The Right Messiah (part 2) - [Luke 2:21-38]

I'd like to live a life to honor Him, and to be obedient, and to be steadfast, and to say no to sin. This sermon is about the Lord Jesus, because Luke is about the Lord Jesus, the perfect Savior. Well, if we had to review chapter 2, how would we do that?

Well, very simply, I'd just say this, that there was a man named Caesar Augustus, and he thought he ruled this area of the world, but he was not really the main ruler, because there's a ruler behind the ruler, and that is the triune God.

And Caesar Augustus has a decree, and he says, everyone go to their hometown, so that you can be registered to pay taxes, and if you're not a Jew, to be in the military. Well, they all go to their hometown, and lo and behold, Jesus gets, His parents get to Bethlehem, and Jesus is born, and they lay Him in a manger.

The shepherds are told, you'll find Jesus, the Messiah, laying in a manger. And all of a sudden, out of nowhere, all these angels show up in Luke 2 .14, glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is well pleased.

So today we come to a section of scripture, Luke 2, verses 22 and following. I think I'm going to re-title the message a little bit, add what we had two weeks ago, and re-format it a little bit, and so here's the simple outline.

Jesus the Law-Keeper and the Fulfillment of the Law

Let me give you seven names of Jesus, that's the outline. Seven names of Jesus, and of course, that truth is designed to do something, and that truth is designed for you to say, oh, that's the right Jesus.

He's the fulfillment of the Old Testament. Here's who He is, and how He loves me, and cares for sinners. Here's who He is, and how I can trust Him, even though I'm going through a certain trial. Seven names of Jesus to increase your assurance, because that's what Luke wants you to do, right?

In Luke 1, verse 4. We saw last week, did we not, or two weeks ago, the first name, Jesus, as Lawkeeper. Let's use that for a name of Jesus, Lawkeeper. And we're going to highlight this a little bit more.

I want this to be fastened to your heart, riveted to your soul, bonded to your mind, to be reminded that Jesus is not just the person who pays for our law-breaking, but He keeps the law. How many times is the word law used in chapter 2?

Not just once, not just twice, not just three times, not just four times, but yes, even five times. Law, law, law, law, law, law, law. Just five times here in this chapter, more than the rest of the Gospel of Luke put together.

Jesus was born under law, so He redeems those under the law. We learned two weeks ago, Jesus was a federal head, a covenant head. He's not obeying the law for Himself. He's already righteous. He comes to obey the law for others.

He's a public person, like Adam was a public person. What He did, Adam, affects others. What Jesus did affects others. So Jesus comes not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. And remember, there's all kinds of law that's being fulfilled here, even by His parents, to show you that Jesus is the ultimate man, the ultimate Israelite.

And that if you were a Jew and you were reading this passage, you wouldn't be saying to yourself, you know what, He's some uncircumcised Philistine, He could never be the Messiah. Everything about Jesus, His law-keeping when He's older, and even His parents making sure the law is kept for Him, is designed to tell you, He, Jesus, is the perfect law-keeper.

What's looming behind the scenes? We don't keep the law. We're law-breakers. And we need a law-keeper. Yes, someone to pay for our sins, that would be law-breaking, but you need a law-keeper. So we see Jesus, the law-keeper.

He's circumcised, you see in verse 21, at the end of eight days He was circumcised, He was called Jesus, and that was the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb. Jesus certainly doesn't need spiritual cleansing on the inside, which circumcision was designed to help us with.

He's already pure, but He's identifying with sinners. He's representing sinners. As a matter of fact, if you're a Jew, you'd be thinking, I wonder who's greater, Moses or Jesus? Now we know, of course, that Jesus was greater.

But do you know Moses? When he was a father, he refused to circumcise his son. Thankfully, his wife helped him out in that regard at the lodging place on the way in Exodus 4. The Lord met Moses and sought to put Moses to death.

Then Zipporah, Moses' wife, took a flint and cut off her son's foreskin and touched Moses' feet with it and said, surely you're a bridegroom of blood to me. So let him alone. It was then that she said, a bridegroom of blood because of the circumcision.

And you watch this and you think, well, Moses was great, but Jesus is even greater. He's come to identify with sinners. You can see that in Isaiah 53. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.

We esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. He was crushed for our iniquities, crushed for our transgressions. Remember the purification that we looked at a couple of weeks ago in verses 22 -24.

Every male, excuse me, and when the time came, verse 22, for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought Him up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord. And so Mary needs to be purified, ritual cleansing.

And then lastly, we saw the presentation found in the middle of, in the viddle. How were the viddles this morning? I'm looking forward to some, I've never said that word in 30 years from this pulpit, viddles.

You want to have some viddles? I feel like I'm from Mississippi or something. Like Jethro Clampett or something, have some viddles. Jesus is under the law, not for Himself, but for others. And so God makes sure He's circumcised, that there's ritual cleansing with Mary and for Him.

And here even this presentation, every male who first opens, verse 23, the womb shall be called holy to the Lord, verse 23. Remember the backdrop for that? Passover comes, death angel, first born is going to be killed without blood on top of the doorpost.

The Israelite babies are saved, and you say, that baby saved, I present that baby back to the Lord. The Lord owes that baby. The Lord could have killed the baby, but He saved that baby boy. God, here's the baby.

And so if your son is not a Levite, then you redeem that son. Here's how it happens. Instead of giving that son to the temple work and the work of the Lord to say, you know what? I'd much rather present him to you than have him dead.

He's all yours, Lord, and off to the temple he goes. But if he can't serve in the temple because he's from the tribe of Judah, you pay five shekels to the Lord and receive him back. And so here even the Lord Jesus, the Redeemer, is redeemed.

He's the perfect Jew, the perfect Israelite, the perfect man. And this is important, dear congregation, because God requires obedience. Obedience is important to God. God the Creator expects His creation, us, to obey.

The God who made you wants you to obey. He requires it. Laws are to be kept. Standards are to be upheld. Obedience is not an option. And we are going to need a law keeper. Matter of fact, Hebrews, quoted in the Old Testament, says to obey is better than what?

Sacrifice. Why's that? Now we know sacrifice was ordained by God and it's put in the plan, but theoretically speaking, let's just talk this way. No sacrifice is needed if there's obedience. If Adam obeys, there's no need for God to kill the animals and clothe him.

If we perfectly obeyed, if Adam perfectly obeyed, what kind of sin is Jesus going to die for? There's no disobedience to die for. So to obey is better than sacrifice. Obedience is important. Hebrews 10, when Christ came into the world, He said, what did you say when you came into the world?

Here's what Christ said. Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body, God the Father, you've prepared for me. In burnt offerings and in sin offerings, you've taken no pleasure. Then I said, Behold, Father, I have come to do your will.

In other words, you're giving me a body so I can perfectly obey on behalf of others. Unlike Adam, the Lord Jesus said, My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish His work. Here's a question for you.

Did Jesus obey the Ten Commandments? Here's another question. Where are the Ten Commandments in the Bible? Two places. Let's turn to Exodus 20. Keep your finger in Luke 2. I want to just walk through Jesus the Lawkeeper for you to make you, number one, impressed with Jesus.

And number two, for you to say, I have assurance as a Christian, because even though I've failed this week and have fallen short and in fact, sinned, I have Jesus the Lawkeeper. Some of the Puritans used to say, the sin of a Christian is a hundred times worse than the sin of an unbeliever.

And they were trying to make the point with their words that we sin against mercy, we sin against grace. We have the Spirit of God in us. We don't have to sin. All sin is bad, of course. The point is, how can we sin against one who has loved us so much?

And so, it's good to be reminded in the Ten Commandments that Jesus perfectly kept them for you, for me, dear Christian. Of course, if you're not a Christian, these promises aren't for you. We're trying to drive you to look to the Lord Jesus alone.

If you could take Adam in the garden and the Ten Commandments, I bet I could figure out how he broke all ten of those. I wonder if we could look at Jesus' life and say, did Jesus keep the Ten Commandments?

What about the First Commandment? By the way, Adam disobeyed in the garden and Jesus obeyed in the wilderness and many other places. Exodus 20, verse 3, He shall have no other gods before me. Does that sound like Jesus obeyed that?

Remember when Jesus was out worshiping the moon? Remember at night, He'd worship the moon He worshipped the sun during the day. Moloch in the afternoon. Ashtaroth, Baal. And you say, no, no, no. Jesus never worshipped those.

He never worshipped money. He never worshipped other people. He actually said, this is false worship. This is positive worship. Direct all your worship to the Father. Can't you see when you look at the Ten Commandments when you say, you'll have no other gods before me.

That's the negative side, but there's a positive side of the Ten Commandments. Make sure you worship God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Isn't that what the Lord Jesus did? Aren't you glad for that?

Because that's not what we do. Not before we were saved and not even when we're saved all the time. How about the Second Commandment? Exodus 20, verse 4. You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness or anything that is in heaven above or that is in earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth.

I just look at that and I go, of course Jesus didn't do that. My Savior, your Savior, never did any of that. Unlawful images of God making those things. Pictures of God in forms of idols. No, no. That's not what the Lord Jesus.

Pure worship that the Lord had. If you want to know what worship in spirit and in truth is like, you just look at the life of Jesus. I'm thankful for this because my worship isn't always pure. How about the Third Commandment?

Do you think Jesus obeyed the Third Commandment? It's found in verse 7. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold Him guiltless who takes His name in vain. We're not talking about swear words here, although that would be included.

But the words that come from Jesus' life are life and truth. And they marveled at His words. And His authoritative words. He doesn't just speak wrongly about God. But He speaks rightfully and truthfully about God.

Only as the Father has revealed Him. I wonder if Jesus kept the Fourth Commandment. Verse 8. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. As was His custom, He went on the Sabbath. Went into the temple on the Sabbath day.

Into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. Jesus only doing what the Sabbath law required needs a mercy necessity. Grabbing and securing and getting for us the eternal Sabbath rest in Christ. I wonder about the Fifth Commandment.

Did Jesus keep the Fifth Commandment? Verse 12. Honor your father and your mother that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God has given you. Of course He did. I know you agree with all this, but just to rehearse it and walk through the Ten Commandments again and to think, even though I've broken these, God the Son has kept those.

He honored His father and mother. Stepfather Joseph, His mother Mary. What did Jesus do when He was on the cross? Making sure His mother was taken care of by John the Baptist because Joseph was most likely deceased.

Do you think Jesus kept the Sixth Commandment? You shall not murder? Of course He did. He didn't murder anyone. Matter of fact, He's a Savior. He rescues showing mercy and kindness. He sees sick people.

He heals. The exact opposite of taking life and demeaning life and murdering, He gives and gives and gives. And you think, the Lord Jesus did exactly that. He kept the commandments. He filled the commandments.

The Seventh Commandment. I wonder if Jesus kept that. We've broken it. Will He? Did He? Verse 14, you shall not commit adultery. Can you imagine? Is there one person on earth that's had proper thoughts about this subject?

Right, good, pure, holy, honoring, loving. What's best for the other person? Wanting that? And of course the answer is, it's the Lord Jesus. If you look at a woman with lust, you've broken that law. And Jesus never did.

Eighth Commandment, you shall not steal. You look at Jesus' life, you don't think taking, you don't think grabbing, you don't think grasping, you don't think stealing, you think giving. That's exactly right.

Actually, He was so rich that He became poor so that in our poverty He might become rich. How about the Ninth Commandment? You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Did Jesus ever break that?

Of course He did not. He was the truth teller. He only spoke the words that the Father gives Him. And then lastly, the Tenth Commandment. Verse 17, you shall not covet your neighbor's house, you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything else that is your neighbor's.

By the way, everything in the universe is His. He still doesn't covet. I want you to know, dear Christian, when you see these kind of laws, you see the Ten Commandments, you ought to be thinking, I know I've broken those laws, but Jesus has kept those laws for me as a representative.

And God the Father sees you as holy and as righteous as He sees His Son, dear believer. I'm going to say that again. You say, well, I've defiled myself this week with a variety of different sins. I'm sorry to hear that.

Repent and run straight back to the cross. But you say, well, I wonder if my relationship with the Father has changed. I wonder if I can unson myself or undaughter myself by breaking the law. Well, you have Christ's obedience credited to your account.

It's irrevocable. It's final. We know what happens on judgment day. And there's no condemnation for those in Christ because justification has happened. And justification means not only does Jesus get your sin credited to His account even though He didn't sin, you get all Christ's perfect law-keeping credited to your account.

That's good news. Because I know what I do left to myself. Do I have enough faith? Do I bear enough fruit of the Spirit? Do I have saving faith? Do I read my Bible enough? Do I pray enough? Do I love enough?

Do I serve enough? Do I evangelize enough? Fine questions, I guess, to initially ask yourself. But every one of those has to do with my law-keeping. None of those are the Gospel. The Gospel is this. Actually, Jesus kept the law.

Yeah, law-keeping is Gospel if you can perfectly keep the law. And actually, Jesus did. If you want to know what your standing is before the Lord, dear Christian, and this is your only question you ask yourself, you're playing with fire.

Do you love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength? If that's your only question, I'm not saying you can't ask the question, but if that's your only question, you're not going to have much assurance if you're honest.

But if the next question is, Lord, I know the first question is do I love you like I should? No, but I want to. I desire to. I strive to. I'm sorry when I don't. I repent when I do. But I'm thankful for the Law-Keeper.

Jesus the Law-Keeper. Well, let's go back to Luke 2. The second name that we looked at a little bit two weeks ago was Consolation. Law-Keeper number one. Consolation number two. Seven names of Jesus put together to drive you to praise and thankfulness and understanding the passage even better.

The Consolation of Israel in Simeon's Song

How do I know Jesus is the real Jesus? Well, Simeon and Anna are going to help us. Verse 25 in Luke 2. Now, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout. He wasn't some wacko, weirdo, waiting for the consolation of Israel.

Here, that's the name of Jesus. That's the name of the Messiah. And the Holy Spirit was upon him and had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit. He would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

I mean, by the way, this is kind of a little mini-miracle because in a land of sinners, in a land of self-righteous, in a land of Pharisees, in a land of legalism, in a land of works righteousness, there's a godly person.

God has His remnant. This character before God and men was right. I love this little statement here. One writer said, While you can skim over those two words in a flash, righteous and devout, they reflect a lifetime of cultivation.

No one accidentally becomes righteous and devout. And so certainly God working in Simeon, Simeon responding with obedience. And here, Jesus is called the consolation of Israel and Simeon is waiting for such a man to need rescue, to need comfort, is to need the consolation of Israel.

And this is all language from Isaiah. I don't know why Steve got to read the good chapter of Isaiah today. Chapter 25. We had to all suffer through like 20 to 24. Of course, all Scripture is good. There's just such good news in 25.

Comfort my people, says the Lord. Isaiah 40. The Lord has comforted His people. Isaiah 49. This is the ultimate comfort. Forgiveness found. Old Testament promises fulfilled. And it says the Holy Spirit was upon Him.

Without giving a whole message on pneumatology, the study of the Holy Spirit. Here's what would happen often in the Old Testament. The Holy Spirit would come upon a person to do something spectacular, to do something powerful, or to be guided in a unique way.

We're not talking about how we're indwelt with the Spirit or the Old Testament believers. Were they indwelt? That's not the argument right now. But you're going to need the Holy Spirit upon you to direct you to figure out in the midst of the temple complex which baby is Jesus, the Messiah.

Because we don't even know that Simeon is told look for a little baby. The shepherds were told find a baby in Bethlehem in a manger. Okay. Simeon is going to recognize the Messiah and he doesn't know how old that Messiah is going to be.

In my mind, if the Lord said, Mike, you're going to see I'm living back in those days you're going to see the Lord's anointed before you die. I'm looking for a 30 year old frankly because he's going to be in public ministry by then or the inauguration of it.

And here the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity comes upon Simeon for this special purpose. The Holy Spirit had told him, had revealed to him. You're going to see the Lord's Christ before you die.

By the way, that would be pretty neat, wouldn't it? Isn't that the kind of the Lord? You're going to see Him before you die. What joy and consolation. Yes, and I wonder if I was told, alright, you're not going to die until such and such happens.

I mean, would I go paragliding? Would I do things like that? Well, that would be presumptuous and certainly this man was righteous and devout, so he's not going to do any of that. But he's longing. He's waiting.

We don't know how old he is. Tradition says he's 113 years old. It doesn't matter. He's probably older. And he's waiting. He's waiting. He's waiting. I'm going to see that Son someday. And in a similar way, we are given a promise.

Not before we die, but this promise is true. Beloved, now we are children of God and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when Jesus appears, we will be like Him because we will see Him just as He is.

What a way to live! Joyous expectation. I'm going to see that Messiah before I die. Will today be the day? You know, it goes back to that old kind of joke. You wake up in the morning and you say, Good morning, Lord.

Our good Lord, it's morning. It's like, oh... What a way to live. What kindness of God for Simeon. We wait, of course, for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.

Titus 2. So, verse 27, you can see it in your mind's eye, can't you? He came in the spirit of the temple 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, How did He recognize that baby?

Was there a halo around the baby? Of course not. Spirit directed. Spirit revealing. This is all put together for Luke to make you say, That's the right Jesus. Of course. Look, even back in His infancy, I can tell there's one Messiah.

I need a Messiah. It's Jesus. Sovereignty of God in all this. Can't you see it? He comes in the temple. It just so happens by luck, by happenstance, by fortune, by fate, and by serendipity, they're arriving together.

No, it's all the sovereignty of God. And He takes Him in His arms and blesses God. He's got the whole world in His hands. He's got a little bitty baby in His hands. Well, that's a different song about a different thing.

He's got the baby in His hands that holds the whole world in His hands. Including Simeon. Don't forget, dear Christian, we have the divine nature of Christ upholding the universe. We have the human nature of Christ in the hands of Simeon.

I get to see the baby. I get to see the baby. This is not in the Holy of Holies. The word here for temple is just general temple courts. It could be in the court of the Gentiles, court of the women. God is sovereign.

I like what Spurgeon asks. That's a good question to ask. Did anybody ever who was not led by the Spirit find Christ? And of course, we know the only way we found the Lord Jesus is by the Spirit of God seeking us and opening our hearts.

Taking Him in His arms, He blesses God. This is the attitude of bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. This is a worship hymn. Verse 29, Lord, which is a very interesting word for Lord.

It's where we get our word despot. But He's a sovereign despot. He's a beneficent despot. This is He's king. He's in charge. He's a sovereign master. Now you're letting your servant depart in peace. I'm able to die according to your word.

You're releasing me. It was used when they released Barabbas instead of Jesus. You could release a prisoner. But here it means you're a sentry. You're on the lookout. You're watching for enemies. And you're discharged from your post.

Somebody else is taking over. Relieved of your watch. By the way, that's a good way to think of life. It's a good way to think of ministry. Preach Christ until you're relieved of your watch. Jewish people and other Jewish people used to die would say, go in peace.

Or go to peace. That's an interesting one. Simeon's seen it all and now he sees the Lord and can welcome death. Any practical parallels you can see with that? He sees the Lord and now he can see death.

We just read in Isaiah 25, did we not? The fear of death swallowed up. You see the Messiah? Swallowed up. Depart in peace. See the Lord Jesus by faith ready for departure. Name number three. Lawkeeper, consolation.

Name three. Salvation. For my eyes have seen your salvation. Luke 2 .30. Kind of an interesting word for salvation here. Not that common. It just means everything about salvation. All pertaining to salvation.

Everything that's ordained, decreed, put together for salvation. The whole package. He sees the little baby Jesus and says, when it comes to salvation from A to Z, I see your salvation. I see deliverance.

I see rescue. I see forgiveness. Isaiah 52 That all the ends of the earth may see the salvation of our God. And did you notice here, salvation is a person. When I say gospel, I mean person. When I say salvation, I mean person.

Not abstract thought. The Lord Jesus. And when he says this, here's what he's also implying. That there's no other salvation. There's no other way to get to heaven. And now something, if you read your Bibles too fast, you're going to miss verse 31.

That you have prepared in the presence of all the people. Remember, he's praising God the Father for God the Son that he gets to see. And he says, you've prepared. You know what that word prepared means?

It means God has determined salvation, decreed salvation, planned salvation, chosen us before Him, before the foundation of the world language. You've designed it all, God. Before the eyes of all. He keeps going.

The Light, Glory, Division, and Redemption of Christ

Name number four. Lawkeeper, consolation, salvation, light. All these things. You could go home tonight and just say, God, I thank you that you're my law... God the Son, I thank you that you're my law keeper.

I thank you that you're the consolation of Israel and my consolation. I'm thankful that you're my salvation. I'm thankful that you're my light. It's right there in verse 32. Do you see it? A light for the revelation to the Gentiles.

Gentiles, the pagans, need light. They're walking around in spiritual what? Darkness. Ephesians 4 talks about Gentiles. They're darkened in their understanding. Alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them.

They're one step removed from the promises of God to Israel. They're far off. And they're walking around in darkness and the light shines. Jesus is talked about as the light. Isaiah 9 we read at Christmastime very often.

The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. And we get the picture. Those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them. Isaiah 60, Arise, shine, for your light has come. The Lord will rise upon you and His glory will appear before you.

Even the Gentiles get saved. Worsby said, this is a missionary hymn. Not just the Jews, but Gentiles has always been the plan of God. For God said, light shall shine out of darkness is the one who is shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

The promised light has come. The light of the world. I think that sounds like Jesus. Doesn't it sound like that to you? John 8 .12. Again, Jesus spoke to them with a huge menorah in the background during the Feast of Tabernacles.

They would take down the menorah after the feast was over, but there was another light of the world that was never going to be taken down. And He said, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

John 1 .4. In Jesus was life, and the life was the light of men. You see it. Light metaphor. And He's just blessing God's simianess for that. He goes on now for the Israelites. If Jesus is a light to the Gentiles, He's a glory for the people of Israel.

Name number five. Law-keeper, consolation, salvation, light, and now glory. You didn't have to think much if you were Jewish to think of glory. You think burning bush. You think pillar of cloud. You think pillar of fire.

You think the fire, the temple. Shekinah glory. You think Moses' face with the reflectiveness of that. The glory of Israel. That's who Jesus is. All the promises of Abraham, all the promises of Isaac are all fulfilled in the glory of God.

I think that kind of sounds like Jesus to me. John 1 .14. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory. Glory as the only son from the Father full of grace and truth. The only begotten Son.

The glory. Shekinah. The presence of God. And now the camera pans back in verse 33 to a stepdad and his mother and his father and his mother marvel at what was said about him. I mean, you're just going to present Jesus to the temple.

You're going to do what's right. Here comes Simeon. Here comes the blessing. Here comes the fulfillment. I know Mary had been given instructions before, but just letting it settle in and dawn on you. I've had four children outside the womb and at six weeks old, a lot of things have been said about Haley, Luke, Matty, and Gracie.

But never anything like this. Good thing, because I'd think you were a whack-a-mole. Talking about this like it's a little baby. Weak, small, tiny. I find it fascinating that Simeon didn't even bless the baby.

Talking about child dedications. No child dedication here. It's praise to God the Father for this little one. As Bliss writes in his great song, sing them over again to me wonderful words of life. Well, so far everything about Jesus has been good news, but now there's some bad news for people that reject Jesus.

Jesus as the Divider and Sign of Opposition

Name number six. I don't know whether to call him a sign here or a divider, but both will do. Verse 34, Verse 35, Number one, this is no accident. This is planned. And number two, there's no neutrality when it comes to Jesus.

You're either for Him by faith alone, or you're against Him. You say, I want to live a moral life, I want to live a kind life, I want to do this, that, and the other, but I will not bow my knee and confess Jesus as Lord.

There's sorrow and anguish here. Not just personally for Mary as she has to watch her son in the future die on a cross, but also for people who lived back in those days, Jew or Gentile, and people who live today, Jew or Gentile, including everybody in this room.

The way you respond to Jesus determines your eternal destiny. Of course, I know God is working behind the scenes and He's the one granting faith, but you are the one that must believe. No wonder John 1, He came to His own, that is Jews, Jesus came to the Jews, and the Jews received Him not.

But to them that did receive Him, He gave them power to become the sons of God. The rise and fall of many. The dividing line, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus divides, not just families, not just nations, but believers from unbelievers.

And as we walk through the book of Luke, you're going to see contrast after contrast after contrast. There's the tax collector, and there's the publican, and there's the sinner, right there, praying in Luke 28.

This is going to be a sign pointing to the sender, God the Father. What you do about the Son matters. He's called a stumbling stone in Romans 9, Jesus is. He's called a stumbling block in 1 Corinthians 1, Jesus is.

He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, Matthew 22, Jesus said. Look at the language of sword there for Mary's soul. To show you the intensity of the grief of Mary, a sword, this is a big sword, a kind that hurts, a kind that divides, a kind that you can lop a head off with.

And then lastly, the seventh name, designed to give you comfort, hope, make sure you know this is the right Jesus, redemption. Consolation is the second one, Lawkeeper is the first, salvation, light, glory, divider, and redemption.

The Redemption of Jerusalem and the Hope of Christ

Now there's not just a man around who's going to be spirit impelled, but there's a lady as well, verse 36, and there's a prophetess, Anna, daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until she was 84.

She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer, night and day. And so we're going to see that she also is going to attest the fact that Jesus is the Messiah. And coming up at that very hour, she began to give thanks to God, and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

Here's this lady, widowed for a long, long time, dedicated to temple service, and this doesn't mean she's living in the temple, but sometimes I could think to myself, I'm here at church so often, I basically live here, is the idea.

She's not living there, living there, but she's just there all the time. It's not literal. And she's there to confirm and to affirm, yes, in fact, this is the right Jesus. Simeon, witness one, unheard of back in those days, a woman, witness two.

Two or three witnesses, confirming the fact, driven by, impelled by, the Spirit of God to say Jesus is the right Messiah. Simeon understands, Anna understands, and they both proclaim it to all who will listen.

The great Redeemer, speaking well of the Lord Jesus to all who would listen. For a long time she was waiting. A long time she was waiting. We even know what tribe she's from. People say, oh, the lost tribes of Israel, you'd never know.

Doesn't seem too lost there. 84 years old, she'd been married, and now she proclaims Christ. Law keeper, consolation, salvation, light, glory, divider, redemption. He's the Redeemer. He sets you free, she says.

You're enslaved to sin. He sets you free. Israel, enslaved and captive to Egypt, and now set free. Now spiritually we're free. I started off by saying, Christian, do you need to be reminded that you're forgiven?

Do you need to be reminded that Jesus loves you? Might I just, in a friendly way, in closing, let you know that when it comes to counseling, when it comes to trials, when it comes to issues in life that are difficult, that Jesus is the answer?