for this purpose he was our substitute
he was our representative the substitute for sinners to redeem
them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption
of sons now having read that go back to the text in Luke chapter
2 and you'll understand something about these next few verses I'll
start with verse 21 And when eight days were accomplished
for the circumcision of the child, now that was a Jewish ceremony,
that was a Jewish law, that every male that opened up the womb
was holy unto the Lord and was to be circumcised, every male,
on the eighth day. And that's when the child was
named. And his name was called Jesus, which was so named of
the angel before he was conceived in the womb. See, Christ didn't
come to destroy the law. And I'm talking about the Levitical
law. Of course He didn't come to destroy the moral law, the
Ten Commandments, of course not. He even put it away. He came
to forgive us of our sins, our offenses against transgressing
the law of God. But He didn't put the Ten Commandments
away. It's still truth, I shall have
no other God before me. It's still truth, I shall not
kill, I shall not steal, I shall not commit adultery, and I shall
not bear false witness. But neither did he come to destroy
the Levitical law. He came to fulfill it. He said,
I didn't come to destroy the law, I came to fulfill it. And
so that's why he was circumcised. That's why he kept the Sabbath
day. That's why he kept the Passover. And so our Lord was circumcised.
You see that? On the eighth day He was circumcised
and He was called Jesus. He was a Jew. He was of the house
and lineage of David. God promised Him the throne of
His father David. Now if you'll turn for a moment
to Matthew 3, here's one statement made by our Lord that explains
all of this circumcision, Sabbath-keeping, Passover-keeping, The Feast,
the Tabernacle, the Feast of the Tabernacle, the Feast of
the First Booth. He kept all these. Oh, he went
to the Temple. You know, in Luke it says, and
when he came back to Nazareth, as his custom was, on the Sabbath
day, he went to the synagogue. Every Saturday, our Lord was
in the synagogue. Because he was a Jew. That was
the law. Levitical law. And here is the
one verse that tells you why he did all of these things. And in Matthew 3, 13, "...then
cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized
of him." John forbade it. John said, what's going on here?
He knew who Christ is. He said, I need to be baptized
of you. Come and bow to me. Can you imagine
the man who circumcised the Son of God? The priest? Can you imagine the one who served
Him to Passover? He should be serving me! But
no, here's what he said, "...suffer it to be so now, or thus it becometh
us to fulfill all righteousness." And there's the key. Everything
that our Lord did in respect to the Levitical law was for
you and me. He was a man, he was a Jew, born
under the law, made of a woman, made under the law, subject to
every commandment. Everything he did was for our
sake, our sake. He showed those Jews that he
was Lord of the Sabbath, though, when he went through and picked
corn, gave it to his disciples to eat. They said, you're picking
corn on the Sabbath day? I am the Sabbath day. He straightened
him out on that, you know. He's the Lord's disciple. It's
his day. And he reserves that right to
do as he pleases. All right. Now, verse 22. And
when the days of her purification, according to the law of Moses,
Mary, when these days were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem
to present him to the Lord. to present this man-child to
the Lord. They're going to bring Jesus,
Son of God, Son of Man, into the temple, and they go off for
a sacrifice. And He is the sacrifice, I know,
but He's fulfilling the law. This is so important. So important
to remember this. As it is written in the law of
the Lord, every male that opened 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.
Is that what the law says? Well, let's say Leviticus chapter
12. Is that what the Lord said bring?
A pair of turtledoves and two pigeons? What about a lamb? Leviticus 12. Let's look at Leviticus
12. Verse 6, And when the days of her purifying
are fulfilled, when a woman hath a child, a Jewish woman, for
a son or for a daughter, she shall bring a lamb of the first
year for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon or a turtledove
for a sent offering unto the door of the tabernacle of the
congregation unto the priest. Who shall offer it before the
Lord, and make an atonement for her, and she shall be cleansed
from the issue of her blood. This is the law for her that
hath born a male or a female. Now wait a minute. And if she
be not able to bring a lamb. Mary and Joseph were poor, poor
people. Didn't even have a lamb. Couldn't
afford to buy a lamb. See, our Lord was born I told
you that this morning. She said, He hath regarded my
lowest state. They didn't have a lamb. So the
Lord permitted them to bring what she brought. Listen. Bring
two turtle, turtle doves is what that is. Turtles are turtle doves.
Two young pigeons. One for the burnt offering and
the other for the sin offering. And the priest shall make an
atonement for her and she shall be clean. Ah! Passages like that
just are so sweet and precious. My Lord identified with us in
the lowest station of our lives. He identified with the poor and
the weary and the weak. And here he is, his mother and
Joseph bringing him to the temple. And they can't even afford a
lamb, so they bring turtle doves and pigeons. So important to remember that
Levitical law, it wasn't given to save. It wasn't given to sanctify. It's a picture. Let me show you
that in Hebrews 9. Let's turn over there and read
this for a moment. Hebrews chapter 9. All of this
that our Lord is doing is in fulfillment of the law, the picture,
the figure. Hebrews 9, beginning with verse
7. But into the second, the Holy
of Holies, went the high priest alone once every year, not without
blood, which he offered for himself and for the errors of the people.
The Holy Ghost thus signifying that the way into the holiest
of all was not yet made manifest while that first tabernacle was
yet standing. All of this, which was a figure,
a picture, for the time then present in which were offered
both gifts and sacrifices, it could not make him that did the
service perfect. Even these turtledoves and pigeons
and lambs, Mary and Joseph offered, these were pictures, couldn't
make them perfect as pertained to the conscience, which stood
only in meats and drinks and different washings and carnal
ordinances imposed on them until the time of reformation. What is this time of reformation?
All right. This is saying the way into the
presence of God. Christ is the way. But it's not
clearly revealed. It's not actually manifested
while this first temple stands. Here comes Mary and Joseph with
that child. He's the fulfillment, but nobody
knows it. He's not manifested. He's not
revealed. And they bring him there to the
temple, which still stood with its sacrifices. Even he had to
have a sacrifice. Even he had to be circumcised
because it stood. Listen. And this first tabernacle
stood as a symbol, a picture, a figure for the time present
to typify the work of Christ. Although these sacrifices could
never take away sin, never satisfy God, never give Him pleasure,
they must continue to be offered until He offers His sacrifice. Then they stop. See that? Then
they stop. These ceremonies were imposed
upon them until the time of Reformation. That's the coming of Christ.
That's the day of the Messiah. That's the time when everything
would be made clear. It says to straighten throughly. Make it clear. Make it plain. Make it plain. All right, back to our text. Thank God for the time of reformation. The day of the Messiah. All right,
verse 25. And behold, there was a man in
Jerusalem. It doesn't say he's a priest.
I know Zacharias was, that you read about, Ron, a little while
ago, but not this man Simeon. We don't know a great deal about
him. But there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. The same
was a just man, a devout man, waiting for that day of reformation,
waiting for the consolation of Israel. Waiting for the day of
the Messiah and the Holy Ghost was upon Him. What is this day
of consolation? Well, the word means this, comfort. Waiting for the comfort of Israel. And I want to read you Isaiah
40. This fits right here. Isaiah
chapter 40. Listen to this. Waiting for the
comfort of Israel. Isaiah 40, I've read this so
many times to this congregation, to myself. Isaiah 40, Comfort
ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably,
that is, to the heart, to Jerusalem. And crown to her, her warfare
is accomplished, her iniquity is pardoned. She hath received
of the Lord's hand double for all her sins." That's the day
that Simeon was waiting for, the consolation, the comfort,
when we can say, as Bob did in his prayer, our sins are put
away, behind the back of God to be remembered no more. I want
you to look at Simeon a minute. I said I didn't know much about
him, but I know something about him. Listen, look at verse 25
again. And behold, there was a man in
Jerusalem, and I might add, not the only one, not the only one. Now, Mary knew, it says down
here in verse 19, in verse 18, said, all they that heard it
wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
They wondered at the things the shepherds said. Unto you is born
this day in the city of David a Savior, Christ the Lord. They
wondered, but Mary, kept all these things and pondered
them in her heart. She said, I know. I know. Joseph knew. I know who he is. And old Simeon says in verse
25, let me tell you what I know about him. Number one, he was
a just man. I know he was a Jew. I know that
first. He was a Jew. But he didn't find
salvation in the fact he was a Jew. In his heritage, And secondly,
he was a just man. That is, he was a moral man.
A man of integrity. But he didn't find salvation
in his integrity. He was waiting for the Messiah. And then he was a devout man.
That is, he kept the law. He came frequently to the temple.
Here he was coming to the temple this day. He observed the ceremonies
and the sacrifices and all these things. He was a devout man,
a religious man, but he didn't find comfort in his religion. I'll tell you what he was waiting
for. He was waiting for that one of
whom the scriptures speak, the Messiah. He knew He was coming. He knew He was coming. Waiting for the Redeemer. And verse 26 says, And it was
revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should not see
death till he had seen the Lord's Christ. He knew that. That was revealed to him. He
would not die until he had seen Christ, the Lord's Christ, the
Lord's Messiah. You know, that can be said of
every one of God's elect. They will never die until they
have seen Christ. Our Lord said, All that my Father giveth me,
they'll come to me. And him that cometh to me, I'll
in no wise cast out. He said in John chapter 10, verse
14, Other sheep I have, which are not of this foal, them I
must bring, and they shall hear my voice. They shall be one foal. I know this, no believer, no
elect child of God will doubtly have seen Christ. Seen Him how? Not with these eyes. But like
our Lord said in John 8, let me read you a scripture. This
is the way they see Him in John 8, verse 56. Listen to this,
John 8, verse 56. It says, Your father Abraham
rejoiced to see my day. Abraham didn't see Christ. Not
with these eyes. We saw Him by faith. He saw him
by faith. He believed Christ. And that's
the same way we see him. Abraham looked forward to his
day. We look back to his day. We see
him. See the Son. Revealed to him
that he would not die until he had seen the Christ. Now watch
this. Verse 27. And he came by the Spirit into
the temple. You know, he had been to that
building how many times? I just imagine that I don't know
why, but I just picture Simeon as an old man. An old man, old
white-haired man. Somehow I just picture him that
way. He'd been waiting a long time.
He'd been to that building many times. Many times. He'd seen
thousands of people come and go. The Lord told him he'd see
the Christ before he died. And don't you imagine or believe,
when he came to that temple, he'd look at everybody. He'd
look at everyone. Seen thousands of people come
and go. He had observed hundreds of sacrifices. But still he waited. Still he
waited. And one day it says he came by
the Spirit into the temple. This day was different. The Spirit
of God brought him there. You know, I've known people to
come to church services many times. Many times. Hear many sermons. See many people. Then one day, the Spirit of God
brings them. It's a different time. The Spirit
of God brings them. The Spirit of God prepares the
way, prepares the heart, and brings them. The Lord's there.
The Lord meets them. It says, He came with the Spirit
into the temple. I'll tell you something else
that happened. And the parents brought in the child Jesus. It
was his first trip to that temple. He's been there a lot of times.
From his youth. From his youth. But this day,
the Spirit of God brought him. And they brought the Lord Jesus
in. And the Lord of glory crosses the path of one of his children.
He is elect. I'll tell you what a day that
is. I want to read you a scripture over here in the book of Haggai.
I'd like you to turn over there. I'll give you a moment. It's
hard to find. And I fudged. I put a paper clip on Haggai. I found it easier than you did.
But it's over here in the Minor Prophets. It's near Zechariah,
Malachi. It's the third from the last
book in the Old Testament. And they were talking about the
second temple that was rebuilt. And Haggai says in chapter 2
of Haggai verse 3, Who is left among you that saw this house
in her first glory? How many? I wouldn't know if
any saw it in its first glory. That's when Solomon built it.
How do you see it now? Is it not in your eyes in comparison
of it as nothing? In other words, this temple,
this second temple, the one to which Simeon came, The one to which Mary and Joseph
brought the Lord Jesus. It wasn't to be compared to the
day of Solomon. You know what he's saying? Not
compared. But, wait a minute, read on.
Verse 6. Now this is before Christ came.
For thus saith the Lord of hosts, yet once, it is a little while,
I'm going to shake the heavens. I'm going to shake the earth,
and the seas, and the dry land. I'm going to shake All nations,
and the desire of all nations, that's Christ, shall come. And
I'll fill this house with glory. That's his first visit to the
temple. Mary brought him to the temple. That's the first moment when
God the Son, that's the full film of this scripture right
here. That's what made a special day. Simeon was brought by the
Spirit of God. He'd been there a lot of times.
Oh, the ritualism, the ceremonialism, the legalism, all the other isms.
But oh, this day, oh, this day, he came. And our Lord came. I'm going to fill this house
with glory, said the Lord of Hosts. Listen. The silver is
mine, the gold is mine, said the Lord of Hosts, and the glory
of this latter house shall be greater than the former." Solomon's
greater than Solomon's here. Can't hold a candle, said the
Lord of Hosts. And in this place, I'll give
peace because the Prince of Peace came in. Somebody says, well,
he's just an infant. It doesn't matter. How he manifest
himself. Malachi. Turn over that Malachi.
You know, Bob was reading to us about John the Baptist and
his father Zacharias being struck dumb and named him John, and
nobody in your family has been named John. He wrote John, and
John the Baptist came. And here, chapter 3 of Malachi,
verse 1, it tells about John, the forerunner of Christ. It
tells about the Lord coming to his temple. Listen. Malachi 3.1,
Behold, I will send my messenger, that's John, He shall prepare
the way before me, said the Lord. And the Lord, whom you seek,
shall certainly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant,
the prophet of the covenant, whom you delight in. Behold,
he'll come, said the Lord of hosts." And my friends, that's
what's happening right here. Verse 27 of our text in Luke
2. 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,
the sacrifice. That's a full film of that scripture
over there in Haggai. The Lord will come to the temple.
Peace. Well, nobody knew him. Nobody
knew him. He was in the world, the world
was made by Him, the world knew Him not. He came into His own, His own
received Him not. There were people all over that
place. There were other women there
with their sacrifices. Other women had babies. Think,
this is the temple in Jerusalem. Think how many people were there. Think about this day and how
many people in religious activities today. Everywhere. But some places the Lord is there.
The Prince of Peace. He's come to His house. And here and there are some folks,
they see Him. This wasn't a meeting by chance.
When the Lord meets His people, it's not by chance. And old Simeon,
look here at verse 28, Simeon took Him up in his arms. He took
him out of the arms of Mary. A lot of people think he's a
priest, that Mary brought her sacrifice to him to be offered
for the child. It may be, but he took him out
of the arms of his mother, Mary, and embraced him. He embraced
him with joy. He embraced him with great affection.
He embraced him With deep awe and respect, he took him up in
his arms. This is the one for whom he's
been waiting. This is the Messiah. And then it says, here's his
song, and then he said, Lord, well, he took him up in his arms,
and watch this, and he blessed God. He blessed God. That's so
important there. He blessed God. This is always
the way the song of the redeemed begins. Blessing God. Blessed
in God. Let me read you over here in
Ephesians 1. This is what I'm talking about,
Ephesians 1. This is the way a believer blesses
God. He blesses God because God chose
him and God opened his eyes and God gave him life and God revealed
Christ to him. In Ephesians 1, verse 3, Paul
blesses God. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as He chose
us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him, in love having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ Himself, according
to the good pleasure of His will. to the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein He made us accepted in the Beloved." He
blessed God. He blessed God. He took Him up
in His arms. He embraced the Redeemer. He received the Redeemer. And blessed God. Blessed God
for the sight, for the knowledge, for the revelation, for the understanding,
knowing that He's the only one there. Out of all this multitude
of people, The only one that sees what he sees and knows what
he knows. And then he said, Lord, you see
this saving view of Christ released him from the cares and concerns
of this world. This saving view of Christ released
him from the dread and fear of death. This old man no longer
feared to die. He said, Lord, you are the Lord
of life and death. Now, let thy servant, Now, let
me, all things are of God, allow
me, he said, to depart from this place to thy place in peace,
in forgiveness. Therefore, being justified, we
have peace with God according to thy word, because
that's the foundation of all of our confidence. and our hope. And I'll tell you why he could
feel that way. Lord, now let me depart in peace
according to your word because mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Simeon didn't see the cross.
The cross was yet to come. Simeon didn't see the empty tomb. It was yet to come. I hear people tell me, they say,
have you ever been to the Holy Land? I say, well, you could
go a whole lot into that. I say, well, no. Why do you call
it the Holy Land? I say, it's not necessarily holy.
But I've never been there. Why? Oh, you need to go. If I've
had this said to me once, I've had it said a hundred times.
You need to go. Because if you visit Calvary's Hill, and see
where the cross stood and see the empty tomb. It just somehow
gives you some peace and brings it more home to you, the reality
of it. Simeon didn't see the cross.
There hadn't been a cross. He didn't see Golgotha's hill.
He didn't see the empty tomb. He didn't see the risen Christ.
He saw a person. A person. And salvation is a
person. I wish I could get that across
to the whole world. Salvation is a person. He says,
my eyes have seen your salvation. I've seen your salvation. When a man has a revelation of
Christ Jesus, he's seen God's salvation. And then he said in
verse 31, which thou hast prepared." I tell you, he prepared Christ
as the surety in the everlasting purpose and counsel, halls of
eternity, decree, decrees of God, known unto God all his works
from the beginning. "...which thou hast prepared
before the face of all people, a light to lighten the Gentiles,
and the glory of thy people Israel." Now one scripture I want to read
before I close. Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews the
10th chapter. This is what Paul is writing
about over here. This man Simeon had gone through
all of the sacrifices and ceremonies, pictures and types, but now he's
ready to die. He's seen the person. And that's
what our Lord is saying in Hebrews chapter 10 verse 5. Wherefore, when he cometh into
the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not.
All of these sacrifices and offering never satisfied God, never atoned
for sin, never put away guilt, but a body hast thou prepared
me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin thou'st had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come. In the volume of the book, it
is written of me. In the volume of this book and the book in
the hands of him who sat on the throne, it is written of me to
do thy will, O God. Above, when he said, Sacrifice
and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin, thy will
is not, neither has pleasure therein which are offered by
the law. Then said he, Lo, I come, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first. that
he may establish a second, by the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And all these priests, standing
daily, ministering, offering oftentimes the same sacrifices
which can never take away sin, but this man, this man, this
God-man, this man Jesus, after he had offered one sacrifice
for sin forever, sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool for but one
offering, he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Whereof
the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us. For after that he had
said before, this is the covenant that I'll make with them after
those days, saith the Lord. I'll put my law in their hearts,
and in their minds will I write them, and their sins and iniquities
But I remember no more. Now, where remission of these
is, there's no more offering for sin.