Turn with me to Luke chapter
2. Luke chapter 2, and we'll begin
in verse 21. While you're doing that, let
me just say what a privilege it is for me to preach to you. It's always a wonder to me that
the Lord called me into the ministry of the gospel. We're so thankful
for you all. We're thankful for Ken and his
faithfulness to teach the word. So thankful for David, your pastor. What a blessing he's been to
us over these several years that we've known him. And I wanted
to say, too, we're thankful for your grace to us, and your affections,
and your time, and your support of the work in New Guinea. And
it's a delight. It really is. It's a delight
for Robin and I to be back here and to be with you during this
time. So let's look today at the word
of God here in Luke chapter 2. And let me read. this passage
that is, I think, familiar to all of us, of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And we read there, and when eight
days were completed for the circumcision of the child, his name is called
Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived
in the womb. Now when the days of her purification,
that is his mother, when the days of her purification according
to the law of Moses were completed, they brought him to Jerusalem
to present him to the Lord. As it is written in the law of
the Lord, every male who opens the womb shall be called holy
to the Lord and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in
the law of the Lord, a pair of turtle doves and two young pigeons. And behold, there was a man in
Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. And this man was just and devout,
waiting for the consolation of Israel. And the Holy Spirit was
upon him. And it had been revealed to him
by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen
the Lord's Christ. So he came by the Spirit into
the temple. And when the parents brought
in the child Jesus to do for him according to the custom of
the law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,
Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according
to your word, for mine eyes have seen your salvation, which you
have prepared before the face of all peoples to bring a light,
to bring revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people
Israel. Well, here in this passage, we
read of a remarkable event at the very beginning of the life
and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here, his parents, Joseph
and Mary, bring this newborn child to Jerusalem to present
him to the Lord. And for those who were here last
Sunday evening, David expressed this so well. It was such a blessing
to me. They brought the Lord to what? Present him to the Lord. God presented to God, the eternally
begotten Son of God, an eight day old infant, presented to
the Eternal Father. What a wonder, what a wonder.
If a voice had spoken from heaven, At that moment, just like it
did in two succeeding cases, it would have said, this is my
beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. Well, today I would
like to speak to you about something that is very simple, but could
not be more important. Today, I want to speak to you
about salvation. to every one of you here, to those who've
known the grace of God and to those who haven't. Salvation,
salvation, that's really my only point in this passage. Because
here, here it is. Here it is, here's the Savior
and here's salvation. In most pulpits in the world
today, you hear a message of man redeeming himself. And you
hear a message of man saving himself. how contrary this is
to the biblical teaching of redemption and salvation. The biblical idea
of redemption and salvation is that a man is in a state of bondage
and he's in a state of captivity. He's hopeless and helpless without
any means to deliver himself. Another, another must come. and pay that redemption price.
Another must come and deliver him and save him with that power that only comes
from God. And you know, we see a perversion
of this idea, not just in the pulpits, but in our contemporary
society today. You see it in the TV shows and
movies, this whole idea of man redeeming himself. I don't know
if you notice that when you see these things. And of man saving
himself. Well, let's just, to fix our
mind on salvation, I'd just like to share an illustration with
you that the Lord brought about. I think it was several years
ago, I was preaching at a village named Waterbong. There's a church
there. And it was Sunday morning, and
I was preparing to preach on this passage. And people in getting
ready for the service were washing and a teenage girl took her two,
well, cousin brothers, I guess they would be, a child of about
two years old and another about three down to the river to wash
before the service. And she left them there beside
the river and went up into the bushes to toilet. And you know,
three-year-old, two-year-old boys, they're jostling each other
at the edge of that river. And that two-year-old was bumped
in into the river, into the stream. And you know, really, that child, for all intents,
was dead the minute it fell into that river. The current took
it. And here it goes down the river.
And in the Lord's Providence, about 100 feet further down,
there was a Christian woman washing in preparation for the service
also. Micah, and she sees this child coming down the river.
And she plunges out into the stream and grabs that child. Didn't we just sing that? And
she grabs that child, and she lifts it up out of the water.
And she saved the life of that child, didn't she? And what a
picture that is of salvation. Here is this child, as I said,
for all intents and purposes dead, to be recovered lifeless
from the river somewhere far down the stream if it weren't
for Micah being there and saving that child. What a picture that
is of you and I apart from Christ and every man apart from Christ,
every man apart from this Savior that we're going to hear about
today. Think of this. I want you all
to think of this. We're in, but not this stream. We're in this raging torrent
that is pouring down boulders and trees and mud and dirt and
gravel. Roaring. And we're in that. Certain to die. Certain to die. And that raging turrent is our
sin. What do we need? We need a savior,
don't we? We need a savior. Well, here we read of Simeon,
this man. Look there, look there in verse
25. It says, and behold, a man named Simeon. Now, this is the
only place in the Bible he's ever mentioned. We don't know
anything about him before the life of Christ. We hear nothing
about him after the life of Christ. But what we do know is that Simeon
cared about the only thing that mattered. He desired to see the
Lord's Christ before he died. Like Abraham, Simeon believed
the promise of God and he waited with a great expectation for
the salvation of God to be revealed. We read too that he was a just
and devout man and behold there was a man in Jerusalem whose
name was Simeon and this man was just and devout waiting for
the consolation of Israel. Here he is in Israel at a dark,
a dark time, a dark time. The people of Israel had long
left the faith of Abraham and of the prophets, and the true
worship of God had descended into a religion of the Pharisees
and the Sadducees, a religion of religion, a religion of works
righteousness. the understanding that all of
this old covenant worship that God had given to Moses were just
types and figures of the good things to come at all but vanished.
And here they were, here they were, a period of some 400 years
had elapsed since God had sent a prophet to Israel. No new revelation, and yet we
read There was this man named Simeon, a just and devout man. Behold, says the word of God. A man who believed God, a man
who believed the scriptures, a man who believed the promise
given to Abraham of a seed in whom all the world would be blessed. A man who believed in the sure
mercies of David. the long awaited son to sit upon
the throne of his father and save his people Israel. And Simeon
waited. He waited in hope. He waited
for the consolation of Israel. Now this is one of the great
names given to our Christ, the consolation of Israel. Well,
what does this mean? Consolation. Well, When I think
of this to console, I, as a parent, naturally think of my children.
I think we all do, don't we? That's the first thing that comes
to my mind, consoling our children. And you know, many years ago,
we had this stove, and it had a glass front, a black
glass front. Whoever designed that stove didn't
believe in insulation. And whatever temperature the
stove was inside, it was the same outside. And Claire, Jennifer's
older sister, was about two years old at this time. And she'd love
to go and look at her reflection in that stove. And she'd put
her hands on it. And we'd say, don't touch the stove. And we'd slap her hands. But
you know, it was inevitable, wasn't it? One day that stove
is as hot as hot, I think, rubbing cooking bread, and she goes up
there and she puts her hands. on the front of that oven. And
you know, she screamed. You would never think the pitch
of a child's voice could get that high. But I think probably
if any of you have children, you've seen this or will see
this at some point in time. She was in terror. She was in
fear. And she just screamed. And she
screamed so hard, she was out of breath. She knocked
the wind right out of herself. Have you ever seen that too?
And so she was even more afraid. And as a parent, your heart is
pierced. And you go and you pick up that
child, and Robin went and held her and consoled her, and she
just cried. And she sobbed, and she sobbed,
and she sobbed. And as the word would say, her
eyes were like rivers of water. But the mother consoles. And slowly the sobbing goes down. We've all seen this, haven't
we? We've probably all done it ourselves. And the child is comforted. Well, this is what consolation
means. Here is Simeon and he's waiting
for the consolation of Israel. Now look, turn over to Lamentations
chapter one for a minute. This isn't a book we generally
read from, but it's following Jeremiah, Lamentations chapter
one. Now why? Lamentations chapter
one, and we'll just look at a few verses here. Why was Israel looking
for the consolation of Israel? Well, we could say that figuratively,
she'd put her hands on the stove. She'd rebelled against the commandment
of God. And here we find her. She's a
nation that has been conquered and a multitude of her people
taken away into captivity in Babylon. Jerusalem, the holy
city of God has been laid waste. And here are the words of the
prophet Jeremiah lamenting the state of the people Israel. And
here. As we read, what he's doing is
personifying this city, the city of Jerusalem, Zion. And he's
speaking of her sorrow and pain and turmoil and distress. This
is some 500 years before the advent of our Lord. Now look,
as I said, we can't look at all of this, but he goes down through
chapter one. Just look at verse 18 there. He says, the Lord is
righteous for I rebelled against his commandment. This is the
city, this is Jerusalem. The Lord is righteous for I rebelled
against his commandment. Hear now all peoples and behold
my sorrow. My virgins and my young men have
gone into captivity. Verse 20, see oh Lord that I
am in distress. My soul is troubled, my heart
is overturned within me. For I have been very rebellious.
Outside the sword bereaves. and at home it is like death. Here is this people in this city,
and their state is a terrible state, terrible state. And he
goes on down in chapter two, but just skip down there to verse
13. And what do we read? How shall
I console you? To what shall I liken you, O
daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I compare with you
that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For your ruin
is spread wide as the sea. Who can heal you? Well, who indeed? Who indeed? And the same is true
of you and me, isn't it? Who can console us? Who can comfort
us? Our ruin? As the word tells us,
our ruin is spread wide as the sea. Who can heal you and me? Well, the consolation of Israel,
the consolation of Israel. And when a man truly sees his
sin, there's nothing that can console him except for the consolation
of Israel. You know, man goes about finding
consolation in all sorts of places, but have you ever seen your sin?
Have you ever known your sin? The only place you'll find consolation
is in Christ, the consolation of Israel. You don't need to turn there,
but listen to the words of the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 61. The spirit, the spirit of the
Lord God is upon me. Here are the words of Christ
put into the mouth of Isaiah the prophet. And he says, the
spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed
me to preach good tidings to the poor. He has sent me to heal
the brokenhearted. to proclaim liberty to the captives
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim
the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our
God, to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in
Zion, to give them beauty for ashes. Here they are, covered
with the ashes of repentance and mourning, tears streaming
down their face. filthy and polluted and he takes
them and he takes them and he washes them and he makes them
pure and clean and beautiful in God's eyes and he takes away
that morning, the oil of joyful morning and the garment of praise
for the spirit of heaviness. The message of the gospel is
a wonderful message. how the faithful of Israel longed
with great expectation for the consolation of Israel. We heard
that in that reading in the Psalms, Psalm 130 this morning, didn't
we, as David read that to us? What does the Psalmist say? Oh, I wait upon the Lord, how
my soul waits for him, waits for his redemption. And here, here is Simeon. He's waiting
for the consolation of Israel. Turn to Daniel, Daniel chapter
nine for a moment. Daniel chapter nine, and think for a moment. the great
faith of these just and devout men who lived before the Lord
Jesus Christ had come. It is remarkable. It's staggering,
really, when we think about it. How much we know, how much has
been revealed to us. The glorious mysteries of the
gospel have come in their glorious full light, as the word says,
as a noonday sun. And yet here they lived in a
period of shadows and darkness, and yet what faith they had. Think of Abraham. I love to read
of Abraham. Here he is. He's a 75-year-old
man at the time, the man of Ur of the Chaldeans, a man who the
scriptures speak of as the father of all who believe. And we tend
to think of Abraham as this Sojourner, this pilgrim sort of with a tent
and a donkey going about. But if you read the word, that's
not Abraham at all. Abraham was a man of enormous
wealth, immense resources, and a man of great stature. The word
of God tells us that he was very rich in cattle, in gold, in silver. Think of when his nephew Lot
was taken captive, you remember that? He was taken captive and
we're told that Abraham raised 318 servants, trained, and born
in his own house. And he went and delivered a lot,
didn't he? While he sojourned in this land
of promise, having nowhere to place his leg, the nations around
looked at him as a prince, a prince in his own land. Think of this.
In his own land, Abraham would have had many dwellings, great
resources, along with a privilege which comes with that stature.
If he had 300 men born in his house to go out and fight, his
household would have been upwards of a thousand people. Think of
that. Think of that. And God comes to him and says,
Abraham, get up and go out. And what did Abraham do? He got
up and went out. What a wonder. What could move
a man to do? A man like Abraham to do such
a thing. Well, there's many answers, but
really there's only one answer, and the Lord Jesus Christ that
had promised seed of David gave it himself, didn't he? He said,
Abraham saw my day and was glad. It was this hope that entirely
captivated Abraham in all of his remarkable life. It was this
hope that captivates the heart of every believer and it's this
hope that captivated the heart of every believer in all the
thousands of years until the coming of Christ. They waited
for this promised Redeemer, this promised Savior. Or think of
Job. Think of Job. He'd lost everything. every one of his sons, every
one of his daughters, all of his livestock, all of his servants,
and then his health. And for a time, too, he lost
assurance of salvation. Job was in a place of intense
physical and emotional suffering. In this place, he wrestled with this most important
question. How can a man be just with God? And he had three friends, didn't
he? Three friends, Job's comforters. It's coming to the idiom of our
language, hasn't it? Job's comforters. I'll put it
in the terminology, the idiom of today for you young people. Job's comforters, not. These men, These men were, let me picture
it to you. These men were like men standing
beside that river as Job is being taken down and they're calling out, just
clean up your life. Do what God wants and you'll
be fine. You know, and we see this in
pulpits throughout the world, as I mentioned, don't we? You
know, these men, these comforters are no comfort at all. No comfort
at all. They're standing and they're
preaching here. They're, as it were, throwing a book out into
that stream. Three easy steps to have favor
with God. They're calling people, look,
come down, walk down that aisle. Say this prayer with the pastor.
And we'll give you something marking the day you gave your
life to the Lord. But that person is in that stream,
and he's perishing, and he's hopeless, and he's helpless,
and he's just like that child, isn't he? That child, it's like
someone calling to that child as it's going, caught in the
current down the stream saying, throw out your hands, swim a
little harder, kick your feet. Well, that in essence is what's
being preached, isn't it? No, no, here is these comforters
and there are no comfort at all. Well, where did Job find comfort? Where did he look for consolation? Well, you all know it, don't
you? Here's his words. For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and He shall stand at last upon this earth. What faith! What faith! And after my skin
is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I will see God, whom
I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold and not another.
Oh, how my heart yearns within me! This was the hope of every
just and devout man until the coming of Christ. Job waited
for the consolation of Israel. You know, as I said, I think
it's hard for us to imagine with what longing and expectation
these believers waited for the Christ. The Apostle Peter tells
us in his first epistle of this salvation The prophets have inquired
and searched carefully, diligently, who prophesied of the grace that
would come to you, searching what or what manner of time the
spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when he testified
beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would
follow. These prophets, they received
these words from God, the revelations, these great prophecies of the
coming Messiah, the coming deliverer, the consolation of Israel, the
hope of Israel, the Redeemer, the Savior, the seed of David. And they longed for that coming,
didn't they? They longed for that coming.
They longed to have a greater insight, and they searched diligently.
And that's why we find Daniel. Look here. You're wondering if
I'd ever get to Daniel. Here we are, Daniel 9. And look
there in verse 16. because this is what Daniel is
doing. He's inquiring and searching diligently before the Lord for
the deliverance of Israel. When is this gonna happen? When
is this gonna occur? And he's studied the scriptures
and the Lord has revealed to him and he's praying. And here,
listen, verse 16. Oh Lord, according to all your
righteousness, I pray, let your anger and your fury be turned
away from your city, Jerusalem, your holy mountain. Because for
our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and
your people are reproached to all those around us. Now, therefore,
our God, hear the prayer of your servant and his supplications
and for the Lord's sake, cause your face to shine on your sanctuary,
which is desolate. Oh, my God. Incline your ear
and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations
and the city which is called by your name. For we do not present
our supplications before you because of our righteous deeds,
but because of your great mercies. Oh Lord, hear. Oh Lord, forgive. Oh Lord, listen and act. Do not delay for your own sake,
my God, for your city and your people are called by your name.
Now, in verses 20, we read of how Daniel
is given a great privilege, a great privilege. The Lord commands
his angel Gabriel and he comes to Daniel and he says, oh, Daniel,
I've come forth to give you skill to understand. Skill to understand. At the beginning of your supplications,
the command went out and I have come to tell you for you are
greatly beloved. Therefore, consider the matter
and understand the vision. The Lord is about to reveal to
him the exact point in time when the consolation of Israel would
come. Look in verse 24, 70 weeks are
determined for your people and for your holy city, determined
according to the purpose of God. This will be the time until he
comes to listen now to finish the transgression, to make an
end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting
righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, to anoint the most
holy. Now, Don't be distracted by the 70
weeks, the 77s. I'm sure you've heard lots of
nonsense. What we're interested in, what
does it say? Was the transgression finished?
When did God finish the transgression? When did he make an end of sins?
When did he bring in reconciliation for iniquity? And when was everlasting
righteousness brought in? It's at the cross, isn't it?
And nowhere else. It's at the cross of Calvary
when Christ made one sacrifice for sin forever. That's when. And this is what Daniel is being
told. This is going to occur at this
particular place in time. And he's given him skill to understand.
We don't need to go into all the time details. What we want
to know is here. Here is this glorious message
that is revealed to Daniel. He's given this a privilege no
other prophet was ever given. This is when the consolation
of Israel will come. Well, turn back to Luke. Turn
back to Luke chapter two now. And here in Luke chapter two,
the time determined by God was complete. The fullness of time
was at hand and in Jerusalem, we're told, was this man Simeon
and he too had been given a great privilege, hadn't he? It had
been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see
death before he'd seen the Lord's Christ. It had been revealed to Simeon
that this one, David's son and David's Lord, would come before
he died. And so Simeon, what's he doing?
We don't know when this happened, but from the moment he knew that,
from the moment the Lord God revealed that to him, what was
Simeon doing? He was waiting, wasn't he? He's
waiting for the consolation of Israel. And that's all that matters
to him. Do you see that? That's all that
matters. And wouldn't that be this case
for you and I? We'll look to who's he waiting
for. He's waiting for the Lord's Christ. The Lord's Christ, it's
the Lord who purpose to send him. It's the Lord who called
him the Christ to do this great work. It's the Lord who sent
him as this final prophet to fulfill all revelation. And end
the vision. It's the Lord. who anointed him
as chief priest to make that one offering for sin and finish
the transgression and make an end of sins. It's the Lord who
anointed him king to bring in an everlasting righteousness
for his people Israel. The Lord speaks of him in this
way and particularly in Isaiah. He says, my righteous servant. He is the Lord's Christ and what
a Christ he is. The Holy Spirit was upon Simeon
and he believed and he waited for that promise to be fulfilled. And this is true spiritual life,
isn't it? You know, the promise has been
fulfilled, but isn't that your life if you know
Christ? is to look for us back upon that
promise, the fulfillment, because he's our consolation too, isn't
he? And isn't, you know, it's tragic that people think
of religion as coming to church, you know, coming to the midweek
prayer meeting or Bible study, doing all of these things. But that's not. That's not true
religion, is it? True religion is looking to the consolation
of Israel. His trust, Simeon's trust was
in this promised Redeemer. And his whole heart, his whole
mind, his whole soul was set upon this person. And he was
waiting, he was waiting with great anticipation to see the
Lord's Christ. And we're told in verse 27 says,
so he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents
brought in the child Jesus to do for him according to the custom
of the law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God. Now,
Simeon went into this temple, and he sees this young couple
holding a newborn child. And the parents had brought the
baby Jesus to do what? To do for him according to the
law, to be circumcised the eighth day. You know, it was an incomprehensible
mystery. It still is an incomprehensible
mystery that God became flesh. But just as startling is the
fact that this child, God in the flesh, was brought to Jerusalem
and to the temple to present him before the Lord to do for
him according to the custom of the law of Moses. The law giver
was born under the law. Writing in Galatians, the Apostle
Paul says, but when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth
his son, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those
who are under the law. And here we find the Lord Jesus
Christ, a week old. Think of that. a week old, taking
the place of his people to fulfill all law and all righteousness
and entering in, a week old, entering into this great work
of redemption to save his people from their sins. And Simeon came to the temple.
He came to the temple at the exact place and time in which
he would see Jesus. And how did that happen? How
did that happen? He came in the only way any man
or woman will ever see the Lord's Christ. He came by the Holy Spirit. He came by the Holy Spirit and
he saw the parents holding the child and he walked over to them. And what do we read in verse
28? And he took him up in his arms and blessed God. He took him up in his arms. He
took up this infant child. Who did he take up in his arms?
He took up in his arms the eternal God. In this eight day old baby dwelled all
the fullness of the Godhead bodily. He came in and he took up in
his arms who? The only begotten son of God. He took up in his arms the creator
and sustainer of all the universe. He took up in his arms the promised
son of David. He took up in his arms the bread
of life. He took up in his arms the fountain
of water springing up into eternal life. He took up into his arms
the way, the truth, and the life, the only way to come to the Father.
He took up into his arms the Redeemer. He took up into his
arms the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He
took up in his arms the great high priest who would go behind
that veil and by one offering, purge our sins and sit down at
the right hand of God. He took up into his arms this
one high priest who would make offering
for sin and perfect him forever. Simeon took up into his arms
his life, didn't he? He took up into his arms his
life and his Savior. Salvation took this child and
he held salvation in his arms. This was what Simeon was waiting
for, wasn't he? To hold salvation in his arms. And he blessed God. And he said,
Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according
to your word, for mine eyes have seen your salvation. This is true faith, isn't it?
Mine eyes have seen your salvation. This is God's salvation and this
is the only salvation that Simeon trusts in, doesn't he? Here he
is, this devout and just man, but this is all of his hope and
all of his salvation in his arms, God's salvation, the Lord's Christ. Simeon doesn't trust in man's
salvation, does he? No, Simeon, like Daniel, as Daniel
prayed, for we do not present our supplications before you
because of our righteous deeds, but because of your great mercies.
And that's what we do, don't we? This is, oh, we have confidence
to come before the Lord, don't we? But not because of our righteous
deeds, but because of his mercies. Simeon knows he has no righteousness
of his own, nothing to commend him to God. And he pleads not his own righteousness,
but God's mercy. And that's enough, isn't it? It's enough because these are
covenant mercies. These mercies are promised mercies. These mercies are sure. Think again of this passage in
Isaiah, which I know every one of you knows. Listen, Isaiah
55. Oh, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. And you who
have no money, come buy and eat. Yes, come buy wine and milk without
money and without price. Why do you spend your money for
what is not bread and your wages for what does not satisfy? You
know, aren't we doing that every day, really? spending our money for what's
not bread and our wages for what doesn't satisfy. Listen, what
satisfies is what Simeon was waiting for. Why do you spend
your money for what is not bread and your wages for what does
not satisfy? Listen carefully to me and eat
what is good and let your soul delight itself in abundance.
Incline your ear and come to me here and your soul shall live. And I will make an everlasting
covenant with you, the sure mercies of David." These mercies are
sure because they're according to this everlasting covenant,
a covenant before the world began. It's God's covenant, God's covenant. This covenant, as we know, was
purposed by God in eternity, and it was prepared before the
face of all peoples. For mine eyes, look at verse
30 there, and we'll finish up. For mine eyes have seen your
salvation, which you have prepared before the face of all peoples
to bring light, revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of
your people Israel. This salvation of God is no hidden
salvation. Salvation was prepared by God
before the beginning of time and from the beginning of creation.
You remember the moment Adam fell into sin, what happened? God preached the gospel to him. And down through the ages, God
continually spoke of this coming savior for his people Israel,
this promised seed. And as time went on, we see it
revealed in a greater and greater length until really finally Malachi
speaks of that son of righteousness arising with healing in his wings. Who is this? This is the consolation
of Israel. Well look, just turn back to
chapter one, Luke chapter one. And here, we'll finish up with
this prophecy of Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist. And
look in verse 67 there. And Zacharias really sums, up
all of these things as he makes this prophecy and it says, now
his father, that is John the Baptist's father, Zacharias was
filled with the Holy Spirit and he prophesied saying, blessed
is the Lord God of Israel for he has visited and redeemed his
people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house
of his servant David. As he spoke by the mouth of his
holy prophets who have been since the world began. that we should
be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate
us, to perform the mercy promised to our father and to remember
his holy covenant, the oath which he swore to our father Abraham,
to grant us that we being delivered from the hand of our enemies
might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness
before him all the days of our lives. And you, child, that is
John the Baptist, will be called the prophet of the highest, for
you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people for the remission
of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God with which the
day spring from on high has visited us, to give light to those who
sit in darkness and the shadow of death. to guide our feet into
the way of peace. And this is what Simeon says,
Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, for
mine eyes have seen your salvation. Beloved, this is all that matters. This is all that matters. Holding salvation in your arms.
This is what Simeon is saying. Nothing else will give him peace. Nothing. Not in this life and not in eternity. But Simeon knows as he holds
that child that in his arms is the one through whom he has peace
with God. He says, now you are letting
your servant depart in peace. You know, that's the hope of every believer when
he comes to that point of departing this life. You know, I've had
the privilege of seeing many of the Lord's people go to be
with the Lord and It's remarkable, it is remarkable. You know, in New Guinea, they
generally die in their villages, as I've told you, with really
no medical care, no medication. Sometimes the people die in real
suffering, in real pain. But you know, the Lord's people
die. in joy and in peace. It's remarkable
because I see the opposite. I see others who die and they
die in fear. They die in fear, in distress,
in turmoil, without hope. And yet here is Simeon and he
expresses whatever every believer knows to be true. He dies in peace. Why? Because
he's seen the salvation of the Lord. In his arms is his consolation. Now this child grew, this eight
day old baby grew, and a little over 30 years later he preached
these words. Listen to them. Listen to them. Come to me. All you who labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon
you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and
you will find rest for your souls. That's what we long for, isn't
it? Rest for our souls. What a call, what a call, what
a message. I ask again, do you know your
sin? Have you seen your sin? Are you bowed down? Are you burdened? Do you know that it's a great
weight that's pushing you down, down, down? Well, listen, listen to this
call. Listen carefully. This is what
he says. Listen carefully to me, incline
your ear and come to me here and your soul shall live. Come
unto me and I will give you rest. Come to this person, come to
him. So perfect, he's so perfect and
so pure. Take him in your arms and learn
from him. Learn from him wisdom from God
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Learn from him
love. Your ruin and my ruin is spread
wide as the sea. But learn from him of a love
that's wider than that. A love whose width and length
and depth and height is beyond comprehension. Learn from him
that you may know the love of God which passes knowledge. All
bound up in this child, the consolation of Israel. Take him up into your
arms as it were by faith. That's what we're speaking of,
isn't it? Here he is before you. Take him up in your arms by faith. Learn from him peace. What does
he say? He's gentle and he's lowly in
heart. Isn't that remarkable? He's gentle
and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. Take
him up in your arms and let your soul delight itself in his abundance. And like Simeon, you will say,
now and forever. Now my soul is departing in peace,
for mine eyes have seen your salvation. Amen.