going to be able to go
and say, Well, I'm glad you did that. I don't have my own righteousness,
but I have the imputed righteousness of my Lord, and that's all I
have. Then shall the offering of Judah
and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, because it's not stuff
that we offered in our own. It's not our righteousness that
Isaiah said that's like filthy rags. It's the Lord's perfect
righteousness. And that is pleasing unto the
Father. It's pleasant unto the Lord as
in the days of old and in the former years. When Jesus met with that woman,
he said, I must need to go through Samaria. And he went to that
well and hooked up with her in John chapter 4. She said, come see a man that
told me all ever I did. Is not this the Christ? And they went out of the city
after that, and the disciples, he always kind of talked to them
in spiritual concepts. And they were always looking
at things from a physical standpoint, which we want to do because that's
our nature. And he said, man, he must be
getting weak. He hasn't eaten in a long time. John 4, verse 31, his disciples
came to him and prayed him, saying, Master, eat. And he said unto
them, I have meat to eat that you know not of. Therefore said the disciples
one to another, hath any man brought him something to eat
that we didn't see? I didn't see anybody bring Him anything.
And Jesus said unto them, My meat is to do the will of Him
that sent Me, and to finish His work. And that's what He's saying
here in Luke. I must be about My Father's business. I must finish the work that the
Father gave Me to do. It was never about the religion. It was about Christ. and him redeeming the people
that God gave him in the covenant of grace. John 5.36 says, I have a greater
witness than that of John for the works which the Father has
given me to finish, the same works that I do. Those same works
bear witness of me that the Father has sent me. John chapter 17, as thou, he's
praying to his father, he says, thou has given him power over
all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as thou
has given me. And this is eternal life that
they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom
thou has sent. I've glorified thee on the earth.
I have finished the work which thou gave us me to do. Chapter 19 of John and verse
31. Jesus had therefore had received
the vinegar. He said it is finished And he
bowed his head and gave up the ghost In the book of Hebrews
chapter 12 verse 2 says looking unto Jesus the the author and
the finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before
him endured the cross and despised the shame and is set down at
the right hand of the throne of God. They're making intercession
for us as it tells us in Romans 8.34. He's died and risen again
and is at the right hand of God making intercession for us. He's still about the business
of the Father, making sure that we always appear to the Father
without spot, without wrinkle, purged by that refiner's fire,
purged by that fuller's soap. Whenever God sees us, He just
looks at us through the righteousness of Christ and says, clean as
a whistle. I find no fault in them. This is the record that God has
given to us, eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that
hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. These things have I written unto
you, that you believe on the name of the Son of God, that
you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe
on the name of the Son of God, 1 John 5, 11-13. And then in 1 John 2, verse 1,
it says, my little children, I write unto you that you sin
not. And our pastor says that all
the time. Sin not, that's what Jesus told
that Samaritan woman, go and sin no more. And the only way
she was able to do that was because she could just plead the imputed
righteousness of Christ on her behalf. It's not like in religion,
they kind of figure, well, every day you're just going to sin
less and less and less until you reach this state of nirvana.
And in reality, The more you know grace, the more sin just
becomes apparent to you. It's just things that you didn't
even consider before now are blaring. And you say, oh my word,
how could that be? And then you apply all those
verses that we heard Jesus say in Luke chapter 7. I've come
to give you the oil of gladness for mourning. When you see all
those sins and you say, oh, I'm just crushed because I'm guilty,
guilty, guilty. And he says, I've forgiven, forgiven,
forgiven. I've come to release you from
that bondage. I've come to release you from
that prison. We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
the righteous. The business of God is eternal
life for the church, and the business of the Son is the business
of the Father, for they are one. And we'll close there for today,
and thank you for your attention. And as always, from John chapter
eight, be free.