I am glad to be here and I do
wish others could be. If you would, look with me in
Luke chapter 2. Luke chapter 2. I want to begin reading in verse
25. Excuse me. 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 took he him up
in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou
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 to lighten 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. I'm just going to stop right
there. This is probably as close as I'm going to get to a Christmas
message this year. I know this is what they call
the Advent season. Sure, they're three or four months
late in actuality, from what I understand from history. Christ
was supposedly born in September or somewhere around there in
the fall. But this is part of the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ to this earth. This is like 40 days, is what
they say. That's what the historian, after
a woman gives birth, They have to wait 30 some days or 40 days,
seven days for the blood and 30 days for afterward before
a woman is clean. And then you bring the child.
That's the Jewish custom at the time. And that's what we have
here. This is still a babe. This is
still a child. Yes, he is the only begotten
son of the father. Yes, he was born of a woman into
this world, but this is not a cute little baby story. That's not
what this is. This is the coming of the salvation
of God. And this has been revealed to
a man named Simeon, right here, right now. This is one of those
stories, Walter, that I had never heard growing up in the Catholic
Church. I'd never heard about this. If anybody ever mentioned it
or taught it to me, it didn't take, let's put it that way. This is long before the wise
men ever show up, but they get included in the manger scene,
and Simeon doesn't. But here we have the complete
record, recorded amount that we have the recorded account
of Simeon. And it starts off saying, behold,
there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. We're talking about one man,
Simeon. And I love how the scriptures
are just so exacting. It doesn't just say that he was
just and devout. No, it says, and the same man
was just and devout. waiting for the consolation of
Israel and the Holy Ghost was upon him. He was waiting for
the consolation of Israel. Well, weren't they all? No. No, they thought they were. But
the Holy Spirit is telling us through the words of Luke that
this man actually was waiting for the consolation of Israel.
He was looking for the Messiah. He was waiting. That is a very,
very hard thing to do. But it's easier when it says,
and the Holy Ghost was upon him. It says he was just and devout.
How was he just and devout? The Holy Ghost was upon him.
How is he waiting for the consolation of Israel? How did he know the
consolation of Israel was coming? The Holy Ghost was upon him. That little clause there at the
end explains all the rest of this. Guess what? If you're just in the vow, if
you're waiting on the consolation of Israel these days, it's because
of the Holy Ghost. It's not because of you. and the Holy Ghost was upon him. Then verse 26 says, And it was
revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should not see
death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ. Now that in and of itself is
a statement. Simeon had been given a revelation. This is not a general revelation.
This simian whose man whose name was simian and that same man
When the holy ghost was upon was given this revelation Well
a you're gonna die But be you're not gonna die before you see
the Lord's Christ Very specific Curios Christos the Lord's Christ Revelation is always personal. There is no general revelation
to the people. We have this book here, and in
it is revealed our Lord Jesus Christ. But there are people
who have this book for which this book is a closed book. It
has no meaning. There were Jews all over Jerusalem
who were not truly, truly waiting for the consolation of Israel.
But Simeon was. And Simeon had been given this
revelation that he would not see death before he saw the Lord's
Christ. Now, it doesn't tell us when
it had been revealed to him. But you get the implication here.
that he was not a young man. I don't know how long he had
been waiting. It doesn't matter how long he
had waited. What mattered was the promise
that the Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would see the
Lord's Christ. He still had to die, but he still
was going to see. 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 This revelation had been given
to this simeon the same man by the spirit Now comes time for
the fulfillment of this revelation And we see who's working here
the statement starts with he came by the spirit into the temple. The revelation comes from God,
the fulfillment comes from God. What part did Simeon have? Well,
he was there because the Spirit brought him. He was going to
see the Lord Christ. Why? Because the Lord had said
so. Who was going to see to it? The Holy Spirit of God. revelation comes from God the
fulfillment comes from God and Simeon got to see the Lord
Christ Simeon came by the Spirit into
the temple Because what was revealed to Simeon by the Holy Ghost is
brought about by the Holy Ghost And if you really want to know
the truth This is the foreknowledge of God right here. Known unto
God are all his works from the beginning. Simeon, you're going to see the
Lord's Christ. Simeon says, fine, thank you.
Then he brings him to see the Lord's Christ on the very day
that the Lord's Christ was brought there. When the parents brought
in the child Jesus, Simeon was there. by the Spirit of God. There really is no such thing
as coincidence. There's no such thing as coincidence.
It wouldn't do for me to be an insurance adjuster. I don't believe
in accidents, because there are none. I believe
there is a plan for this world. There is a purpose for everything
that happens. And I also believe that all good
things, all bad things, and all things work together for good
to them that love God, to them that are the called according
to his purpose. But here is the fulfillment of the revelation
to Simeon that he would see the Lord's Christ. And what does
he see? He don't see a preacher. You
don't see the prophet, priest, the king. They brought a child,
40 days old, after the custom of the law,
to the temple. But that doesn't deter the Holy
Spirit. Then he took him up in his arms
and blessed God. This man, this Simeon, Took up
this child in his arms And then it says Simon eulogize
God Simon bless God, that's what it means eulogize Simon praised
God That's the meaning of that word. He praised God why because
God Just at that moment had performed exactly what he promised to him
You are going to see the Lord's Christ And he said, Lord, now let us
thy servant depart in peace according to thy word. I can die now in
peace according to your word. That's a statement right there.
That's a statement. I hope I'm able to say that when
my time comes. I can die now in peace in your
son, who is our peace, according to thy word. I've heard comedians say, I brought
you into this world, I'll take you out of it, talking about
their kids, Ms. Bava. Well, here's the truth of the
matter. God brought you into this world, God will take you out.
Now, the question is whether it'll be in peace, according
to his word. And for Simeon, it was. Simeon
praised God for his salvation. Verse 30 says it, for mine eyes,
for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. That's what I was going to use
as a title, Paul. Mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Revelation, even when the fulfillment is
done In public. They were at the temple. This
was not a private affair in somebody's house. They were at the temple.
But revelation of God by the Holy Spirit, even when done in
public, is personal. Simeon said, mine eyes. Mine. They're in a public place. And
Simeon's eyes have seen, but no one else saw, other than
Anna, who comes in a little later. I'm not going to get into that.
Mary and Joseph, they marveled at these things. Far as we know, I don't know
how many people are here. It doesn't matter how many people
were there. But this is a temple. It's a busy place. Simeon saw by salvation Mine
eyes have seen mine eyes The salvation of God is extremely
personal My eyes have to be open in order
to see Your eyes have to be open in order to see and they have
to be opened by God The hearing ear and the seeing
eye, what's it say? The Lord hath made even both
of them. No one sees thy salvation. No one sees the Lord's Christ
unless he's opened their eyes. They can be standing right next
to you and you see and they don't. They can be standing right next
to you and they see and you don't. And Simeon's eyes saw. My eyes, mine eyes have seen
thy salvation. He's speaking for himself because
that's all he can speak for. No one else can do this for you. I cannot see for you. I cannot
give seeing eyes. Walter can. No man can. All I can do is ask you, have
you seen? Have you seen? Simeon saw with his own eyes,
and every believer will see Christ with the eye of faith. hearing ear a seeing eye the
Lord's made even both there is what was that in Job I've heard
of thee with the hearing of my ear but now mine I see it thee there's a change because it says
then and I repent I abhor myself, I hate myself, and repent in
sackcloth and ashes." But what did Simeon see? Thy
salvation. Thy salvation! Thy salvation! Thy salvation is the one that
Simeon had been waiting upon. The consolation of Israel is
a person. The consolation of Israel is
a person. He is the Lord's Christ. He is not the world's Christ.
Now He is the only Christ. And he is the savior of the world.
But he's not the world's Christ. Luke says it plainly here. It
was revealed to Simeon that he was going to see the Lord's Christ. We'll hear later on from Jesus
Christ himself. You're going to say, there are
going to be many that show up using my name. And they say,
oh, he's in the desert. Don't go. Oh, he's over here. Don't go. This is the Lord's Christ right
here. This is the Lord's Christ, and
this is the one that had been promised that Simeon would see,
and Simeon has seen and believed. And he says, Lord, mine eyes
have seen what? Thy salvation. It's God's salvation. It's God's salvation. Jesus Christ
is salvation Excuse me Simeon came by the Holy Spirit God guided
no actually I put it God brought Simeon to his salvation God's
salvation All of salvation is of God because
he is all of salvation Salvation of God is a person Now it is
true that our salvation is in a person in Christ's life Christ's
suffering Christ's death and resurrection and Our salvation
is a person he is our salvation From beginning to end from the
revelation to Simeon to his being brought to the temple to see. This is all the work of God.
And all of salvation is the work of God, from beginning to end. He continues on, which thou hast
prepared before the face of all people. Okay. This is not a surprise in the
sense that no one knew he was coming. Simeon was waiting on
him. The Old Testament prophets spoke
of this. The Old Testament saints were
looking for him. They had not yet received the
promises, but they were looking for him, waiting for him. Some of them died before he came.
before thy salvation came, but by faith they were waiting upon
the Lord's salvation. The anointed one, that's who
they were looking for, the Messiah, the Christ, and here he is. This prepared child is thy salvation. Isn't that an amazing thing? This man holds a child in his
arms and says, mine eyes have seen thy salvation. In a 40 day
old child is what he was holding. But that wasn't what he was seeing.
He was seeing the salvation of God. Which thou hast prepared
before the face of all the people, Hebrews 10 and 5 puts it this
way, Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice
and offering thou wouldst not, but a body. Thou hast prepared
me. The coming of Christ was according
to the scriptures. His life here on earth Had been
prophesied in the scriptures the old testament scriptures
his suffering his death His death His punishment His being made
sin for us The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all
the way Isaiah put it All of that was in preparation
for the coming of this child, thy salvation. God incarnate
in the flesh, condescension, coming down, taking upon himself
the likeness of sinful flesh. Not sinful flesh, but the likeness
of him. Henry Mahan's the one who first
pointed that out to me about 30 years ago. He said, Christ
didn't come in the form of unfallen Adam as a perfect man, even fleshly. No, he didn't come in sinful
flesh, but he came in the likeness of sinful flesh. Why? Isaiah
says it. In no beauty that we should desire him. No comeliness. He came looking like a man. He was prepared before the face
of all the people. None of this was done in a quarry.
None of it was done in a quarry. It was done right out in the
open. But the only one here at this temple who saw was this
man Simeon and Anna the prophetess. Boy, that sounds awfully particular.
It's because it is. It always is, it always has been,
it always will be. This is not, this book is in
print in I don't know how many languages, Mason. I have no idea. This Bible is in print. It's
in black and white and black and white and red. And people
read it. But they don't see the salvation
of God. Christ And no one will unless they are
brought by the Spirit He was prepared before the face
of all the people Luke 2 and verse 32 says a light to lighten
the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel I Like that Forty days old and
we're already talking about lightening the Gentiles. That's me. That's
us. You understand? This ain't nothing
new. The religious Jews of that day
didn't get it. But there are mentions in the
Old Testament of the Gentiles being brought in. Of the Gentiles being included
in what? The salvation of God. And this
word here where it says, a light to lighten, this to lighten,
I don't know what the old English definition of it was. I didn't
look into it. I looked at the Greek. This word is apocalypse. A light to revelation. This is not a verb. This is a
noun. Now the word light is light.
But it's a light revelation. to the Gentiles, to enlighten
the Gentiles, to reveal this Lord's Christ to the Gentiles,
and the glory of thy people Israel. I like how he put thy people
Israel in there. Jesus Christ is the light of
the world. Simeon not only saw him, but
Simeon knew it And Simeon saw the salvation
of God thy salvation a light to lighten the Gentile and the
glory of thy people Israel I Don't I don't know. Light is light. I don't know how to put this,
you know? There is no darkness in light. The darkness is in us. Okay? The light's there. The light
shines all the time. I don't know any other way to
put this, but the darkness doesn't comprehend it. But if your eyes see, you're
going to see the light. Now that only happens by the
spirit. Simeon was brought here by the
spirit. It was revealed to him by the
spirit He was gonna see it then he was brought there by the spirit,
and then he saw him But that light shines whether anyone sees
it or not the light shines And verse 33 says and Joseph
and his mother marveled at the things that were spoken of him Joseph and Mary knew both they
knew what had been revealed to them But here as far as we know
a complete stranger to them Picks up the child and says mine eyes
have seen thy salvation He's gonna be a light to reveal
to the Gentiles he's gonna be a revelation to the Gentiles
and to thy people Israel and I can imagine Mary and Joseph,
how does he know this stuff? Luke tells us, by the Spirit.
By the Spirit. Revelation is personal. 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. This child, the one he was holding
in his hand, is set. This child, there's no other
child. No child ever before, nor child
ever since. Simeon said, this is the child.
He's not confused. He's not unsure. And he's not
asking. He's telling them something.
He is proclaiming this child and no other. And he says, this
child is set. And literally, that means to
lie outstretched. Figuratively, it means He's appointed. He is made, or he is set. And
I'm going to tell you something, this child is set in stone. Because this child is the chief
cornerstone. He's the head of the corner.
He's that rock that was in the wilderness that followed the
congregation. This child is set. He'd been aforeprepared. He's
been prepared. He's going to be prepared in
the face of all the people. It's going to be done in public.
This child is set. His life is going to happen.
He's going to be perfect, sinless, holy in every way that we can
not. This child is set, but he is
also set not only for the fall and rising again
of men in Israel." This chief cornerstone, this head of the
corner, this rock that was in the wilderness that followed
the congregation is also, at the same time, he's a stumbling
stone and a rock of offense. Some will fall and some will
rise because of them, because of him, and some will do both. Because it's okay to fall upon
the rock. You'll be broken, but you're on the rock. The problem
comes if the rock falls on you and you're ground to powder.
That's what he said. If the rock falls on you, you'll
be ground to powder. If you fall on the rock, you'll
be broken, but you're still on that foundation, you're still
on that rock. And then he says this, and for
a sign which shall be spoken against. He is set for the fall
and rising again of many in Israel. And set for a sign which shall
be spoken against. Here's your sign. Know what Bill
Ingvall says? Here's your sign. The Lord's Christ will be spoken
against. That's what Simeon told his parents.
And guess what? The Lord's Christ was spoken
against. We can look back and see it now.
Actually, right now, you can look around. and see that the
Lord's Christ, thy salvation, this week, more than a lot, is
spoken against. Like I said, this ain't a cute
little baby Jesus story. This is what Simeon saw when
he held that 40-day-old child, this child, who's the Lord of
glory. I can't explain it. I do believe
it. I know it happened. Everything's gonna be lovely
Mary. It's all hearts and roses from here on out No, this child
is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel and for a sign
which shall be spoken against And here's your sign you preach
Jesus Christ they'll speak against you But in speaking against you
they're speaking against him and It happens every day in this
world all day long and twice on Sunday as they used to say He was holy he was perfect in
every way He was spoken against He was perfectly sinless and
totally incapable of sinning and He was spoken against He is the light of revelation
to the Gentiles and thy people Israel and He was spoken against They will not have this man to
reign over them You can look through the life
of Christ in the Gospels and you will see that when Christ
spoke, they took up stones to stone him. When he preached,
they gathered him and would take him up off a high hill and were
going to throw him off a cliff. He asked them one time, for what
good work do you stone me? For a good work we stone thee
not. But you made yourself. equal with God. He is equal with God. I said
it before. This is how you can get the point
and miss the point at the same time. That's how depraved we
are. He was and he said he was equal
with God. I and my father are one. What do people say? Let's kill
him. That's the reaction of this world. Simeon rejoiced when he saw thy
salvation. The world wants to throw rocks
at him. The world wants to kill him.
And they did kill him. Paul, you read it this morning. You did it by wicked hands. You
crucified the Lord of glory. Yes, it was by the determinant
counsel and the foreknowledge of God. Yes, Simeon was prophesying
of it right here. He was going to be spoken against. And he was spoken against. But
you, by wicked hands, did crucify him. And we don't want to get uppity.
We don't want to think too much of ourselves. Because had we
been there, and without the spirit of God, I would have done the
same thing. I would have done the exact same
thing. Because without the spirit of God, I hate God. I know that
in me. The world doesn't know it. And
that's why they speak against him. But when he told Mary, yea, a
sword shall pierce through thine own soul also. She was his mother. I'm not going to denigrate Mary.
I'm not going to elevate her, but I'm not going to denigrate
her. God chose this woman to bring
in this child into this world. No, she's not Holy Mary, mother
of God. No, but she was the mother of
Jesus. The scripture says that. She was his physical mother and
she was going to suffer Because her son was going to suffer.
Yea, a sword shall pierce through thine own soul also. Christ was going to have a sword
in his soul. When thou shalt make his soul
sin. Our chastisement, our peace,
everything we have is from him. Everything we did was laid on
him He suffered he was pierced he
was forsaken by God and he was spoken against by the people And these things that the thoughts
of many hearts may be revealed Things are going to happen. All
kinds of things are going to happen. And Simeon was telling
Mary, they're going to affect you. And they'll affect you also. They affect me. What Christ done. What had been done to Christ. Because in Christ, there is glory
and there is sorrow. There is love and there is hurt.
There is joy and mourning. Comfort and misery. peace and
division in Christ. Because when He brings you in,
He is taking you out of somewhere. You understand? You can't be
brought in unless you're being brought out from somewhere. We were in the world and of the
world. Now we're in the world, but we're not of the world. And it causes division and strife
in families, between friends, between congregations. Sometimes it seems like, in some
churches, the worst thing you can do is come to a knowledge
of Christ. You will have problems like you
never had before, Mason. And God may remove you from that
assembly that you were a part of. This is the revelation of God's
salvation when this child is revealed to Simeon. mine eyes
have seen thy salvation." We haven't seen it all. We're not
capable of seeing it all. And there's more to come yet. But if you believe, you've seen. If you believe, you've seen Him. But if you believe not, You haven't seen. So the conclusion
to this is, have your eyes seen His salvation? That's the only
question that matters. Simeon's revelation was personal.
I can't give you a revelation. Only the Spirit can. I can't
fulfill a revelation. Only the Spirit can. I can ask
more questions. What think ye of Christ? Do you know this Christ? Have you come to this Christ? And if that's too much, do you
want to know Him? Do you want to come to Him? Have you a desire? If you do, that's a good sign. Because most of the world do
not even recognize that this Christ, this child, God's salvation,
this man, exists. They don't know Him. They've
never heard of Him. And they don't want to know of
Him. So if you have a desire, that's a good thing. Come to Him. Heavenly Father,
we're thankful again for this time and this place. Most of
all, thankful for You, our Lord. You have given everything to
us. You've given your son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to us. You gave him for us and you've
given him to us. And Lord, we have seen thy salvation. And we would praise and extol
you as you deserve if we only could. Thank you, Lord. In Christ's name.