Luke chapter 2, start reading
verse 22 to 35. Luke chapter 2, beginning
in verse 22, her purification, according to
the law of Moses, that is her, Mary, accomplished, they brought
Christ to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. As it is written,
in the law of the Lord, every male that openeth the womb shall
be called holy to the Lord, and to offer a sacrifice according
to that which is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves
or two young pigeons. And 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, Lord,
now let 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." This time in Jerusalem, religion was not flourishing. Not the church. It had been,
I don't know how many, 400 years since the Lord had visited His
people. Simeon reminds us that God has
a believing people even in the worst of places and in the darkest
of times. Religion was at a very low ebb
in Israel when Christ was born. Listen to this statement. This
is by J.C. Ryle. The faith of Abraham was spoiled
by the doctrines of the Pharisees and Sadducees. They were just
playing religion. The things going on in the temple, they
had all this going on, but they didn't understand who Christ
was. The fine gold had become deplorably
dim. Yet even then we find in the
midst of Jerusalem a man just and devout upon whom is the Holy
Ghost. A man of character and encouragement. And that's the title of the message,
Simeon. A man of character and encouragements. And we're going
to look at His character, and we're going to look at His encouragements,
because this is us. This is us in this world. Perhaps
this is us here in Jackson, Missouri. There's a lot of churches on
every corner. In Cape, there's more churches. You cross the
river, and there's more churches. We went over to Paducah, Kentucky
last week, and there's just churches everywhere. Everywhere. true religion, the gospel of
God's grace, is at a low ebb, as it was then, it is now. It is now. But, there are some
followers of the Lamb, just like Simeon. And then there's Anna,
later on in the passage. There's Elizabeth that we looked
at a couple weeks ago. So, the Lord has His people. And that should be an encouragement.
But before we get into this, I want to notice Mary and Joseph. When they brought to the temple,
the offer of the custom, the sacrifices according to the law,
you could bring, if you had money, lamb, firstling of the flock,
without blemish or any such thing. Or, you could bring, as it says
in verse 24, a pair of turtle doves. They didn't have much. But what
they had, they did so in worshiping the Lord. So, it's not all bells
and whistles. It's not all wealth and power
and authority. Most of the Lord's people, not
many wise, not many noble, they fit in this category. But look
at what it says in verse 25. This is the outcome of grace.
This man wasn't born devout, okay? This is an outcome of grace. And this is what we do. We wait,
we look, we hope, we trust in Christ. This is our life. After
the Lord deals with us, after He saves us, after He calls us,
we go back to our jobs, provide for our family, but we look,
wait, hope, and trust in Christ. Look at what it says about him.
His name was Simeon. He was a just man. Well, the
Scripture says there's none just but God. There's nobody that's
born just. How's this happen? Well, Romans
3 says that there's none good, no, not one. So how could He
be called just in the Scripture? Well, He's made so by God's good
grace. Because there's none good, no,
not one. So He's just in the eyes of God. in the eyes of men,
but he's made just through the blood and righteousness, worth
and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It says he's devout. He's separate
from this world, this world's religion and its influences. And it's this world's religion
and its influences everywhere. But the believer in the gospel
He's made just. He's set aside. He's set apart.
Just. Made. For the Master's use. And He's devout. He studies. He thinks. We have new principles. We're new creatures in Christ.
New principles. There are certain things, you
know, if you're buying a house, you've got to go through... There are
certain things you do that the world does. Everybody. We're
in the world. We're not of the world. But the
believer, he's just. not quite in step. Put it that
way. The world is just going, going,
fighting its war, doing it, but the believer, just not in step. And that's a good thing. Because
we should be like Simeon. And his character was he was
just, was devout, separate from the world. Let the potters of
the world strive with the potters of the world. Let the world do
this and do that. As for me and my house and Joshua, we're going
to serve the Lord. What is that to thee? All these
different things, Linda and I were talking about. And we usually
will get on edge when we start talking about the world, or the
politics, or stuff on Google, or stuff on the newspaper. That's
when we usually start getting on edge. And it's like you step
back and you're like, why am I upset? God's still on the throne. He's still on the throne. We let it go. And thirdly, and
this is probably, every believer goes through this and is going
through it now, but this is probably the hardest thing, waiting. We're
just, that's our standing in Christ, we're devout, that's
what we desire to follow Him and He's not a step with the
world too. and waiting for the consolation
of Israel." Waiting. Waiting. All the saints throughout
all ages have trusted and waited upon the Lord to fulfill His
promise to us. Nathan and I were talking about
that this morning. Promises. This whole book is full of promises.
We need to be seeking promises for ourselves and our children
and our friends and our neighbors, our parents, our loved ones.
We need to be seeking these promises. Waiting. You know how hard this
is to do? For us. It's good for us who
do not like to wait for anything. You know, you go visit somebody
in the hospital and you're like, I'm glad I'm not you, but boy,
sitting out there in that waiting room for hours is about to drive
me crazy. You can only read so much. You
can only listen to what's on the news. You're like, this waiting. We like stuff now. Waiting is God's way of humbling
us, trying us, and growing us. Listen to Psalms 27. Wait on the Lord, be of good
courage, and He shall strengthen thy heart. Wait, I say, on the
Lord. And this is a guy thing, we got
all of our ducks in a row. This is done, this is, I gotta
do this, this and this. And then if something gets knocked out,
as I said a couple weeks ago, that's our crook in the lot.
And we're trying to make it straight. And when God says, you can't
make it straight, which I make crooked. And we're like Paul,
we kick against the bricks. We're kicking and constantly
kicking. So this man, what an example, what a character, just,
set apart, redeemed by the blood of Christ, not he himself, not
by his will or his works. And the natural outcome of being
just is being separated unto God and studying and looking
Not looking outwardly so people can see, not bowing our little
heads and praying on this when people are watching, no, that's
the Pharisees. And waiting, waiting for the
consolation, waiting for the comfort, waiting for the comfort
of Israel. That's his character. Secondly,
what are his encouragements to everyone here? Religion is at a low ebb in Israel
when Christ was born. It's like that thing you sent
me, Ralph Barnard, if he's going to serve the Lord, even if he's
got to serve the Lord alone. If he's got to preach the gospel
and nobody else is preaching it, he's going to preach the
gospel. That's what I hope we stand for here in this little
place. Fear not, little flock. Jackson,
in our brother, we see much encouragement and helps in time of need. God,
as here in our text, and now in this city, Jackson, this town,
He never leaves Himself without a witness. Never leaves Himself
without a witness. 1 Kings chapter 18, Obadiah in
Ahab's house. Daniel in Babylon, Daniel chapter
6. The church in Babylon, 1 Peter
chapter 5. These are places where the gospel
was received, but not well received. And it's never there. And here,
we have a faithful witness in one called Simeon. We must remember
and never forget God's church, no matter how tiny, is in no
danger of apostasy and in no danger of falling apart. And we must not fall into despondency
as Elijah. I'm all by myself. There's no
one around. Well, what did God say in 1 Kings
19? He says, I'm left alone. He says,
I've got 7,000 that have not bowed or kissed Baal. Just as it seems, the love of
many is waxing cold, and iniquity is almost plumbed full, yet He
has election according to His purpose of grace, and these must
be brought into the sheepfold. They will hear His truth, like
we heard this morning. The truth will be preached. They'll
hear it. They will be made to believe, be just, repent, baptize,
and believe upon Christ and walk in Christ. Until the last one
is saved. What do I do? Well, talk to your neighbors.
When you go shopping. When you're out recreating. When
you're at work. But keep coming. That's part
of the waiting. We want to see stuff happen. I've been thinking, praying for
a revival in this county for such a long time. Wouldn't it
be amazing if that thing got used, you know, started getting
used at Baptist Street, started getting used, and then we had
to get more pews, and then we had to add on, all these things. Why not? Why not? Our God is able. Is He not? And this is what I was looking
at. Believing people in the worst
of places, the darkest of times. The faith of Abraham, our gospel,
the gospel of the grace of God is spoiled by the doctrines of
these churches. Spoiled. That's a good phrase.
Spoiled. by the doctrines of Pharisees
and Sadducees. Well, we don't have them here,
but we do. The fine gold has become deplorably dim. Yet, there's
this place. There's this place. A place where
His Gospels are preached. His character, Simeon's character
and his encouragements are ours, based upon the person and work
of our dear Redeemer. He waited for the consolation
of Israel. What is that? Who is that? He
waited for the absolute and total comfort of God's people. What
is our comfort? Well, in Psalms to Solomon, he's
called the altogether lovely one. What is our comfort? Well, in the book of Ruth, he's
our kinsman redeemer, who rightfully and successfully purchased us
unto himself. Hebrews. Who is our comfort? The one who has the government,
that's who has everything on his shoulders. There's not one
government, ever since the split of the Soviet Union and all these
little nations have popped up, those governments and those governments
and those governments and this government, it's on his shoulders.
He is our comfort, who has government upon His shoulders, and who accomplished
our atonement by the sacrifice of Himself on Calvary's tree,
Isaiah 9. Yes, we should and we could say,
we can say, as in verse 29 and 30, Lord, now let me depart in
peace. Kill me, take me, I'm ready to
go. For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation.
That's what we can say. I should say that. We don't fear
death because He holds death in His hands. His last encouragement, Lord,
let now Thy servant depart in peace according to Thy Word.
And death is the last great fearsome event. We've seen the glory of Your
people Israel. Let me die and depart in peace.
Who dies in peace? When you talk about death to
an unbeliever, it's nothing but fear and being afraid and it's
just got too many things I want to do. I'm not ready to go. We're
never ready to go. But he says, take me, take me. For I've seen your glory. I've
seen your gospel. I've heard your gospel. I've
seen your salvation as He's holding a person. And I've always said
this when I've seen this text. Salvation is in a person. He's
holding a baby in His arms and He says, I've seen your salvation.
That's another name for Christ. That's what He's saying. I've
seen thy Christ. I've seen your glory. That's what we want to see. That's
what we want to see here. Simeon was delivered from the
fear of death. Oh, to look death in the face
and see our conquering Lord over it all." Isn't that encouragement? Go to work. We all work places
that are surrounded by unbelievers. The language, the attitude. It's
just about self, self-promotion. And that's what's so amazing
when you find somebody who's actually kind, you're like, wow,
I want to throw a believer. Wait a second, they haven't heard
the Gospel. But when you get checked out and somebody's friendly
to you, you go through a drive-thru McDonald's and the person's talking
to you or is nice, you're like, wow, that was refreshing. But the believer, there's nothing in this world
that can keep us here. And his attitude, let thy servant
depart in peace according to your word, your promise. To look death in the face and
shout, I have peace, I trust Christ Jesus, and death, where's
your sting? J.C. Ryle says, he speaks as
one who knows where he's going And cares not how soon he goes. That's exactly right. And the
older you get, I know you young folks or whatever, you're like,
I'm not thinking about death. Well, the believer should think
about death. Because it's all around us. But we can look at
this man, and this doesn't seem like the Lord's
having much success. Well, that's by our standards. We've been here 30 something
years. Look at us! I don't care. That used to bother
me a lot. I have a responsibility to stand
up here and preach the gospel. And maybe someone who hasn't
heard will hear. That's pretty simple. Pretty
simple. That's our desire. That's my
desire, and I pray that that's your desire. Well, basically
what he's saying in Luke 2 and verse 29 is, come Lord Jesus,
come, like he says in Revelation. Come. Come. Come quickly. So I ask for myself and I ask
for you and anyone who's listening, may this be our faith, our Christ-like
faith. And evermore. May we have the
character of Simeon. And with this character, you
can't help but encourage one another. So I was looking at
some things and I thought, well, there's two messages. One of
them was kind of a very discouraging message. And then this one was
a very encouraging message. I thought, now I'm going to scrap
that one and do this one. Because it does get frustrating. You seem like, humanly speaking,
you beat your head against a wall. But we're not. If we're faithful, where two or three are gathered
together, He's there. Let us be like this man who was
like Christ, and let us encourage one another. We have so much
to be thankful for. in Christ. Ryan, would you close
us?