The Consolation of Israel

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If you have your Bibles this evening, if you would, open it up to the gospel of Luke, the second chapter.
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Luke chapter two, and when we do read, we will read beginning at verse 25 through the 32nd verse.
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Luke chapter two, verses 25 through 32.
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Before we come to the word tonight, let's again just ask God to do what only God can do, and that's to take his word and to make it real, to make it true to us, and that he would give us the grace to be subject to it, to enjoy his word, and to bring our lives into conformity to it.
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So let's ask God's blessing.
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Our Father and our God, again, we who are nothing come to you who are everything.
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Lord, in and of ourselves, we are unable to understand your greatness, and your power, and your might.
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So Lord, now as we open your word, bless it, Lord.
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Come, Holy Spirit, as only you can.
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Change us, mold us, make us like the Savior himself.
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May we see in your word tonight the truth concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, who so loved us that he gave himself for us.
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Come again, Lord, as only you can.
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In Jesus' name, amen.
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We'll read the scriptures in a moment, but let me begin this way.
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This is the time of year, as we have sung, and as I'm sure you have heard as you go through the supermarket, and the stores, and just about everywhere.
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It is the time of the year when multitudes of people from really everywhere under the sun, basically, they'll speak about joy, and they'll speak about peace, and for many, it's a festive time.
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But I also wanna say this as we begin tonight, that for some, this time of the year is a very difficult time.
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For many reasons, some of those at this time of the year feel a sense of loneliness, feel a sense of emptiness, hopelessness, and yet, as I hope to show you from the scriptures, that is what we are going to focus in tonight on the reality of Christ as the consolation of Israel, as the one who brings comfort.
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Because again, as I said, everywhere you go, you basically can hear the songs that we sang tonight, and they'll be mixed in.
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You'll hear, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, and then you'll hear, You're a Mean One, Mr.
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Grinch.
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And then someone will sing, I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas, and then we'll sing Silent Night.
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And for many, it's really nothing other than just considering these as the songs of the season, and in a few weeks, or perhaps for some, that extend it a little bit further for a month or two, and then what happens? Then we'll put it back in the boxes and in totes, and we'll put it in storage till next year, and then next year, we'll dust it off again, and we'll sing the same songs over and over again, and basically, that's all that's involved to so many this time of the year.
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Well, the text that we're gonna read tonight is in no way like that.
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The text that we're gonna read tonight is something that can bring, and does bring, true comfort, true consolation, true peace and contentment, something that has not only eternal blessings, but eternal results.
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And so I ask you, as well, tonight, as we read from God's Word, that we realize that what we're about to read has taken millennium to unfold.
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This is not something that was just drawn up in a moment, but this is something that God has been bringing to pass from the day in which he created Adam.
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Thousands and thousands of years have been preparation for what we will see Simeon, who is the speaker in our text, speaks about.
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Israel, as a nation, had always looked forward to this.
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That was their great desire.
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Their great desire was that the Messiah would come.
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And not only that the Messiah would come, but when he came, that he would do for them what only the Messiah could do, and that is to make them his glory and his praise.
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Since it took place, we don't look forward to it, but we look back on it.
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We consider what took place.
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We think about the things, and so, if you will, there are those before Christ that look forward.
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We look backwards, and it pinpoints at the birth, at the coming of Christ, of God coming in the flesh.
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Let me read the text with you, and then we'll make a couple more remarks, and then we'll look specifically at the text.
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Please, if you would, let's just stand for the reading of God's word.
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Luke chapter two, verses 25 through 32.
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God says, through his writer, and behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.
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This man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
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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.
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And 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 my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people, Israel.
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May God bless his word.
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Please be seated.
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Before we look specifically at the text itself, I want to ask us to think about how what we are reading about is a miraculous time.
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It's not the everyday, run-of-the-mill, mundane things that take place.
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There are so many things about the narrative in Luke's gospel about the coming of Christ that is just totally saturated in the miraculous.
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And I want us to think about that before we specifically look at the text, because if you know the gospels at all, Luke is the only writer who not only gives an account of the coming and the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, but Luke actually goes further backwards to the coming of the forerunner, John the Baptist, as he was the one who was to come and to announce the coming of the true consolation of Israel.
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And as he takes us back, and as we begin to think about it, it is really a very special time.
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And I'm not saying that God didn't do miraculous things before the coming of Christ.
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Everything that God does ultimately is a miracle.
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But this is, this account of the nativity and the coming and the birth of Christ and him coming into this temple is just so surrounded by the things that have never happened before.
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I just want you to think about it.
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If you know the account, you will remember that there are many who were visited by angels.
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If you remember when Zacharias went into the temple as the priest, then he was visited by an angel.
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If you remember the account when Mary was first told that she would be the one to bring forth the Messiah, that she was visited by an angel.
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If you consider Elizabeth, who was Zacharias' wife, how her conception was a miracle because she was beyond that age of bearing a child.
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And then Zacharias is filled with despair after he has been told by the angel he would not be allowed to speak because of his unbelief.
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And when they brought John to be named, the Spirit of God opened Zacharias' mouth and he spoke prophetically.
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You think as we sang, there were wise men that were led by a star in the sky, perhaps for up to two years.
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It's almost as if creation itself could not but help bear witness to what was about to take place.
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If you remember at the coming of the shepherds as they were in the fields, they were visited by angels.
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And if you read it, it says that as they were visited by angels, if you will, that the curtains of heaven were pulled back.
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There was an angelic host singing praises to God.
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It was as if not only creation, but the angels in heaven couldn't hold back to proclaim the coming of the Savior.
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If you remember, the angel appeared to Joseph.
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There are special warnings given to men, to the shepherds, to the wise men, to Joseph himself about where they are to travel and where they're not to travel.
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You see, friends, this is filled with the miraculous.
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And I'm not saying that we don't experience the miraculous today, but this is distinct, wouldn't you think? And let me just add this.
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If you were to take all the miraculous events and consider them, put them all together, all the miracles, all the healings, all the wonders that God has done, I will tell you, I believe with all my heart, the most miraculous of it all is the coming, the consolation of Israel.
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It is the absolute pinnacle of God's purposes, God's plans, His appearance is the greatest manifestation of power and grace and glory.
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And that is why I said to you at the very beginning, many will sing the songs and then they'll, almost as if, put Christ back in the closet for another year until we dust them off again.
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You and I are not to be those that think that way.
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So let's just take a few minutes and come to the text itself.
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Behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.
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Now, some think that this man, Simeon, was a very special person.
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Some think that he was one of the ruling class.
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Some think this and some think that.
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And I'm not sure who's right and who's wrong, but I will say in many ways, Simeon is just an ordinary man.
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He is a man who has been prepared by God and he is a man who has been brought by God for a very specific purpose, to a very specific place and a very specific time.
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And so whether you believe him to be one of the ruling class or not, that's for discussion.
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But Jesus has been circumcised.
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Mary has fulfilled her days of purification according to the law.
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And she now comes to present her firstborn child.
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Remember, the firstborn was to be given to the Lord.
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Behold, this word, behold, this, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.
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I thought it interesting that it said, behold.
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So, you know, when you read the Bible, sometimes words will catch you, well, behold, caught me.
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And this is the sixth time already in Luke's gospel that he says, behold.
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And that word really has a rich meaning to it.
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It means to wonder it, about it, to stop and to look, to consider it, behold.
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It's the same word that's used in Revelation in many other places, but in Revelation where Jesus says, behold, I am coming soon and my reward is with me.
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Don't you think that's something to consider? And so Luke adds this to help us to focus our attention.
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Again, perhaps ordinary people, no ordinary situation.
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And Simeon is there again at the right time, in the right place for God's purpose.
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He, it says, is a man who was just and devout in verse 22, waiting for the consolation of Israel and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
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This was no man who had a flippant attitude towards the coming of the Messiah.
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He was a Jew who was devout and right.
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He was one who was expectant.
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He was looking for this promise to be fulfilled.
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He was looking for the Messiah.
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That really, if you think about it, was the whole cost of all pious Jews.
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That they were looking, they were anticipating, they were waiting, they were wondering, they were desiring for the coming of the consolation of Israel.
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Haggai says that they were waiting for the desire of all nations to come.
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He was waiting for the one that would bring comfort to the people.
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He was waiting for Shiloh to come.
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He was waiting for the one who was foretold that would crush the head of the serpent.
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He was waiting for Emmanuel, as Brother Matt read, for God with us to appear.
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Again, this was the expectation of every pious Jew.
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This was the expectation that they had because of what God had previously promised.
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And there are so many promises of this coming of the Messiah, of Jesus, of God with us.
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I will read just but one because it's the one that caught my eye among the many.
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And it's in Zechariah.
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You don't have to turn to it, but it says, "'Proclaim further that this is what the Lord of hosts says.
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"'My cities again will overflow with prosperity "'and the Lord will again comfort Zion and choose Jerusalem.'" That's the expectation that they had.
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And my friends, that's the expectation that we need to have.
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We need to have an expectation of the comforter, the one who alone can bring true consolation and anything else, listen friends, anything else tonight that you or I or anyone tries to find comfort in will ultimately fail.
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It will ultimately disappear.
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The only true comfort, the only true consolation, the only true hope that any of us have is in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
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All else will be gone like the dew of the morning.
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Verse 26, it says, "'It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit "'that he would not see death before he had seen the Christ.'" He would not see death until he had seen the Christ.
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Because you see, he understood something.
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He understood that to see the Messiah was to see the true comfort that he and so many others so longed for.
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I want you just for a second, we'll get further down to, but I want you to look at verse 30.
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Look what it says, this is what he said.
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He says, "'My eyes have seen your salvation.'" Listen, my friends, true comfort, true consolation is salvation.
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If you have salvation, you have all the comfort that you need or ought to desire.
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And if you don't have salvation, you have no comfort, not anything that will last.
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True comfort is nothing less than true salvation.
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Paul speaks about this comfort and this consolation.
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He says in 2 Thessalonians that God will bring everlasting comfort, everlasting consolation.
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In Hebrews it says, we have, listen, if you and I have Christ, if you and I have the Messiah, we have a strong consolation, a sure hope.
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Just think about that for a minute.
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Think about what true comfort is in Christ.
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True comfort, my friends, is being taken from darkness and brought into the light.
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True consolation is going from being rejected to accepted.
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True consolation, true comfort is to go from being an alien, a stranger, to a joint heir with Christ.
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True consolation is going from lost to found.
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True consolation is going from being dead in sin and trespasses to being alive in Christ Jesus.
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This is what Simeon sees before him, the person of the baby.
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True consolation is going from lost to found, from condemned to free.
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Can you get that under the tree? Can Amazon bring that to you before Christmas? Can anyone or anything bring you a gift other than Christ that will set you free for all eternity? This is what he was looking for.
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And so let me ask this even now.
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What are you looking for tonight? What are we hoping for? What are we hoping in? And let me make sure that I say it as clear as I can.
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This consolation, this comfort, it's not a thing.
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It's a person.
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It's Christ.
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It's the Son of God.
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It's Emmanuel.
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He's led by the spirit that he would wait, that he would not see death until he saw the Lord's Christ.
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Then revealed to him, verse 26, by the Holy Spirit he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ, before he saw the shepherd who was to come and rescue the sheep.
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The king coming to establish his rule, to gather his servants to himself, and ultimately to banish his enemies.
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Simeon had received this promise.
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I can't tell you how long it was that he had been waiting.
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I would think in many ways he was waiting all his life, but when specifically the Spirit of God came to him and promised him that he would not breathe his last, I don't know, but I know this.
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This was that which gave him true consolation, true comfort.
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Many of you know that I've said this before, and I'll say it again.
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There's a verse in Psalm 94, and it says this.
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If I say my foot slips, your mercy, O Lord, will hold me up in the multitudes of my anxieties within me.
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Your comforts delight my soul.
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Which one of us tonight do not have anxieties in our soul? Which one of us tonight do not have things that churn within us? Well, I tell you, the way to comfort is Christ, is to be right with God.
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Remember what Jesus said? He said, this is life eternal, to know the only true God, not the God of men's imaginations, not the God of so many different people, the one true God.
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He was waiting.
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He had received this promise that he would not breathe his last until he saw the Lord's Christ.
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Verse 27, so he came by the spirit into the temple, and the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law.
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As I said, there was a purification period, circumcised the eighth day, and then there was a purification period, 30, 40 days, and then came in to present, sacrifice the offering.
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He came, they brought in the Lord Jesus Christ, and verse 28, he took him up in his arms and blessed God, and said, took him up in his arms and blessed.
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Did we come here tonight to bless God? Did we come here tonight to bless God for his son? Did we come here tonight to partake in worship of what the angelic host proclaimed, of what this creation itself proclaimed? Is that why we came tonight? I hope it is.
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Took him up in his arms and blessed God, and said, verse 29, Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word.
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I wanna focus for a minute on that word, Lord, because it's interesting if you were to read not only Luke's Gospels, Luke's Gospel, or even many, all the other Gospels, or many of the epistles, what's interesting, and Brother Keith had brought this up, that the predominant word for Lord is the word kurios, but that's not the word that's used here.
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The word that's used here is despotis, and it carries the thought, and I think this is significant, it carries the thought of the relationship of a servant to his master.
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That doesn't mean kurios doesn't have that meaning, but kurios has also a broader meaning, many meanings, still means master, still means Lord, but this word is specifically connected, and intimately connected with the relationship of a servant to his master.
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It's the same word that's used in 1 Timothy, where it says, let as many bond servants as are under the law count their own masters worthy of all honor, it's the same word that Luke uses here.
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In 1 Peter, it says, servants be submissive to your masters with all fear, it's the same word.
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Again, the predominant word is kurios, but please consider this, the connection between the servant to his master.
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I hope we came tonight as servants to worship our master.
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I hope our lives will more and more reflect the servant to the master relationship.
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And I find it offensive when I hear people say, the man upstairs, the man upstairs, he's the Lord of glory, he's the king of kings, he calls the stars by name, he opens his hand and he satisfies every living thing.
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I'm gonna call him the man upstairs.
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He's the Lord and we're the servant, he's the master.
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Simeon is one who understands his position, that he's totally dependent, he's totally indebted, he's totally obligated, are we? Do we see ourselves as those that have no other place to go? Even as Peter had said, when others had left, Lord, Jesus said, are you gonna leave? Where are we gonna go, Lord? You have the words to everlasting life.
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And you know the reality of it and it's so comforting and yet it's, to me, it's so disturbing that only those who truly trust in Christ can ever really understand the servant-master relationship.
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There are so many tonight that think they're their own man, that think that they are their own king, that think that they are those who can find comfort and consolation and hope and blessing and eternal peace in whatever they desire.
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And if you and I think that way, what will you do in that day when all your comfort is gone and all the things that you hoped for to carry you across the veil are stripped away and you stand there naked and empty and lost? O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel.
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Come, Lord Jesus, come.
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And Simeon, he blesses God.
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Lord, you're letting your servant depart in peace according to your word.
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My eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared before all the peoples, a light for the Gentiles and the glory of Israel.
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I wondered about that, and I thought about that for a bit.
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And I thought about how many of us, if I were to ask you to raise your hand, if you were of Jewish descent, how many of us could raise our hands tonight? Now, I'm not, you know, if you say my uncle on my mother's sister's brother's side was a quarter Jewish, that don't count.
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Would we not almost all raise our hands and say, no, we are Gentiles? Or maybe if you're thinking, you might say, wait a minute, do you mean a physical Jew or do you mean a spiritual Jew? Well, Simeon blessed God because his eyes had seen the salvation of God coming in the person of Christ, which God had prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people, Israel.
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You know, it's interesting too, the way he says it, it says, Simeon says, my eyes have seen it.
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His eyes, he beheld what was before him, who was before him was the almighty God and the everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace, the one promised, the one foretold, the one who ultimately in the fullness of time, as we sang, in the fullness of time would come, born of a woman, born under law to redeem, to save.
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Now, you might say, well, you're not really talking much about jingle bells and I don't wanna talk about jingle bells.
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I wanna talk about Christ.
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I wanna talk about the one who so loved me that he gave himself for me.
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I don't wanna talk about the Grinch who stole Christmas.
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You wanna enjoy that, that's fine.
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And I'm not saying, I would look really silly in a green outfit.
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Maybe Brother Keith would look good in it, I don't know.
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I wanna talk about the one whose Simeon's eyes are fixed upon.
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And you know, it's not only a personal thing, this consolation, it's a corporate thing.
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And I had a wonderful thought that he died for all those who would believe in him.
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What a wonder.
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I had this thought as I was driving here tonight and I guess it was a thought I've never had really before, at least I don't remember, that could very well be.
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But I thought about all my sins.
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And then I thought about all the sins of all the people here tonight.
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And then I thought about all the sins against God of all the people on the earth today.
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And then I thought about all the sins and offenses against the holy and just and righteous God that have ever been committed since man walked on the earth.
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And I thought to myself, how could God be so merciful to send his son to bring peace? I couldn't go any further with the thought.
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But that's who's before Simeon, the God man, the one who came to save, one who came to serve, the one who came to rescue us lost, wretched, ruined sinners.
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Ruined sinners to reclaim, hallelujah, what a savior.
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Jew, Gentile, now Lord, let your servant depart in peace.
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Can you and I depart in peace tonight? Are you ready, if need be, to cross the veil? Are you ready to meet Jesus? Is there an expectation? Is there a consolation in the depth of your heart? Friends may fail me, foes assail me, Jesus, lover of my soul.
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It says that he came and that he has delivered us.
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He is delivering us and he will yet deliver.
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As I said, I don't care if you're a Prime member or not, you can't get that from Amazon, but that's what Christ brings.
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Comfort, consolation, peace, hope, true prosperity, eternal blessing, eternal assurance, eternal glory.
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He could depart in peace for when he closed and breathed his last, he was with the Lord.
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What about you and me? And again, I know I say it all the time and I'm gonna say it again.
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We're gonna see him as he is, not what we think he is, not what men tell us he is, who he is.
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We're gonna see him in all his brilliance, in all his glory, in all his power, in all his care and concern.
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And he's gonna carry us in his arms for all eternity.
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And he's gonna show us wonders that we couldn't even imagine.
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You think Simeon had some peace about that? He departed in peace because he saw God's consolation.
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And as I close, my friends, I wanted to ask those that believe, do you love him? Do you wanna serve him? Do you wanna see him glorified? To those who don't know him, to those who think they can find their own way through this mess that we're all in, come to Christ.
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Come to the altogether lovely one.
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Don't resist him.
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Don't rebel.
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Submit, repent, believe.
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Find in Christ your all in all.
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May God be pleased to help us to love him more.
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And for all those that do not know him, may God give them no rest until they rest in him.
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Amen.
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Our father in God, thank you for what Simeon saw.
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But Lord, thank you for what you have allowed us to see of you by your amazing, amazing grace to have opened our eyes to see your salvation and that that salvation is in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, the God man.
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Bless us, Lord.
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May we grow in grace and in the knowledge of that one who so loved us that he gave himself for us.
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Amen.
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Merry Christmas.