When the children of Israel were
ready to end their 40 years of journeying in the wilderness, God spoke to them just before
they were about to cross into the promised land. And he said,
you've dwelt long enough in this mount. You've been here long
enough. It's time to depart. It's time
to enter into that promised land, that picture of heaven, that
picture of glory. And according to God's word,
there will come a time, there will come a time, it's already
appointed. It's already appointed. Every
child of God, every true believer, everyone that God chose, and
Christ redeemed and have been called in time, have had Christ
revealed to them as this old man Simeon did, he shall speak
those words concerning. You've dwelt here long enough. You've been in this wilderness
long enough. It's time to cross over. Our great high priest himself
said, this is my will, Father. This is my will, in perfect conformity,
of course, to the Father's will, that everyone you gave me." This
he prayed, you remember, in John 17, right before he went to the
garden where he was betrayed and arrested, crucified. but
then arose again. But he prayed, Father, I will
that all you gave me. You see, Christ won't be complete
without his bride. The bridegroom won't be complete
without his bride. The head of the church won't
be complete without his body. Every member of his body, his
church. And he prayed concerning them,
I will that they also whom you gave me be with me where I am. You've dwelt in this mount long
enough." Look again at verse 29 here. We're going to consider
verses 29 and 30 primarily as our text. These are the words
of Simeon. When he was led by the Spirit
of God to the temple of God to see the Son of God, and that
little babe in Mary's arms He takes him out of the arms of
Mary and holds him in his own and embracing him says, Lord,
now, right now, won't be too soon. Now let us, thou thy servant,
depart in peace according to thy word, just as you promised
I would. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Departing in peace. What can prepare any sinner to
leave this world in peace? What can do that? Now, I know
that men will offer various answers to that. There are multitudes
depending upon their Morality, that will suffice. I've been
a good man. I can't tell you the number of
times in attempting to witness the people, they've responded
to me with those words. I'm a pretty good fellow. I've
been a good husband, a good father, a good provider, a good citizen.
I believe God will accept that. And that's what they trust. But
what according to God's word, that's what I'm interested in,
aren't you? Not man's opinion, but what does God Himself say
about it? That settles this issue. What
can prepare any sinner to leave this world in peace? I mean,
peace with God. Peace with God. The peace of
God. What a rare joy. Oh, what glorious
contentment. peace with God, the very peace
of God comforting our souls as we're departing this world. Is
it possible to leave this world, to end this life with the sweet
assurance that it is well with my soul? God declared through
the prophet Amos, prepare to meet thy God. Prepare to meet
thy God. Paul wrote that God has appointed
a day in which he will judge the world. It is appointed unto
men once to die. And then what? Soul sleep? Purgatory? Annihilation? No. It's appointed unto men once
to die and after this, after death, the judgment. After death, I'll stand before
God Almighty. What a solemn, solemn thought. What a reality. How can I be
prepared for that? There's no question we will leave
this world to meet God, but how can I meet him in peace? Paul
went right into the church at Thessalonica where believers
had died. And others, believers, still
living, left behind, wondered what had become of them. And
Paul wrote to them in chapter 4 of 1 Thessalonians and said,
I would that you sorrow not as you would others who had no hope. In other words, don't sorrow
for a believer who dies like you would someone who died without
Christ. There's a vast difference because
the believer dies with hope. The unbeliever dies without hope
because he dies without Christ, and that's to die without hope.
To die without Christ is to die without salvation. Our Lord said
in John 14, I am the way, singular, singular,
the truth, the life. No man, no man cometh unto the
Father, he doesn't come to God in time, except he comes through
me. He'll never come to God in everlasting
acceptance and glory, except he arrived that way through me. No man ever has, ever shall come
to God, have any dealings with God except to experience His
wrath, except through the Lord Jesus Christ. I am the way. Also in that same chapter, he
said to his disciples before he left, My peace I leave with
you. My peace I give unto you, not
as the world giveth, give I unto you. And based on that, don't
let your heart be troubled. Don't let it be afraid. Nothing,
nothing can snatch you out of my hand. Therefore, don't be
troubled. We, the believer, having Christ,
having Christ just like Simeon did, exactly on the same grounds
as Simeon, we have a good hope. a sure hope, a living hope. Peter, writing to those believers
who had been severely, at the very time he wrote his epistle,
both of them, were enduring severe trials, were being slaughtered,
hunted down by the hundreds. He wrote to them in closing his
first epistle and said, know this, Know this. Yes, you're pilgrims and strangers
in this world. Yes, you've lost all your earthly
possessions. Yes, you're scattered abroad.
But know this. This is the true grace of God
wherein you stand. This is the true grace of God. This is no counterfeit. It's
not a delusion. It's not a religious Deception,
no, this is God's grace, and it's real, and it's certain,
and it is this that will enable a saved sinner to leave this
world in peace. Oh, what else will matter? What
else will matter? What else will matter? It doesn't
matter what the preacher might say over my dead body. It doesn't
matter what others say. It only matters what Christ himself
says concerning me. He's one of mine. He's one of
mine. As was said to John in Revelation
4, come up hither, John. You've dwelt here long enough.
You've dwelt here long enough. The old hymn writer expressed
it this way. Farewell mortality. Jesus is
mine. Welcome eternity. Jesus is mine. Welcome, oh, loved and blessed.
Welcome, sweet scenes of rest. Oh, welcome, my Savior's breast. Jesus is mine. You remember when
Lazarus died, poor Martha and Mary, who had sent word to our
Lord concerning their sick brother, and he deliberately stayed away.
Broken-hearted, Lazarus, because their brother had died. But then
the Lord comes, the Lord comes. First Martha meets him, and then
she leaves him to go back to her sister. Do you remember the
words she said to her sister? Mary, the master has come. Mary, the master has come and
calleth for thee. Yeah, the master. For everyone he loved and gave
himself for, he shall have. He shall have. How could He ever
be satisfied? How could He ever be content
to not have everyone that the Father entrusted into His mighty
hands? How could it be? It couldn't.
It couldn't be. Old Matthew Henry said this,
though grace, the grace of faith is of universal use throughout
our whole life, yet it is especially so when we come to die. Faith has its greatest work to
do at the last, to help believers to finish well, to die to the
Lord so as to honor him by patience and hope and joy, so as to leave
a witness behind them of the truth of God's word and the excellency
of his ways for the conviction and establishment of all who
attend them in their dying ways. Mary, the master is come and
calleth for thee. Let's look at this passage in
Luke 10, or Luke chapter 2, excuse me, concerning Simeon. As we
said a moment ago, child of God, we stand on the same, same grounds,
the same foundation for peace with God as this man did. Look again at verse 25, and behold,
behold, there was a man in Jerusalem
whose name was Simeon. Behold him. Remember 400 silent
years had passed since God last spoke by his prophet Malachi
in the Old Testament. 400 years since God spoke. In chapter 3 of that Book, we're
told, the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly appear, shall suddenly
come to his temple. Simeon was one of the few that
looked for the promised Messiah. 400 silent years since God spoke,
and during that time, religious tradition flourished. Flourished. Men did that which
they thought was right in their own eyes. Doesn't that sound
familiar? Doesn't that sound familiar? Preach the word of
God into every church and they'll say, I never heard the like. Granddaddy didn't do it like
that. We don't believe that. This is what we think, like our
thoughts are on an equal footing with what thus saith the Lord.
Oh, our Lord himself, when he appeared, he said to the religious
leaders of the day, the teachers, mind you, You make void the word
of God by your tradition. But God still, God still had
a people. I find this so comforting because
I get discouraged. Does that shock you? Your pastor
is just flesh and bone, just like you. But what Paul said in Romans
11 will always be so. This will always be true as long
as this world stands. This will always be true. As
a matter of fact, the world stands only because this is true. There
is therefore now a remnant according to the election of grace. Right now, as there was a Simeon
in Jerusalem and an Anna looking for the promised Messiah, as
there was a Lot in Sodom, as there was a Daniel in Babylon,
there will always be a remnant according to God's election of
grace. You remember this is the very
thing that so encouraged the Apostle Paul when he was in Cornuth. The Lord spoke to him in Acts
chapter 18. I don't know what Paul was fearful
of. I really don't. It was something.
It was something. Perhaps he looked around at that
wicked, wicked city and wondered, hmm, any need to preach here? Any reason I should stay here?
Maybe I'll just pull up roots and leave. I'm not sure what
it was that made Paul afraid, but in verse nine of Acts 18,
God spoke to him. Then spake the Lord to Paul in
the night by a vision, be not afraid, but speak and hold not
thy peace. Why? Why? Because I've got some
sinners here that maybe will cooperate. maybe will open their
heart, maybe of themselves will believe, maybe they'll make my
son's death effectual, maybe my purpose of grace, they'll
make it successful. No, no, no, no. Paul, I am with
thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee, for I have
much people in this city." And Paul stayed there a year and
a half preaching God's word. And many were saved. Again, here
in Luke 2, behold a man named Simeon. This is the only time,
this is the only place in the Gospels that we read of this
man Simeon. Don't read a word about him before
this. There's not a word spoken of
him after this. Only here in these few verses
in Luke 2. Oh, but what a blessed, blessed
biography this is. What a biography. Because he's
one of God's elect. He's one of God's chosen. But he must be brought to Christ. He must have Christ revealed
to him and in him, and he does. Our Lord said, this is the Father's
will which hath sent me, that all that seeth the Son and believeth
on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And this is exactly what happens
with Simeon. Look again at verse 26. And it
was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should not
see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. You won't leave this world, Simeon.
You won't die until you've seen the Messiah, till you've actually
seen the Redeemer, the Lord of glory. It's no wonder that our
Lord said in Luke 10, blessed are your eyes, he told the disciples.
Blessed are your eyes for they see. Peter, you're a blessed
man. In answer to the question, who
do men say that I am? And then our Lord said, who am
I to you? You're the Christ, Peter said. You're the Christ. Oh, Peter, you're so smart. You're
smarter than all these other folks. You figured this thing
out on your own. No, no, no. Peter, God Almighty,
my Father's blessed you. He's done something for you.
Do you hear that? He's done something for you.
He's done that which you could never do for yourself. He's revealed
that to you that you would never know otherwise. My Father which
is in heaven has blessed you by revealing unto you who I am. That's what's required. It requires
a miracle of God's grace. It requires a divine work. It
requires a revelation of Christ to every sinner. Otherwise, they'll
never know him. Oh, they'll know of him. They
can talk about him. Oh, yes. Oh, but to say, I know. I know that my Redeemer liveth. He's not someone in history.
He's not someone I just heard about. He's someone I know. I know Him. He is mine and I
am His. This is what Peter confessed
to. Look again at verse 27 here in Luke 2 concerning Simeon.
And he came by the Spirit. by the Spirit into the temple
at the very moment that the Lord Jesus was there in the arms of
his mother. Our Lord said in John 6, no man
cometh unto the Father except by me. Everyone that has learned
of the Father does what? He comes to me. This is what
the Father teaches sinners. that Christ is the Redeemer,
that the way to salvation is through Him. The way of God's
grace and mercy and forgiveness is through Him. And He brings
those same sinners to the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 28. Can you just picture this? Now
this is a picture of the reception by every sinner, every redeemed
sinner, every called sinner. of the Lord Jesus Christ, then
took he him up in his arms and blessed God and said, can you
just see this? Here's this old man. One's put
in the grave, as we say, and he's holding in his arms a little
Jewish baby boy. But in that person, is none other than the mighty
God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. That One,
that One will be the Redeemer of His people. That One will
33 years later be made sin and He will obtain eternal redemption. He will be made sin and thereby
make all of His people the very righteousness of God in Him.
He's the One that every prophet in the Old Testament wrote about.
He's the one that the Psalms spoke of. He's the one that Moses
wrote about. All he's told his disciples,
wrote of me. And Simeon said, I see him. What
a sight. What a sight. But it wasn't just
with the physical, natural eye, but with eyes of faith that Simeon
saw in that little child, the Redeemer. The revelation of Christ. Christ is God's salvation. Notice
Simeon says, thy salvation. He purposed it, that is God.
He provided it. And he sent forth his son. And
he brings sinners to his son. The psalmist said, blessed is
the man whom thou choosest and causes, causes to approach unto
thee. Oh, what a blessed, blessed people. The world looks at those stars, as they're called, in Hollywood with their glamour
and their glitter and their fleeting fame. They come and they go.
Here today and gone tomorrow. But people are enraptured by
that. Oh, look at that. Look at that. Oh, they've got
it made. They're blessed. They're blessed.
Oh, no. I'll tell you who's blessed. Who's blessed? It's that man
or that woman that God Almighty opened their eyes to behold their
Son. They're a blessed people. They're
a blessed people to behold thy salvation. God's salvation is
Christ Himself. He is salvation itself. Simeon
was not beholding Mary. When he spoke these words, God,
I'm seeing your salvation. He wasn't looking at Mary. No,
Mary was just a sinner, just like Simeon, just like you and
I, requiring the grace of God that brings salvation. And he
wasn't looking at the priest in the temple. And he wasn't
looking at any sacrifice that was offered in the temple. He
was looking at Jesus Christ himself. I've seen thy salvation in Christ. And if you've not seen Christ,
no matter what else you've seen, no matter what else you've seen,
I've seen five points. There's only one point. He that
hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son hath not
life. In Hebrews 2, the question is asked, how shall we escape
if we neglect so great salvation? The salvation that's in God's
Son, and the answer is, we won't. No man will. And Christ is all
of salvation. Again, Simeon didn't say, I see
some of salvation. A part of salvation? No, I see
all of thy salvation. God hath made Christ to be unto
us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Look at verse 28 again. And took
he him up in his arms and blessed God. Oh, the reception of Christ. This is what true faith does.
It embraces Christ. It takes him in the arms of faith
as his own. There is no such thing as salvation
without Christ. Now, you can have religion without
Christ. A lot of people do. Multitudes
do. And you can have a false hope
without Christ. But to experience God's grace
and mercy and salvation, you can only do so by having Christ,
by embracing Him. Lord, this is what I long for. This is what I'm looking for.
When my Heavenly Father says, Larry, you've been in that mount
long enough. It's time to come up hither. My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
has promised to be with me, to be with me in that day. This alone enables us to die
in peace. Again, verse 29, listen to these
words. Old Simeon says, as he holds
that babe, Lord, now lest thou thy servant depart in peace according
to thy word. We all shall depart this life,
but only those who have Christ in the eyes of faith and embraced
in the arms of faith will depart this world in peace because they
have the prince of peace. He himself made peace with God. Turn, if you will, to Ephesians
chapter 2. This is exactly what we read. that Jesus Christ himself is
our peace. I remember reading a story about
a young man who was dying, and they called for the local preacher.
And he bent down over the dying young man and said, young man,
you need to make your peace with God. And the young man said,
oh, no. The Lord Jesus Christ made my
peace with God already. He's already made my peace with
God. Here in Ephesians chapter 2,
look at verse 14. No, let's read verse 13. But
now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by
the blood of Christ. How close does the blood of Christ
bring us to God? How close is Jesus Christ? How
close is He? That's how close we are. For
he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down
the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished
in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments, containing
ordinances, for the making himself of twain one new man, so making
peace." This peace gives us assurance when the time of our departure
comes. According to God's Word. Turn
if you will to 2 Corinthians. Chapter 5, 2 Corinthians chapter
5. Paul says in verse 1, for we
know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved,
we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal
in the heavens. For this we groan, earnestly
desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven.
If so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked.
We that are in this tabernacle do groan, as Paul described in
Romans 7, being burdened, not for that we would be unclothed,
but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.
Now he that hath wrought us for this selfsame thing is God, who
also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are
always confident, knowing that, while we are at home in the body,
we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by
sight. We are confident, we are sure. I say, and willing rather
to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord."
What sweet, sweet, confident assurance the apostle expresses
there. I'm going, he says, to my father's
house. Again, verse 30, Simeon tells
us, or rather he says, for, for, because, because, he says, Mine
eyes have seen thy salvation. Here's the reason of our hope,
the grounds of our peace. This gives God's people the calm,
confident hope when they're crossing over, that he himself has promised
to be with them. Nothing else can, nothing else
will but Christ. David on his deathbed said, this
is all my salvation. Simeon's hope that prepared him
to die was not in a system of theology, was not in a religious
creed. Man, what kind of comfort would
that give? But in Jesus Christ himself,
Simeon beheld a real Savior. You remember when our Lord appeared
the second time to his disciples and Thomas was present on this
occasion? And he said, Thomas, handle me
and see. A spirit have not flesh and bone
as you see me have. Simeon held a real savior in
his arms. We sometimes sing, my faith has
found a resting place. True faith always does. True
faith always lands upon the object of faith, Jesus Christ himself. And that gives us a resting place,
the object of faith. Not my faith, but the object
of faith, looking unto him. I trust the ever-living one,
his wounds for me shall plead. Simeon said, let me depart in
peace according to thy word. Is God's word reliable? Is it trustworthy? He said in Psalm 138 that he
had exalted his word above all his name. Think about that. His
word. Isaiah 48, listen to this. For my own sake, even mine own
sake will I do it. For my own glory, for my own
honor. For how should my name be polluted
and I will not give my glory unto a Another. That's God. I have God's word. This sinner,
this sinner has God's word. He's promised this sinner that
he'll never leave me nor forsake me. And I can truthfully say
he never has. I've been many times unfaithful
to him, but he's never been unfaithful to me. I've been cold and indifferent
to him, but he's never been to me. And this is according to
his blessed word. When Joshua was dying, let me
read this to you. Joshua is dying. He calls the
leaders, the elders of the children of Israel around him and he says
this, Joshua chapter 23. Verse 14, and behold this day
I'm going the way of all the earth. And you know that in all
your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed
of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning
you. All are come to pass unto you
and not one thing hath failed thereof. And our Joshua, Our Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ, shall say the same. According to God's
Word, He's promised that nothing can separate a child of God from
Him. He's promised that nothing can
pluck me out of His hand. He's promised that nothing shall
ever, ever separate me from Him. Nothing can keep Him from coming
to me. Paul said it, my first answer,
when he said in that prison cell, that dungeon, He said, at my
first answer, no man stood with me, but all men pursued me. Nevertheless,
the Lord stood with me. He'll deliver me unto his heavenly
kingdom. Yes, they could lock Paul up,
but they couldn't lock Christ out, could they? He'll come to
me. He'll never lose one of his own.
Once in Christ, in Christ forever, thus his promise ever stands. Life and death and hell together,
can never tear me from his hands." He will not lose this sinner. He loved me too much. He paid
too high a ransom to redeem me. Simeon said, according to that
word, according to thy word rather, and according to his word, he
promised, Lo, I'm with you always, even to the end of the world. He will guide me in life and
be there according to his promise when I cross over. David said,
this is why I'm not afraid. When I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death, I won't be afraid because thou art with
me. And he'll hold to my hand. He'll
hold to my hand as over this river I go. and safe I will be
in beautiful heaven, I know. Once when I was a little boy
in the hospital having a surgery, as always, my mother was there
before they took me down to the operating room. I remember her
saying, don't be afraid. It'll be all right. When you
wake up, I'll be there. When my heavenly father says,
you've dwelt in this land long enough, My Redeemer says, don't be afraid. When you wake up, I'm going to
be there. I'm going to be there. There
was a preacher visiting Fanny Crosby in her home one time. As you know, she was born blind,
never did see, was blind all of her life, and wrote many of
our good hymns. But he said to her, I think it's
a shame that with all your gifts, you didn't have the gift of sight.
You may have done so much more had you been able to see. And
she said, oh, no, no. She said, I'm glad I was born
blind. I'm glad I don't see. And the
preacher said, I don't understand. Why do you say such a thing as
that? She said, because when I do see, when my eyes are open,
the first thing I'm going to behold is the king. The first thing I'm going to
look at is Jesus Christ. And I heard a voice from heaven
saying unto me, write, blessed are the dead which die in the
Lord from henceforth. Yea, sayeth the Spirit that they
may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them. Rest
from their labors. rest from their troubles and
trials, rest from their sins forever. Lord, let your servant
depart in peace, for I have seen thy salvation. God bless you. Amen.