My subject tonight is entitled, When is a man ready to die? I've heard this so many times,
and I know you have, a preacher, I'm ready, I'm ready to go, or
I'm ready to meet the Lord. Or speaking of someone who has
passed away, I hear people say, well, he was sure ready to meet
his Maker. Well, just exactly when is a
man ready to meet his Maker? Have you thought about what it
means to meet God? The awesome, eternal, sovereign,
holy, righteous, just God, to meet God? When is a man ready
for this? encounter. When is a man really,
really ready to meet God? For the final time. For the judgment. It's appointed unto men once
to die, and after this the judgment. That's a direct confrontation
with God in his holiness, and God's not going to change. If
you meet God, you'll meet the same God Israel met at Sinai.
Same God. If you meet God, you'll meet
the same God that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah met on
the plains. same God. If we meet God, we'll
meet the same God Job met in the whirlwind when he covered
his mouth and he said, I've spoken once, twice, I'll never open
my mouth again. You'll meet the same God, see,
so that John met on the Isle of Patmos and fell at his feet
as a dead man. You want to meet him? I will
Are we as cocky and confident as we were before when you think
about it in that vein, in that light? Meet God. I'm not talking
about this little peanut God I hear preached on television.
I'm not talking about this little peanut God who's my co-pilot
and my partner and my next door neighbor. and this sort of thing. That unholy familiarity that
I see going on, I'm talking about that awesome holy God who said,
when you come into my presence, be still. Let your words be few. No man can look on me and live. Isn't that what he said? Moses
said, Lord, show me your glory. He said, you can't look on me
and live. Even Moses. He said, take off your shoes.
You're on holy ground. I don't know. I read about some
folks over in Isaiah. Let me just read it to you. You
won't need to turn over there. You're familiar with the chapter.
It's Isaiah 28. I meet some folks over here that
talked about being ready to meet that God. They said, we're not
afraid to die. We're not afraid to die. Isaiah
28, 15, we've made a covenant with death, and we're not afraid
of hell. With hell are we at agreement.
And we're not afraid of the overflowing scourge of God's wrath. When
it comes through, it won't come to us. They're ready. But here's the answer God gives.
You've made lies your refuge, and under falsehood have you
hid yourselves. And your covenant, verse 18,
your covenant with death is going to be disannulled. It's no good. It's not worth the paper you
got it written on. It's not worth the time you took
to get it together. I'll disannul it," God says.
I wasn't in that covenant. That's not my covenant. That
covenant you have with death is not my covenant, and your
agreement with hell, he said, just will not stand. When the
overflowing scourge of my wrath shall come through, you shall
be trodden down by it, because you've made lies your refuge,
and under falsehood you have hid yourself, and you're on a
bed that's too short, too narrow, and you've got cover that's too
short won't cover you." That makes a man tremble. That makes
cold chills run up and down your back. And I want you to be aware
of this awful statement. I'm ready to meet my Maker. I'm
ready to meet God. Making a statement like that
in such flippancy and carelessness based on some silly idle decision
you made is nothing but folly. I'm ready to meet God. I'll just
be honest with you, I want somebody else to meet him in my place.
I want somebody between me and God. I'm not ready to meet God
in my own strength. I'm going to have to be, I've
got to have a high priest It's just like that old Holy of Holies
back there in the wilderness in the tabernacle, that cubicle
there, that Holy of Holies. A fellow went there one time,
they drug him out by the heels, didn't they? He went in there
and God smote him with leprosy, white as snow, and he died a
horrible death, and they drug him out by his heels. He went
to meet God. But I'll tell you, when the old
high priest went in once a year, not without blood, he took the
blood of a lamb, he took the atonement, and he went in there
and put it on the mercy seat, and God received him because
he had the blood. He had a covering, he had a sacrifice,
he had an offering, he had an atonement for sins. Meet God? I know another fellow talked
about meeting God, Paul. He says, I'm ready to depart.
He didn't say anything about meeting God, did he? He just
said, the time of my departure is at hand. I'm ready to be offered. I'm ready to be poured out like
a drink offering. That's what he was talking about.
He didn't say anything about being ready to face God. To face
God. You see, Christ is our mediator.
Christ is our intercessor. Christ is our great high priest.
If we meet God, it's got to be in Him. The Lord looks upon us
in Christ. Well, let's go over here to Luke
2 and see about this fellow that we know was ready to die. He
said, let me depart. Now, here's that language again.
Let me depart in peace, according to your word, according to your
will. But let's look at this. First
of all, let's look at verse 21. I think this is important to
lay a foundation. And when eight days were accomplished
after the birth of the child, By the circumcision of the child,
his name was called Jesus, which was so named of the angel before
he was conceived in the womb. The angel came to Joseph and
said, Don't be afraid to marry Mary, because that holy thing
which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And thou
shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from
their sins. And this was spoken that it might
be fulfilled by the prophet, a virgin, which was spoken by
the prophet, a virgin shall conceive and bring forth a son, and thou
shalt call his name Emmanuel, which is God with us. Now, when the child was eight
days old, he was circumcised according to the covenant God
made with Israel. Now turn to Genesis 17. Genesis
17. This is the covenant. He says
in Genesis 17, verse 10, And this is the covenant, see
it, Genesis 17, which you shall keep between me and you, and
your seed after you. Talking of Abraham. Every male
child, every man child among you shall be circumcised. Verse
14 now. And verse 12 says when he's 8
days old. Something to do with infection
there. Something to do with that particular time after 7, the
8th day. And then verse 14 says, And the uncircumcised man, child,
whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall
be cut off from his people. You've broken my covenant. Now
circumcision supposes an impurity of nature. It's a symbol of the
circumcision of the heart. That's what it's a picture of.
It's a picture of the rending of the heart, the breaking of
the heart, the circumcision of the heart. Now, since Christ
had no sin, Since this infant, born of Mary, was the seed of
woman, not the seed of man, since he did not partake of Adam's
fall and Adam's nature and Adam's sin, since he is the perfect,
holy Son of God who has come in human flesh, why was he circumcised? Well, the first reason is this.
It was the duty of his parents to do so. It was a commandment
that God had put on all Jewish parents. Did you know God nearly
killed Moses because of violating this commandment? Let me show
you that in Exodus 4. Look at this now. This was after
Moses had been called. You know, Moses left Egypt and
went down into Midian. Wasn't that where he went? And
he married a fellow's daughter there. And evidently, I don't
know the background, but evidently what I read by this that her
name was Zipporah, Evidently, she was not an Israelite, or
else she did not believe in the covenant. And she refused to
have that child circumcised. This is the way that I see it,
because you'll see this in a moment. And Moses went along with her.
Now, God overlooked this until Moses came to the mountain and
the fire. You remember the burning bush?
And God spoke to him and got this thing all fixed up for him
to deliver Israel out of Egypt. Go down and get my people. Go
down and tell Pharaoh, let my people go. All of this was settled.
Now look at Exodus 4, verse 24. And Moses was traveling toward
Egypt and he stopped in an inn. Verse 24. And it came to pass
by the way in the inn that the Lord met him and sought to kill
him. So it says, doesn't it? Over
what? Over the circumcision of this
boy. Now my friends, let me tell you something. God's an exact
God. He's a precise God. And he killed people that violated
that which pertained to redemption. In other words, the man that
touched the ark, God killed him. The man who came into the Holy
of Holies, who was not a priest, God killed him. The ones that
offered strange fire on their altar, God killed them. You see,
this had to do with the gospel. When Moses struck the rock the
second time, God killed him. God told him to smite that rock
one time. He smote it twice. He smote it the first time, and
then the second time he was supposed to speak to it, and he smote
it, and God said, you won't go into the promised land. You've
violated my type, my picture of Christ. And you see, circumcision
is a picture of the circumcision of the heart. It didn't save. It didn't redeem. It's just like
Cain. Cain didn't bring a lamb. He brought the fruits of the
field, and it had to do with redemption. God put up with a
lot of things. But where the gospel is concerned,
where redemption is concerned, where the glory, redemptive,
glowing character of Christ is concerned, he never put up with
it. God's jealous of his gospel. That's the reason the Apostle
Paul said, if a man brings you any other gospel, let him be
under God's curse, even if it's an angel from heaven. Paul didn't
say that if a man told a lie, let him be under the curse of
God. He didn't say if a man did a certain thing, if he stole
something, let him be under the curse of God. But if he violated
the gospel. And this was exactly the thing,
Charlie, Moses was doing, he was violating the gospel. He's
violating God's covenant. There's got to be the cutting
of the heart. There's got to be the breaking of the heart.
There's got to be the circumcision of the heart. There's got to
be the cleansing of the heart, of which circumcision was a type.
And God was going to kill him. Now look at the next verse. Then
Zipporah, she knew what the problem was. They'd fought this thing
out before. She took a sharp stone and circumcised
that boy and cast it at Moses' feet and said, you're a bloody
husband. He wasn't head of his house either, was he? You're
a bloody husband to me." And so God let him go. God let him
go, didn't he? God had him. He'd have killed
him. You say, what would have happened to God's purpose? God's
glory, my friend, is above all things. God's known a Savior
at the expense of his glory. Now, you can put that down. He'll
kill a Moses before he'll compromise his gospel. I think, Brother
Mahan, they'll get in some way, they'll come by the way of the
cross or they'll go to hell. Now, if God will take a Moses,
a man whom he'd ordained and commissioned and dedicated and
anointed to lead Israel out of Egypt, to be the great Moses,
the giver of the law, and said, I'll kill you if you don't get
this thing straightened out. You don't compromise his gospel.
You don't compromise that which is fundamental to the glory of
God in the redemption of sinners. My friend, I plead with you.
You may think it's a small thing, and a lot of things are small
things, but the gospel is not, and redemption is not. And that's
the reason our Lord was circumcised, no more than the duty of his
parents in reference to the covenant. It was a seal of the covenant.
Secondly, it was necessary because he appeared in the likeness of
flesh. Our Lord Jesus Christ, it must be clear, he was a man. Now God never did become by nature
only a man, and man never did become by nature only God. God
is God, man is man, and Christ the two natures were in one.
Jesus Christ always was God. He's God then, he's God now.
He was God on the cross, but he was God in the likeness of
sinful flesh. And he was circumcised that it
may be clear that our flesh and blood is upon him. He was made
in the likeness of sinful flesh. It was necessary to redeem his
people that he be made like his children and his brethren. In
the third place, he was made under the law. It says, in the
fulness of time, God sent his son, made of a woman, made under
the law. Cecil prayed it a moment ago.
He suffered us to fulfill all righteousness. The Lord Jesus
Christ did not have to be baptized in the baptism of repentance
as an identification with the Redeemer. He was the Redeemer,
but he did this to fulfill all righteousness. He was circumcised
to fulfill all righteousness. He came as our representative
under the law of God to fulfill every jot and tittle of the law.
He said, I didn't come to destroy the law. You know, the average
person thinks that the Lord Jesus Christ came and therefore the
law is of no more consequence, that God saved men by law and
now he saves them by grace. That's not so. He's always saved
men by grace. It's always been by Christ. And
Christ is the fulfillment of the law, and he was made under
the law and fulfilled the law. In the next place, he was a son
of Abraham. Our Lord was a Jew. Salvation
is of the Jews. And our Lord just could not be
an uncircumcised Jew. It wasn't possible. He couldn't
be. So that was taken care of. Now
look at verse 22. Now, when the days of Mary's
purification according to the law were accomplished, that's
41 days for a male child, they brought him to Jerusalem to present
him to the Lord. In parenthesis it says, as it
is written in the law of the Lord, every male that openeth
a womb shall be called holy to the Lord. The firstborn son belonged
to God. According to the law, the firstborn
son was consecrated to the Lord God. Now look at the next verse.
It says she came to offer a sacrifice according to that which was said
in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves and two young
pigeons. Now let's look at Leviticus 12.
Now here was a woman, every Jewish woman, Leviticus chapter 12,
when she gave birth to a child, she was to bring, it says here,
after so many days of purification, if it's a male child it was 41
days, if it was a female child it was 3 score and 6 days, but
verse 6 says, and when the days of her purifying are fulfilled
for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring a lamb, a lamb,
of the first year for a burnt offering. and a young pigeon
or a turtle dove for a sin offering unto the door of the tabernacle
of the congregation of the priest, who shall offer it before the
Lord, and make an atonement for her, and shall be cleansed from
the issue of her blood." You see, under the law, almost all
things were purged by blood, and without the shedding of blood
there is no remission. Salvation was by the blood of
Christ back here, and these sacrifices were texts of Christ, pictures
of Christ, symbols of Christ. Even as the wine at the Lord's
table is a picture of Christ's blood, and the bread is a picture
of his broken body, we're not saved by these things, but this
we do in remembrance of him. We show forth his death every
time we take the Lord's table. Back in the Old Testament, when
they brought those sacrifices and lambs and other things, the
blood, they were showing Christ's coming day. Everybody in the
Old Testament was saved, redeemed, forgiven, received mercy by looking
to the coming Lord Jesus Christ. And those who are saved now are
looking back to the one who came. Now watch the next verse 8. And
if she be not able financially to bring a lamb. Now this is
how poor our Lord's parents were. This is how poor they were. And
you prayed about this, you remember mentioning this? in your prayer,
he became so low. Our Lord was identified with
every one of us, so poor. Poor in his birth, poor in his
surroundings, poor in his family. And if she's not able to bring
a lamb, verse 8, she shall bring two turtles or two young pigeons. And that's what Mary brought.
You see that over there in verse 24, she came with a pair of turtledoves
and two young pigeons. And God accepted it, God received
it, the blood sacrifice, because they were poor people. They went
down there in Bethlehem and had to stay in a stable. That's where
a firstborn son was brought forth in a stable. You know, I thought
of something while I was sitting there a moment ago, and I'm trying
to teach those who will listen to me, an attitude and spirit
of reverence. and all of our Lord Jesus Christ. I hear preachers always saying,
Jesus this and Jesus that and Jesus the other. They very seldom
ever call him Lord. And I'm going to tell you where
part of our problem is. I see it right here. I had it
written down right here in my notes, and I saw it while I was
sitting right there. To me, he's Lord, and I think
no man calls Jesus Lord but by the Holy Ghost. If thou shalt
confess that I am not Jesus, to be Lord." He said to his disciples,
you call me Lord and you say, well, for so I am. They never
called him Jesus. They wrote about Jesus, Cecil,
but they never called him Jesus. When they referred to him, they
never referred to him as Jesus except in the Gospels. Now here's
why. I have in my notes here, I want
you to listen to this. When our Lord was eight days old. What's
wrong with that sentence? Our Lord's not eight days old,
he's eternal. Jesus was eight days old. You see what I'm saying? I looked down at that sentence
there that I was going to quote a moment ago, when our Lord was
eight days old. Why, he's older than the heroes,
Charlie. He's older than the stars. He
made those things. He was never eight days old.
So in order to clarify this thing, the disciples had to write this
way. You say, well, they called him Jesus. In their writings,
they were referring to the man, Christ Jesus. When they referred
to him in his deity, they referred to him as the Son of God. And
that's why, that's the difference. Now, you don't call him Jesus.
Now, if you're talking about, like I came to this right here,
I'm going to have to say, when Jesus was eight days old, I'm
going to have to say that, in order for people to understand
what I'm talking about. Isaiah 9, 6, it says, unto us a child
is born, unto us a son is given. As a child, Christ was born.
As a son, he wasn't born, he was begotten. As a child he was
born, as a son he was given. And so when I refer to the earthly
pilgrimage, I've still got to say about our Lord Jesus Christ.
I always call my father, Dad. I never called him by his first
name. I just learned better than that when I was growing up. That's
respect. And I've just never felt comfortable talking about
the Lord Jesus Christ by his first name, Jesus. I just don't
feel comfortable, but I think I found the reason, Cecil, why
they refer to him constantly as Jesus. They're talking about
the Son of Man. They're talking about an earthly
pilgrimage. They're talking about days of humiliation. But when
they spoke of him or to him, they said, Lord, Lord Jesus Christ. Now watch verse 25. And behold,
there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. Now we
don't know much about this man. I spent some time this week trying
to find out who he was. And there's a lot of ideas about
who Simeon was. Some of them want to make him
the father of that teacher, Gamaliel or Shammai, one of those fellows.
And somebody else wanted to make him a priest, which is all right.
But I couldn't find who he was, except what the scripture says
here about him. It says here that he was a devout man, a just
man, a devout man. And he was waiting, he was expectantly
waiting for the Messiah. He believed that God was going
to send a Redeemer. He believed that that prophet
of whom Moses wrote was coming. He believed that that prophet,
that sacrifice, that sin offering, he believed that that Redeemer,
that Messiah was coming and he was waiting and the Spirit of
God was upon him and it was revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that
he would not see death until he had seen the Lord's Christ.
That says in verse 27, and so he came by the Spirit, the Holy
Spirit led him into the temple when the child's parents when
the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him after the
custom of the law. This is the marvel of God's grace. He will, by his Spirit, by his
grace, cross the path of every person whom he intends to save.
Just like the Samaritan woman, she came to the well. Somebody
said, well, she was lucky she came when she did. Uh-uh, God
brought her to that well, providentially. You say, Boy, wasn't it lucky
they didn't crucify that thief the day before? I tell you, God
ordained for him to hang on that cross when he did. Boy, it sure
was lucky blind Bartimaeus was sitting by the wayside when Christ
passed by. My friends, salvation is not
by chance, it's not by fate, it's not by luck, it's by God's
grace. And this old man was waiting for the consolation of Israel.
The Spirit of God was upon him. He was one of God's elect. A
young man sitting right over here, when I started through
the door tonight coming in to preach, he said, passing through
town, what time does your service start? Seven o'clock, come on
in. That's no accident. I don't know what it will mean
to you, but I do know this, you're not here by accident. Not if
God's here. God doesn't do anything by accident.
You're here on purpose. You're here maybe to hear from
God or maybe to hear your condemnation read, I don't know. Paul said
our gospel is a savor, that's a smell. A savor is a smell,
not a savior. A savor is a smell. And he says
it's a savor of life unto life and death unto death. He says
it's got something for everybody. My friends from Grand Rapids,
I said that one time over the radio, and Grand Rapids pastor
Lemaine got on me the next week. He said any preacher that's got
something for everybody's got nothing for anybody. I've got
something for everybody. My Lord said, you go into all
the world and preach the gospel to everybody. Wasn't that what
he said? To every creature. That's everybody. And the Apostle
Paul says, I've got something for everybody. He said, I've
got something for those who believe it, and I've got something to
say to those who won't believe it. It's the savor of death unto
death. But thank God the Lord brought
this man to the temple right at this. He was evidently an
old man. And he came by the Spirit. He came by the Spirit. Brother,
I've got, Jay prayed that I'd be enabled to preach the gospel
in the spirit and that you'd be able to hear it in the spirit.
That's good theology. I may preach it in the spirit,
but if God doesn't give you an understanding heart, you're not
going to hear it. The natural man, it's foolishness to him,
it's sheer nonsense to him, but God brought this man into the
temple when the people, when the parents brought Christ in
there. In verse 28, watch here, four or five things, this man
was ready to die, he said so, now watch it. Then he took him
up in his arms, the child Jesus, and blessed God. And he said,
Lord, now let us thou, thy bond-slave, thy servant, depart in peace,
according to your word. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation."
That's when a man is ready to die. A man is ready to look upon
God when he has looked upon Christ. in his redemptive character,
in his redemptive glory. Now, I want you to see several
things. First of all, he took him up into his arms. My friends,
he took him up. This man took Christ up, the
Lord Jesus Christ, as an infant, he took him into his own arms. And to me, this was a grasp,
an embrace of faith. He knew by the Spirit of God
who he was. He knew who this was. This was not only the grasp of
faith, the embrace of faith, it was the embrace of love. Christ
came to redeem him, and he knew why he came. And it was the embrace
of hope. He turned loose of all other
hope and held on to Christ. I was reading the Bible a few
days ago, and I came across this passage. Have you received the
Holy Ghost since you believed? You know where that's found,
don't you? You've read it. And I thought to myself, I might
ask this generation of decisionism and walking isles and, you know,
everybody believes the Bible. You know it's hard to find somebody
who doesn't believe the Bible? You ask somebody, do you believe
the Bible? You don't believe it from cover to cover. I've always
believed the Bible. Do you believe Jesus Christ died
on the cross? Well, sure I do. I've always believed that. Do
you believe he was buried and rose again? Well, sure, I've
always believed that. A man told me that in the hospital one day.
He said, I believe, but I'm not a Christian. Well, I thought
of this question. Maybe I ought to ask this generation.
Have you received Christ since you believed? That would be something
to think about, wouldn't it? Have you took him up in your
arms? That's what the scripture says.
He came to his own and they received him not. Though he was in the
world, the world knew him not. But as many as received him,
to them gave he the privilege to become sons of God. Have you
ever received Christ? Have you ever embraced him with
an embrace of faith, with an embrace of love, with an embrace
of hope, laid hold upon Christ savingly? The old Puritans used
to talk about a saving interest in Christ. And Barnard used to
say about people, he'd say, Henry, I believe he's well saved. I
believe he's well saved. Have you received Christ since
you believed? He took him up in his arms. Look
at the next sentence, the next phrase. It says he took him up
into his arms, and which direction did he turn his eyes? Mary, I'm
sure glad you brought forth this child. Huh? No, sir. He lifted his eyes to heaven
and he blessed God. He knew who saved sinners. He
knew where Christ came from. He knew this was a gift of God's
love. He lifted his eyes to heaven and blessed God for his grace.
And bless God for his revealed mercies, and bless God for the
gift of his Son, and bless God for the fulfillment of scripture,
and bless God for not passing him by. He lifted his eyes and
blessed God. Oh, my friend, we could preach
on it again and again and again, and never preach on it too often.
Salvation is of the Lord. It's of the Lord in its planning.
He purposed it, he planned it, and no thoughts or recommendations
of men or angels entered that covenant, that eternal covenant.
He not only planned it, but he executed it. He pleased God to
bruise him. Christ said, you couldn't have
any power over me at all except it be given you from my Father
which is in heaven. So what held him to the cross,
it wasn't those nails. It was a will of his Heavenly
Father. He said, I came to come to do the will of my Father which
sent me. That's what held him to that cross. God bruised him. He was smitten of God and afflicted.
Salvations of the Lord in its application. He saves whom he
will. He saves whom he will. He owes
nothing to any man. Yes, he does, too. He owes him
the wages of sin. And he's going to pay them, too.
God pays his wages. What men work for in the kingdom
of God, they get. Salvation is of the Lord in its
application. God revealed his Son to me, Paul
said, and it's of the Lord in its sustaining power. We're kept
by the power of God. I don't stand in the righteousness
of Christ five seconds without my Lord's power and grace. He
keeps me. And it's of the Lord in its ultimate
perfection. One day when I come forth from
the grave, he'll have to bring me out. If I lay aside this wretched
flesh, he'll have to lay it aside. If I stand in the image of Christ,
it'll only be by his power. Oh, Simeon was ready to die.
First of all, he laid hold on Christ. He embraced Christ. He
took up Christ in his arms. And secondly, he looked to God
and blessed God. He thanked God for his redemption.
My friends, I don't want to be a hair-splitter and an arguer
and debater and all that, but We don't win souls to Christ. We're not going out rounding
up political party affiliates. The Holy Spirit is the only one
that can bring a sinner to Christ. We go and witness and we preach
and we pray for people, but I can't, by reasoning and argument and
logic and these things, raise the dead sinner. I can't make
a man love what he hates and hate what he loves. I can't open
blind eyes, I can't unstop deaf ears, I cannot raise dead sinners.
I cannot do that. God must do that. Salvations
of the Lord. Go through the Bible and you'll
find every illustration here is a miracle of grace. Every
diction is a miracle of grace. It's God that did it. God brought
the sinner to meet Christ, and God gave the sinner eyes to behold
Christ, and God gave the sinner heart to love Christ. And God
gave the sinner a will to serve Christ. You can't beat people
into the kingdom of God. You can't persuade them into
the kingdom of God. You can't threaten them into
the kingdom of God. They're born into the kingdom
of God. It's a supernatural birth by the power of God's Spirit.
And old Simeon looked at his eyes and thanked God. He just
blessed God. I'm so glad, Lord, you didn't
pass me by. You didn't pass me by. You let
me see what I'm seeing." Now, he said, verse 29, here's a surrendered
spirit, here's a committed soul, here's a man who's in charge. He said, now, Lord, Lord. About
time we started using that word, isn't it? Lord. Lord. Jehovah. Master, now let me. Let me. let thou thy servant."
What is a servant? It's a bond slave. We're all so proud, we don't
like that term servant, that term slave. But our Lord talks
about taking his yoke upon him. A yoke is something you put on
an oxen to make them do your will, to bring them in line. Take my yoke upon you. Master,
Lord, now let me, let your servant He didn't say anything about
dying. Departure is to leave somewhere and go somewhere else.
I had a lot of people talk about death, and for some folks it
is a horrible experience. It's a final thing. It's something
to be dreaded. It's worse than anything. But
for the believer, it's gain. What Scripture says, to die is
gain. Paul says the time of my departure
is at hand. It's time for me to catch the
ship and go home. I remember when I was over there in Japan,
World War II had ended and we went into Japan. Stayed there
four or five months. I was so tired I'd been over
there nearly two years. I wanted to go home. I liked the fellows
I was with, you know, but not near as much as I loved home.
I was enjoying myself. I wasn't twenty years old and
didn't have any ties or anything. Seeing the sights, enjoying myself.
But I tell you this, when that old AP pulled up there, AP-10,
to load us, to take us home, It wasn't too hard to climb that
gangway. I ran up it, carrying that seed
bag and everything. I told those fellas goodbye with
a smile on my face. I was ready to go home. I was
in a strange land. I was a boy in a strange land. I was going
home. And old Simeon, but now by permission, I had to get permission
to leave. I didn't stow her away. I walked
up that gangway by permission from the captain. I was welcome
aboard. He let me come on. I was a servant
too, a peon. That's what I was. I wasn't no
general. I was a peon. And they let me go home with
them. And that's what sinning is saying. Now, Lord, just let
your servant, according to your word, go home, because I'm sure
ready. Why do you think you're ready?
Well, look at the next line. He says, and this is the reason
why I'm ready. Now, salvation is by sight. You
say we walk by faith, not by sight. Now, wait a minute. I
didn't say it was by carnal, natural sight. I'm saying it's
by understanding. He that seeth the Son and believeth. You can't trust an unrevealed
Christ. You can't trust one whom you have not seen. I'm not talking
about with these eyes. A lot of people saw him with
these eyes who'd perished. But when he says, he that seeth
the Son is one who by God's grace has seen the Son in the Word,
the Son of God in the Word. He has seen Christ in the brazen
serpent, in the ark. in the atonement, in the tabernacle,
in the sacrifices, he has seen Christ as his sin offering, he's
seen Christ in the Word, the record God has given of his Son.
He's seen the redemptive glory and the redemptive character
of Christ and the redemptive work of Christ. He's seen that.
He sees how God can be just and justify the ungodly. I've seen. Now watch this. Thy salvation. You say, these men talked about
salvation. Sure, Jonah talked about salvation, salvations of
the Lord. David talked about salvation, restoring to me the
joy of thy salvation. Our God talked about salvation
to Adam and Eve. Salvation is the subject of this
book. It's the book of redemption, how God saves sinners. That's
what it's all about. This is not a book of science.
It is scientifically accurate, but it's not a book of science.
It's not a book to argue prophecy by. This is a book of redemption. This is the book of Christ. You
take this book and condense it and press it until you get the
essence of it, the heart of it, the very soul of it, it will
be Jesus Christ. That's what it's all about. It's
not made to argue. And I'll tell you this, if you
want to be an arguer of the Bible, God will give you that kind of
mind if that's what you want. And you'll enjoy it immensely.
They would be given strong delusions to believe a lie, those who rest
the scripture to their own damnation. God will help you, boy. He'll
give the goat something to eat as well as the sheep. Tin cans
and bottles. This is a book of redemption.
I've seen thy salvation. Christ is the Savior, but Christ
himself is salvation. Simeon had it right. Simeon wasn't
trusting the finished work of Christ. shock you here maybe, but please
don't be shocked. But I'm not trusting the finished
work of Christ as my redemption. I'm trusting Christ, the one
who finished the work. That's right, there's a whole
lot of difference. You can trust a doctrine and not trust him
of whom the doctrine speaks. I've heard people say, well,
I believe in the sovereignty of God. Well, I don't believe in the
sovereignty of God, I believe in God who is sovereign. There's
a difference. A lady wrote me this week and
said, you ought to preach more on prayer. She said, I believe
in prayer. Well, you're in trouble if you believe in prayer. Prayer
can't save you. She said, but you're splitting
hairs. I wish it was hair splitting instead of soul. So true. I believe
in him who hears prayer. I don't believe in a ritual or
a ceremony or a candle. I don't believe in a human priest
or a pope or a preacher. I don't believe in any kind of
ritual or tradition. I don't even believe in prayer.
My faith and confidence and hope is in a person, Christ Jesus
the Lord. Sometimes prayers have failed
for me. I prayed desperately that boy
would come home from Vietnam, and he didn't do it. Does that
mean I'm lost? No, sir. Not so. I don't believe in prayer.
You know what we mean? Yeah, I do know what you mean.
You believe in prayer. I believe in God. Abraham believed
God. Abraham believed God. And don't
you be confused and start resting in what they call a work. Rest
in a person. A person. I'm warning you, what
I'm saying here is vital. Simeon took up the child Jesus. As far as Simeon is concerned,
he'd never seen a cross, J. Samuel didn't know anything about
a cross. He knew about a sacrifice and a lamb and a redemption.
But even the disciples tried to get Paul not to go to the
cross. Jim, they didn't understand the
cross, but they trusted him. Him. And whatever he does, he's
my Lord and Savior. If he hears my prayer, fine.
If he doesn't, that's all right, too. If he gives me what I desire,
that's fine. But if he doesn't, he's still
Lord. He's boss. He's king. When he died on the
cross, all that he did from eternity past to eternity future is included
in his work of redemption. He's my surety, my sacrifice,
my sin offering. He's my salvation. And he's my
only salvation. Simeon had not found salvation
in the law. He'd been around at Temple a
long time. And he was just and devout. He had not found salvation
in the ceremony. He had seen those sacrifices,
J, for 75 years. and never had any rest, never
had any peace, never had any joy, he took one look at the
Lord Jesus Christ and ready to go. I've seen God's, whose salvation? God's salvation. God's salvation. God's salvation, not the Baptist
way or the Methodist way or the Catholic way or anybody else's
way, God's salvation. I've seen thy salvation. The
Lord is my light and my salvation. David said, Restore to me the
joy of thy salvation. Lord, let me glimpse and grasp
thy salvation." Yes, a man is ready to depart. He's ready to
depart. He's ready to be poured out as
a drink offering when he has taken up Christ in his arms by
faith, in love, with a hope. Bless God for the knowledge thereof,
and bless God for the mercy he has received, and bless God for
the grace given. And he has submitted himself
to the will of God according to your will, according to your
word. And he has seen with our faith who it is that saves the
soul. Abraham saw my day. And it was counted to him for
righteousness. He believed. He saw my day and
believed. Abraham did. Simeon? It comes on down to us.
We have more understanding of who Christ is and what he did
than Abraham did. We have a clearer revelation,
don't we? We're more responsible, too. But I've seen God's salvation. I think I can say I'm ready to
depart. I believe I can. But it will
be by his grace. I don't want to fall into the
idleness of presumption. My journey is not over. Not yet,
evidently. And I don't want to fall into
that. Lord, if I haven't loved you before, let me love you today.
And it's no shame. Don't feel that somebody is going
to doubt you or say, I tell you, I'd rather doubt now than be
damned later, hadn't you? I'd rather examine myself. But
you're a preacher. Well, God doesn't say preachers,
he says sinners. A lot of lost preachers say sinners. And with you, my prayer tonight
is that God will be pleased, like he did for Simeon, to let
us see the Lord Jesus with eyes of faith. Our Father in Heaven, What do we pray except, Lord,
be merciful to me, a sinner? What do we say when we contemplate
this day, when every man shall give an account of himself to
God? With fear and trembling we look
upon that day. If we stand in our own strength
and our own righteousness, we will be consumed with the fire
of our wrath. But Lord, if we can, by your
grace, through faith, stand in Christ, we won't perish until
he perishes. We won't be cast away until he's
cast away, and that'll never be. We'll be loved and received
and accepted, not for anything in ourselves or righteousness
that we've done, but because he loved us and gave himself
for us. Enable me and dear Brother Jay
and all of these