Luke chapter 2, verse 25 to 35,
what we'll look at this morning, we'll look at Simeon's declaration,
or the Gospel according to Simeon, or Simeon's Gospel, our Gospel,
didn't know what to call it. Luke chapter 2, we'll start in verse 25, And behold, there was a man in
Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and the same man was just and
about, 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, Mary and Joseph, 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 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 to enlighten 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." Now, this one called Simeon was a true believer, obviously. He was a just, devout man waiting
for the consolation of Israel, the Holy Ghost. He had the Holy
Ghost. But the current state of religion
of the day was at a very low ebb. Pharisaism, Sadduceism,
all these isms had infiltrated the church in this time of transition. So Christless religion was rampant. But true discipleship was scarcely
known. But this man has words of encouragement
for us. and words of comfort for us.
Let's look at, we'll notice several truths which should comfort the
Lord's people. Verse 25 through 33. This man Simeon was just, devout,
and waiting for the consolation of Israel. The Holy Ghost had
told him he would not see death until this moment came. The first thing I think we see
in here is God always has His witness. Now, like I say, the
state of religion in the world, and in this religious, the most
religious place in the world, was false religion. It was legalism. It was Gnosticism. It was all
these different things. The truth had been compromised. Yet, we have this one Simeon
before us. So no matter whether we see it
or not, God has His witness. He has His witness in the world. He will not leave Himself, He
says, without witness. And you don't have to turn here,
I'll just read these places. Acts 14, verse 17, Hebrews 10
and Hebrews 11, Luke 4, Romans 3, and 1 John 5, as well as Lot
in Sodom, 19, Obadiah in Ahab's house, 1 Kings
18, Daniel in Babylon, Daniel 6, and here in our text, old
Simeon, old Simeon, just, devout, and waiting for the consolation
of God's people. Just, this word in verse 25 says
one of the characteristics of this man was that he was just.
What does that mean? Literally means holy or innocent. Now, how can that be? How can that be? Man who is born
of a woman, born unclean. David said, in sin did my mother
conceive me. How can it be said that this
man was just? Well, how can it be said of you
and me? Only made so, only made innocent. by the blood of the Lamb. That
is our only hope. He is our only hope. We can't
study enough. We can't learn enough. We can't
preach enough. We can't do enough good. We can't
prevent enough bad. Even all the, not to compare
myself, but brethren that we know that are highly intelligent,
they don't know half of what the Pharisees knew. the scribes,
Gamaliel, all these doctors of the law. So, this man has said
he's just, he's holy or he's innocent, and that's he's only
made so by the blood of the Lamb. They didn't have a way of salvation
in the Old Testament and in a different way of salvation in the New Testament. No. Christ is this scarlet thread
throughout the whole Scriptures. Throughout the whole Scriptures.
It also says, secondly, that he was devout. That means circumspect
or careful. He was circumspect and careful,
and this is how believers should live, to honor God in all things. Everybody's watching. Social
media, you know, you don't have to be the president to be spied
on or to be recorded or to be whatever. People see and then
they talk. So we should be circumspect.
The grace of God makes the believer circumspect and careful to honor
God in all things. Whereas before, we just did it. Did it satisfy the flesh? We had confidence in the flesh.
Now, by the grace of God, we have no confidence in the flesh.
We don't seek to please others in trying to please ourselves.
No, we walk circumspect. And Paul says this in other places
in Scriptures, to be circumspect, to be careful. The third thing
it says about this man Simeon, he was waiting for the consolation
of Israel. He was waiting. This means to endure with confidence
and patience. To endure with confidence and
patience as walking in this wicked world. We walk with, we endure
what we hear, we endure what we see, we endure the political
flavor of the month, of the year, the economic flavor of the month,
of the year, we endure these things with patience and confidence
knowing that all things are working together for good. also says in Hebrews that this
man, not necessarily about this man, but about all believers,
this world is not worthy, of whom this world is not worthy.
So when you go to work, you don't go there cocky and say, well,
I'm something and you're nobody, but know that you're separated.
You've been separated by the grace of God, and the world is
not worthy to have your company. Now, we would like to see others
who are of a different religious persuasion become convinced and
convicted by the Holy Spirit and they may show up to you.
But we are to be separate. We are to wait and endure with
confidence and patience. And he says this last thing,
he was waiting. What was he waiting for? The
consolation, the comfort or the solace or cheer of his people. As he says in Isaiah 40, Verse 1 and 2, Comfort ye, comfort
ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem,
and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity
is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for
all her sins. Double. Be of sin the double
cure. We've got to have our sin removed,
and we have to have His righteousness. Double. That's what Simeon was
waiting for. So let us here today take comfort
in the reality and the truth that God is completely sovereign
and that He has a people. Even though we look around this
thing of the grace of God, the sovereignty of God, whatever
you want to call it, it's not very popular, it's not very numerous
in this country, but He always has His people. He has people
that we don't even know about. scattered though they may be,
nevertheless they are His and He is ours." And we also have
to remember, and I always think about this lesson, in 1 Kings
19, Elisha, he said it twice. I looked at it last night. He
said it twice. I'm here all alone. Twice. So he was convinced that he was
the only one. And God said, nope. There are 7,000. that have not
bowed to idolatry. And worshiping any other God
other than the God of this book, any other gospel which is not
another, we know this is Colossians, is idolatry. Say what we want
to, put any brand on it, Catholic, Baptist, Presbyterian, Reformed,
not Reformed, it's idolatry. As Matt read, their rock is not
our rock. That's the truth. So these first
couple points was just a comfort. The fact that he has his people
whom he's foreknown and they're out there. We just need to find
them, find them and encourage them. And they may be like Joe,
Joe Terrell, Nathan's dad, there may be a group in Russia. I never
heard of Sergei until I met your dad. They're out there. And these men believed the gospel
of the grace of God. And I do remember very specifically
talking to Henry about it. I don't know whatever happened,
but he said there was a group of believers, I say grace believers,
that's redundant, of believers in Jerusalem, because he had
made contact with them. Now, I don't know about you,
but that excites me because if I could ever meet a believing
Jew, they would make this come alive, the Old Testament specifically.
would make it come alive. But now let's move on. Verses
28 through 30. I also want us to note for our use and our comfort
today, the second point here in this
is that He seems to be through sweet faith and by God's grace,
ready to die. He says, depart in peace. Look
at verse 28, he says, Then Simeon took up Christ in his arms, and
he blessed God, and he said, Lord, now let your servant depart
in peace according to your word. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation.
And I've said this a hundred times if I haven't said it once.
He's holding up a physical body. God incarnate, in human form,
and He's saying, another name for Christ, I've seen your salvation. That's why I say salvation is
in a person. It's not in a doctrine, or a thing, or what you know
or what you don't know, it's who you know. Paul says, I know
whom I have believed. And I am persuaded that He is
able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that
day. So salvation is in a person. You say, well, I'll just quote
the late Pastor Maurice Montgomery. He said, we'll be surprised how
many Calvinists are in hell. And I believe that. So just because
you're a Calvinist, and you have the doctrine, it's got to move
down, which we'll see a little bit later. That's one thing Christ
is sent to do. But he says, I'm ready to depart
in peace. So those of us who are older,
and we get a little concerned about whether we're going to
be here the next day or the next day for our spouses or for our
family, we may not be. But take comfort, if you have
seen the Lord Christ, you can depart. He seems to say, death
has lost its sting. And this is before Paul said
it. He seems to be saying, we in Him and because of Him shall
ever be with the Lord. He seems to be saying, if I'm
absent from the body, I'll be present with our Redeemer. And
that's the very words of Paul in 2 Corinthians 5. Or as Solomon
says, and we looked at this in Ecclesiastes, the end of a matter
is better than the beginning. nature, practice, hating God. But now at the end, if He's redeemed
us, if He's quickened us, oh, what a glorious day that will
be. We will prove so to be with God and He will
be with us in all of His elect. Blessed faith, all by God's grace
unto salvation, truly this is good news for the sin-worried
soul, is that I can depart in peace. How many people, how many
deathbeds, and I've been to a few, have you heard that? But I have
heard it. It's just peace come over those
who are about to go to sleep, to fall asleep in the Lord. What
a precious thought and comfort. Now let's dissect verses 33 through
35 for the second thought. 33 through 35. And Joseph and his mother marveled
at those things which were spoken by Simeon about Christ. 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 that own soul also that the thoughts of many hearts may
be revealed. Simeon publishes what Christ
and His victorious gospel will perform. Four thoughts. Because
God will do perform these things absolutely without fail and He
is God and shall claim total dominion and lordship over all.
First thing, He says in verse 34 that Christ was set to be
a sign spoken against. Christ was bruised by Satan.
lied upon by false witnesses, railed at by the religion of
the day, hated, forsaken, and despised. He was rejected of
men and hanged on a tree. He was a sign spoken against. Oh, see the man of sorrows, acquainted
with grief, numbered with the transgressors. They had Christ,
the very Christ, and if they crucified him, I think the scripture
is in a green tree, What are they going to do? Basically,
they had the Son of Man, the Son of God before their eyes
and they rejected Him. They pierced Him. He was a sign
spoken against. It's as though they said, no,
no, not Christ. Caesar? Not Christ. Herod? Not Christ. Pontius Pilate, not
Christ. We say, not Christ. Let me have my own way, my own
will, my own works. But I consistently and constantly
tell you and I tell myself, there's a way that seems right to every
man, every woman, every boy, every girl. And that end is the
way of death. It's not the way of life. There's
a way that seems right. Maybe you're younger and you
idolize somebody. Well, this man told me that this
was the way to life. I had to do the A, B, C, D. No.
It seems right. But what sayeth the Scripture?
What does this book say? So our answer to our children,
to our neighbors, to our co-workers, to our friends, they may have
an opinion and they all do. What does the book say? What
does the book say? So that's the first thing, Christ
was to be a sign spoken against. Secondly, this same God-man was
to be the occasion of the fall of many. Verse 34. Behold, this
child is set for the fall. of many in Israel. Oh, how people,
your friends, my friends, stumble at this monarch. We will not
have this man to reign over us, was the cry. The message or the
person, either way, is despised. They will not, they won't have
him. He's too sovereign. I don't know, Tim or somebody
said he couldn't preach God too sovereign, couldn't preach man
too depraved. But these are You know, you talk to people, and
in my own situation I spoke to somebody and they're like, I've
never heard that, that's new. No, it's called the everlasting
gospel. What you think, and what you believe, and what your church
is teaching, your pastors are teaching you something new. It's
not in this book. It's never been in this book.
He's a stone of stumbling, a rock of offense. Truly, He was a Savior
of death unto death. Some life unto life, but He said
He's the Savior of death unto death. 1 Corinthians 1. So Christ,
this God-man, was to be the occasion, it says in verse 34, of the fall
of many. And they stumble at Him. And
the religious, most religious people, You know, people who
are not religious, or don't go to church, or they don't have
any opinion, you don't have any thoughts about it, they'll, a lot of times,
they'll at least listen to you. But when somebody's religion,
just like the Pharisees, just like the Sadducees, the Scribes,
stuff will come up, and say, well, wait a second, I remember
this little thing I learned as a kid. Come Lord Jesus, be our
guest, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It's just memorization. It has nothing to do with the
truth. Thirdly, In verse 34 again, Christ was also to be the occasion
of the rising of many, rising to newness of life. He by himself
would take out of our way every obstacle, every judgment of God
from us so we could rise into newness of life. He would fulfill
every promise of God for everyone of us elect, they're called chosen,
they're called remnant ones. Casting out everything that says
the scripture is written against us and nailing it to the cross. Nailing it to the tree. I love
that chorus that we sing. We got it from somebody. I don't
know where we got it from. Did you hear what Jesus said
to me? They're all taken away away. Your sins are pardoned
and you are free. They're all taken away. Because
why? Because He was set I should have
looked that word up. I'd say set means context, predestinated,
sure, absolute. It talks about that nail. He's
that sure nail. Cannot be moved, cannot fail,
cannot be thwarted. Was set for the rising of many
in Israel. And I'm so thankful because we
don't deserve salvation. If there was... Election doesn't
shut the door, election opens the door of heaven. God didn't
elect there to be none of us because we don't deserve salvation.
We absolutely do not deserve it. And the believer understands
that. Well, blessed be that free and powerful
grace that's found only in Christ. He has so ordained that when
He rises and rose from the grave that we'll rise in Him. Set for
the rising of many. Fourthly and lastly, Verse 35,
Christ was set for the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. Christ was to be the occasion
of many hearts being revealed. His gospel light will shine into
the darkness of our vile hearts. I can't remember who it was,
and it's not important. It was a Sovereign Grace Conference.
I know I've told you this before, and one of the pastors who was
preaching was to set the preach. One of the wives had heard the
gospel years after years. Somebody's preaching. She got upset. She says, if this
is true, I'm lost. And the first thing which I would
do, the first thing her husband and some others tried to do was
to comfort her. And Henry, I believe it was Henry
and Scott, they said, leave her alone. Leave her be. The best thing that we can ask
God to do for our children is to reveal their hearts to them. To reveal their hearts. Because
if He's done that, That's an act of mercy. And the sacrifice has already
been made, and there's going to be joy in the household very
shortly. So gospel light will shine into
our darkness. We once loved darkness more than
light, but now through the declaration of His one and only gospel, we
have light. This is the gospel according
to Simeon. He's saying what the Lord's going to do. That's one
reason why we preach the everlasting gospel, for by it the Holy Spirit
will lighten men's, women's, boys' and girls' hearts. And
the Scripture says that with the heart sinners believe, and
with the mouth confession is made, in Romans chapter 10. So
I reiterate these four points that Simeon said. Christ is going
to be a sign spoken against. He's going to be the occasion
for the fall of many. He's going to be used as the
occasion for the rising of many. And lastly, Christ was to be
the occasion of many hearts being revealed. It's like when God
gets you in a corner. It's a scary place, but it's
the best place to be. You're not going to get away.
And we're thankful. I just think about some of the
other things that I've been told by pastors, personally and specifically,
and that's what they've always said about their children. They
said, I'd rather the Lord back them into a corner and reveal Himself to them. Well,
I have one area closed. Let's turn to Matthew chapter
22. Matthew chapter 22. I remember asking this question
to the one man one time. He was a scholar on Bunyan and
Luther and Zwingli and Huss. He was a scholar on all these
things. Until I met a scholar, Bunyan, and I asked him, I said,
Bunyan's never said that. This guy was telling me things
I didn't know. He was very well read. And I'm
like, well, I don't know that. I'm not a doctor of Bunyanism. I don't know all these. But somebody
that I knew, which was Donny Bell. And Donny Bell, he said,
I said, this is what this guy said. I said, I've read everything
Bunyan's guy said. He never said that. I'm like,
okay. But it didn't matter. Because I asked this guy this
question. And he couldn't give me an answer. That's scary. Matthew
chapter 22 and verse 42, the first part
of the phrase. What think ye of Christ? What do you think of Christ? Not what Henry Mahan says, though
he understood the gospel. I'd listen to him. Not what Martin
Luther said, though if he was here, I'd have fellowship with
him. Not what Gill says, if he was
here, I'd have fellowship with him. They're believers. But what do you think? What do
I think of Christ? You cannot be saved for somebody
else. It's personal. It's individual. What do you
think of Christ? Do you love Him? Do you hate
Him? Perhaps even worse, are you indifferent?
I could take Him or leave Him. If you're a believer, The Lord
is doing something with you. You will love Him. Because I
know 1 John chapter 4 says we love Him because He first loved
us. And that love relationship will
never go away. Thank God. Thank the grace of God that love
relationship between you and Christ, between the church and
His body, His body and the groom, the bride and the groom, it will
never, ever fade. Now you look at Song of Solomon,
it goes up and down. There's passages, I think it's
chapter 2, where Christ comes to the door and the church, the
individual believers are just laying in bed. I'm not going
to get up. I'm just with the bed. And that's what we do, we
get cold and we get distraught and we get selfish and we get
lonely, we get whatever the word, we get discouraged. But go to
Christ and look to Him and realize if He has suffered and bled and
died for you, He will keep you. He will keep you. May we encourage
one another with these words. May we look at Simeon and say,
boy, if I was there, I'd like to have met him. I'd like to
have fellowship with him. I'd like to have just been there,
because he's going to die pretty soon. He's seen Christ, he's ready
to go. What a Redeemer we serve. What grace we understand. It
just boggles my mind, because we know so little, but we know
Him, and that's made the difference. Brandon, would you close this
please?