I was looking over there for
him. It's so good to be with you. I've been able to stay in contact
with our brother by way of text. I am so thankful that the Lord
has been pleased to bring him through to this point right now.
I'm glad we're all here. I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Luke, chapter
2. Luke, chapter 2. I'd like to read verses 25 to
30. Luke 2. The Scripture says, 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 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." The Scripture doesn't attach a title or a position
to this man. just says his name was Simeon. And no other place does he mention
in Scriptures. But the Spirit of God was pleased
to reveal some of the character of this man. The Scripture sets
forth that he was a just man, Humanly speaking, he was upright. He was an honest man in his dealings
with men, but this man was declared by God's Spirit to know God. He was a man that was just before
God, one that had been declared by God to be free from the guilt
and therefore the penalty of sin justified freely by God's
grace, by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he was a devout
man. He was devoted, one devoted to
worship God's will, God's glory. And being devout, he was a cautious
man, cautious in his walk. And the scripture says that this
man was waiting for the consolation, the comfort, or the comforter
of Israel. He believed God was going to
send the Messiah. And he was waiting. And the Scriptures
declares that the Holy Ghost was upon him, that is, in a special
way, an exceptional way. God had revealed to this man
that before he died, that he was going to see the Christ. He was going to see the Messiah. And in the good timing of God,
the Spirit of God moved on this man to have a desire in his heart. He was going to go to the temple
one day. And it was the same time that
the Lord had moved upon Mary to bring the Christ, the babe
Christ, to the temple to do for Him. after the custom of the
law, who is going to be dedicated unto the Lord. Now when the babe
was brought in by Mary and Simeon was there, the Spirit of God,
without question, revealed to this man, this is He. And the scripture says that Simeon,
verse 28, took him up in his arms. Oh, and he blessed God. He thanked and praised the Lord. I would even try to imagine what
would he think. What's he thinking? Here's God Almighty in the flesh. Here is the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. And I'm holding Him in my hands. I'm holding Him
right now. The one that spoke this world into existence. The one that sustains all things,
all life. This is the life. This is the
way. This is the truth right here.
And he blessed God. And the scripture says that he
began to pray. He said, Lord, Now let us, thy servant, depart
in peace according to thy word. You know, don't we learn something
there about dying for a believer? About a believer leaving this
world. That he leaves in peace. Death is something that we really don't
know anything about, really. or us sitting right here, we've
never experienced it. And there's a certain fearfulness
about it. There's a certain mystery about
it. We know what God has to say about
it. We're never going to die. This tabernacle here will be
put off, but to be absent from this body is to be present with
the Lord. And we know that. And we look
forward in anxious anticipation. But there's a peace about it
that is revealed if you've ever watched a believer die. It's
a marvelous thing to behold. It's amazing. One can die in peace. And He
prayed for that. Let me die in peace according
to Your Word. For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation. Now, for a few minutes, I want
to go back, if I could say it that way, I just want to go back
to the beginning. I want to preach for a few minutes,
and I've entitled this, God's Salvation. God's Salvation. That's what Simeon said. Mine
eyes have seen Thy salvation. So I know this, that salvation
is a person. It is a person. But I want us to consider, what
does the scripture say about salvation? And I want to be as
simple is I possibly can be. I want to be simple. I want to
talk to myself as if I'm talking to a child. Because that's the
way I need to hear it and I need to hear it again like that. Jonah in Jonah 2.9 said this
about salvation. It is of the Lord. salvation
is of the Lord. Now when we speak of God's salvation, knowing that salvation according
to this revelation of God's Spirit through this man Simeon, it is
a person. Now I do understand that we experience
something. I understand that. I'm not doubting
that. But it is beneficial to me, for
me to say from the Scriptures, salvation is a person. I need
to hear that again, Eric. I need to hear that. Salvation
is a person. But when it comes to salvation,
to the salvation of God's people, the rescue of God's people, the
Scriptures are very clear on How God saves a sinner. How He saves His people. According to a covenant of grace. That's what David said. This
is all my hope. He hath made with me an everlasting
covenant. He made a promise. He promised. It's ordered and it's sure in
all things. It's established. His Word will
not return void. It's going to accomplish the
purpose for which it was sent. And when it comes to the rescue
of God's people, salvation of God's people in the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ, This is what the Scriptures has to say
concerning salvation. Now, you just hold your place
there, but turn with me to Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter
1. Oh, the blessedness of this letter
that was written to the church at Ephesus. Ephesians chapter
1. When it comes to the everlasting
covenant of God's grace The scripture sets forth that salvation has
been wrought by, first of all, this is what we understand. We understand in time. I've said
this before. I don't know how to speak eternal.
So everything I say comes out in reference to time. I don't
know how to say anything other than that. It's all I can perceive.
I can't voice it, verbalize it. But I do know this, that when
it comes to salvation, this is thy salvation. Ephesians chapter
1 verse 3 says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, what has the Father done
according that everlasting covenant of grace. When it comes to salvation,
what has the Father done? Now the scripture sets forth
and gives credit unto or acknowledges the Father has done something.
Who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ. Now what are those spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ? What are they? Well,
here they are. According as He hath chosen us
in Him, in Christ, before the foundation of the world, for
what reason? That we should be holy and without
blame before Him in love. You think of that blessing. God
the Father was pleased to bless a people of His choosing with
this blessing. He chose, He selected, He set
apart a people and He did it in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
He did it before anything was ever created, before the foundations
of the earth were ever laid. established by His good pleasure
that there was a people having predestinated. He determined the destination before
Him. Predestinated us. To what? Unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to Himself. Now He adopted a people. And
He did it in the person of the Lord Jesus. And why did He do
it? According to the good pleasure
of His will. Because He chose to. That's the
answer. God predestinated us to the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good
pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace. That's what we say, Lord. Praise
and bless Your holy name, that You will please to show mercy
and grace to a people wherein He hath made us accepted in the
Beloved, in whom we have redemption Payment through His blood, the
forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace, wherein
He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. And
listen to this, having made known unto us the mystery of His will,
according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself.
He was pleased to tell us what He did. that in the dispensation
of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things
in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth,
and even in him in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will, that we should be to the praise of His glory
who first trusted in Christ. So here's what the Scripture
has to say about thy salvation. It started with God the Father. As far as our understanding is,
I mean, all things are eternal. But I mean, again, I only know
how to talk in time. I'm going to talk where my understanding
is. God the Father chose a people. He predestinated them unto the
adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself. Now, having
predestinated, having chosen, having selected a people in Christ,
the Lord Jesus Christ did something. for those people, only for those
people. The merit or the procuring of
a sinner's salvation, God's people, is said to be by the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Who paid their debt? Christ did. Who chose them? The
Father did. Who paid their debt? The Lord
Jesus Christ did. The one in whom the father was
well pleased. The one in whom the bride stood
secure. Christ the surety. Do you know what that means?
Do you know what surety is? The guarantee. I can guarantee
it. The federal head, the great high
priest. He who is the elects wisdom. He is their wisdom. He is their
righteousness. He is their sanctification, their
holiness, and their redemption. And how long has He been that? Proverbs 8.22 said, The LORD,
that's all capital letters, Jehovah possessed me in the beginning
of His way. I don't even want to try to figure
that one out. He possessed me in the beginning of His way,
in the beginning of His purpose, in the beginning of His will,
which is eternal. Before His works of old, before
He did anything that is recorded in these scriptures, the Lord said, I was set up. I was ordained to be the Redeemer,
the Savior, the Propitiation, the Satisfier. of the demands
of God for justice and righteousness in His people. Before they were
ever created, there was a surety, there was a propitiation. Here
is the head of the church who has been set up, that is, anointed
From all everlasting, from the beginning, wherever the earth
was, there has never been a time when they were not His. There
was never a time when they were not accepted in the Lord Jesus
Christ. There's never been a time that
they weren't accepted in the Beloved. Christ, in absolute obedience
to the will of His Father, This is where Simeon was. He was made
flesh. He took to himself humanity. He came into this world that
he might redeem his people from their sins and establish righteousness
for them and He came and having done so, He charges, He imputes to every
one of His people that believe, which they're going to believe.
Righteousness. His righteousness. Their debt
paid. Righteousness established, not
by themselves. Listen to Galatians 2.16. Knowing
that a man is not justified. What does that mean? What does
that word mean, justified? He's not judged. He's not pronounced
guilty. He's righteous. He's accepted. He's declared to be just before
God. Knowing that a man is not justified
when the law looks at a man or a woman in Christ and says, no
charge. It gets better. No record. No record. That which is born
of God sinneth not. No record. Knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Wherein does God's people stand
in Him? I stand in His righteousness.
It's my righteousness. Not by the works of the law,
By the faith of Jesus Christ, even we believe in Jesus Christ,
we do believe in Him. But what do we believe? That
we're justified by His righteousness, imputed. That we might be justified
by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law. For
by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. So here's
what the Scripture says. That God the Father chose those
that He would have to Himself as His children. He adopted them
in Christ that they should be holy without blame. And Christ
came into this world and established righteousness for us. And concerning
their sin, 2 Corinthians 5.21 says, "...He
hath made Him You know this. You've heard this.
Your pastor is preaching on this. Eric, you preach on this. Y'all
preach on this. You know this. To be is not there. He hath made
Him sin for us. Who knew no sin. He knew no sin. But made sin that we might be
made the righteousness of God in Him. Now again, I get lost
when I start considering the magnitude of what we're considering
here. That we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. I don't see it. All I see is
rebellion and doubt and fear and questioning and wavering. floundering, that's what I said.
But according to these scriptures, and by faith, we believe it.
It says, do you truly believe that you are holy and without
blame before Him in love? You truly believe that? Yes,
I do. Yes, I do. Do you see it? No, I don't. No, I don't. But
I believe it and I rejoice in it. Because here's what I'm going
to say, Lord, as You say it is, it is. That's the way it is.
He bore in His own body that which we, His people, are by
nature. Sin. And they were made to be
His. They were His sins. He made them
His own. God the Father made Him sin for
us. And as the God-man, he suffered
and died under absolute justice. You know why he suffered and
died? Because God is holy, and where sin was found, the law
demanded. God did that which was right,
and in His right, You and I that know Him are free. The assurance that we have. How can I know? How can I know? Because sometimes, often, as
I said, I can't see it. I can't perceive it with my looking
at myself. is right, John Newton, you know,
talking of himself, you know, he said, when I look within,
all is dark and wild. Can I deem myself a child? And he's asking you that love
him, is it so with you? How can I know that I have a
part in this glorious, electing, redeeming grace of God. The Scripture says, John 3 verse
36, He that believeth on the Son. The devils believe in that
He's real. But to believe on Him is to,
by faith, cast yourself upon Him. For he that believeth on
the Son everlasting life. Not will have,
but He hath everlasting life. And then thirdly, this is what
Scripture says, that salvation, the application of the person
of Christ, the believer's salvation, is applied or it's known to the
vessels of God's mercy by the quickening grace of God's Spirit. The Lord told Nicodemus, John
3, 3, "...verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born
again, he cannot see, perceive the kingdom of God." John 1,
10 to 13, the Scripture says, "...he, that is the Lord Jesus,
was in the world, And the world was made by Him, and the world
knew Him not. He came unto His own, that is,
the Jews, and His own received Him not, but as many as received
Him by faith. Here was something that had been
done to them. For those that did receive Him,
something was done. To them gave He power. to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name. To
those that received Him by faith, God gave them power to do that. The Scripture says that they
were born again, but they were born not of blood. They didn't inherit salvation. from others that were naturally
born in Adam as they were, not of blood, nor of the will of
the flesh, that is, nothing in the old nature of fallen man
that can will or lead to spiritual regeneration. They weren't born
by being born into the right family. It wasn't by their free
will. Nor of the will of man, meaning
no creature of the dust, though we might desire, we do desire
the salvation of others, our kids. We still, we can't create
it. We can't talk them into it. We can't, I mean, I could try
to just be as simple, simple, simple, but unless the Spirit
of God does something that I can't do, no other man in Adam can
do either. There's no life. The Lord told
Nicodemus, He said, The wind bloweth where it listeth, and
thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it
cometh, or whether it goeth. I was told the folks there in
Fairmont, I said I was sitting out on the front porch the other
night in London. We were just sitting there swinging.
Oh, it had the nicest breeze come up. It just felt so good,
you know. And I thought, man, this feels
fantastic. And I got to thinking about that
breeze on that afternoon. And to ask yourself, I wonder
where that breeze came from. I wonder where it's going. The Lord said, the wind bloweth
where it listeth. And thou hearest the sound there,
but thou canst not tell whence it cometh, or whether it goeth.
So it is every one that is born of the Spirit. When the Spirit
of God is pleased to move upon one of the vessels of God's mercy,
one that God the Father has chosen and Christ has redeemed, whenever
the time of love is there, The Spirit of God blows upon them
in power. And here's what happens. I'm
going to wrap this up. Let me tell you what happens
in thy salvation that Simeon said. I've seen thy salvation. Here it is. The fullness of the
Father's good pleasure to choose. The redemption of all of God's
elect Here is the one in whom all of God's kingdom is found. They're all represented by an
end. This is God's salvation. The
one that everyone that the Father has given unto the Son is going
to come to. They're all going to come to
Him. This one right here. who sitteth on the right hand
of the majesty on high, the one that shall in time, it will be
recorded of this one praying, Father I will, that all that
Thou has given me be with me where I am, that they might behold
my glory, the glory that You gave me before the foundation
was. I've seen Thy salvation. And here's what's going to happen.
Ezekiel, turn there, Ezekiel 36. We're going to wrap this
up. Ezekiel 36. Whenever God's pleased to call
His own to Himself, here's what's going to happen. Verse 24, Ezekiel
36, 24. For I will take you from among
the heathen, and gather you out of all nations, and will bring
you into your own land. Now let me tell you what God
just said. Wherever God's sheep are, the Spirit of God is going
to get them. The Lord said, I know my sheep.
I know where they are. The Spirit of God, God, God Almighty,
He's going to go in every nation and kindred and tribe and tongue
where they're scattered, and I'm going to get you. And I'm
going to bring you Under your own land, I'm going
to bring you to glory. I'm going to bring you to the
inheritance. I'll get you. I'll bring you
there. And He said in verse 25, He said,
Then I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean
from all your filthiness, from all your idols, will I cleanse
you. They're going to be told. that
they've been washed and gloriously cleansed from their spiritual
filthiness by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord
said, I'm going to take that old carnal heart that's enmity
against Him, and I'm going to put a new heart there, a new
spirit. That's what He says in verse
26-27. A new heart. also will I give you. A new spirit
will I put within you. Like Brother Henry said, I'm
going to give you a new attitude. I will take away that stony heart
out of your flesh and I'll give you a heart of flesh. I'm going
to put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes
and you shall keep my judgments and you shall do them. And that
marvelous work of grace is going to have an effect on God's people. They're going to know something
of themselves. Here's what they're going to
know. I want you to look at verse 31. He says, Then shall you remember
your own evil ways and your doings that were not good. and shall
loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities, for
your abominations. You're going to remember where
you came from. You're going to remember that,
but you're going to still see the presence of sin in you. They're going to say like Job
said, I loathe myself. Don't you hate when you see yourself? I've said so many times, I want
to pray. I want to be praying for God's
people. I want to pray for the folks
there in Fairmont, be remembering this assembly here in Ashland,
and praying for the pastors and stuff. And I'm sincere when I
say that. I do want to do that. And when
I find myself just wandering in my mind, I'm thinking, can't
you just One minute. Can't you just show any kind
of consistency? He said, you're going to remember.
You're going to loathe yourself. This is what the Lord said, why He did it. Look at verse
32. Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord, be it known to
you. Be ashamed and confounded for
your own ways, O house of Israel. The Lord said, I'm going to do
this for my sake. I'm going to do this for my glory.
You're going to benefit, but He said, I'm doing this for me.
I like it. I like knowing God Almighty does
what He does for His glory and allows us to enter into it and
be the recipients of what He's done for Himself and has blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heaven and places in Christ.
We're the recipients of what He's done for Himself, bringing
honor to Himself. for His own sake, for the sake
of His glorious name. And there's no merit found in
the objects of His grace that moved Him to do that. Salvation
is totally of the Lord. The Father chose to show mercy. And Christ paid the debt Paid
what was due. Honored the law. Wrought out righteousness. Robed us in that righteousness. And presents us in Himself to
the Father. And we're accepted in the Beloved. The Spirit of God is going to
search us out. He's going to find us. He's going
to regenerate us. He's going to teach us something
of ourselves. He's going to tell us something of what God's done
for us. And we're going to rejoice in
it. And we're going to anxiously, we're going to be like old Simeon,
waiting for the consolation. Let me tell you where we are
right now. We're just waiting, Bob. We're just waiting. What
are we going to do? Well, we're going to just come
right here. Then I want you to tell me one more time what God's
done for me. Just tell me one more time what God's done while
I'm waiting. Is He coming back? One way or
the other, He's going to come back the second time or He's
going to receive me unto Himself before He comes back in death. One way or the other, but I can
tell you what the end is. We're going to be where He is.
By His grace, we're going to be where He is, that we might
behold His glory, the glory that the Father gave Him for the foundation
of the world, of the Redeemer, of our husband, of our surety,
of our Lord and our God. I pray God bless this to our
hearts, comfort our hearts with it. Give us an anxious anticipation
of seeing Him soon. Amen.