Book of Luke - Ch. 2, Vs. 21-40 (12/15/2002)

I got the message from my wife, from Brother Otis to me, and all

I remembered it said 12. So I figured that meant chapter 3, verse 12.

But I think it was supposed to be chapter 2, verse 12, right? So here's what

I would like to do. When we get to chapter 3, verse 16, I want that verse.

Because I studied that verse. And I want to teach this when we get to it.

But today, let's go back and let's, why don't we, why don't we start about chapter 2, verse 21.

Would that be close enough? Okay. Because this is, this is, also this will be shorter since I didn't prepare this part.

But it is one of my favorite passages, so I didn't want to skip this either. So let's pray and we'll begin with verse 21.

Lord, thank you for the day and the fellowship we've had together. Thank you for your word and how amazing it is that your

Holy Spirit can take your word and speak to our hearts as vividly, perhaps more vividly, than when the apostles were able to be at the very side of Jesus and hear him teach.

You teach us from the inside now and we really have an advantage.

Thank you for letting us live in this day, in this time, for being part of your eternal plan.

Thank you for calling each of us to our own tasks and duties and giving us the gifts to perform them.

And thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ and for his dying for us, caring for us from all eternity past, up until the cross, and through till today.

Thank you that you watch over us, stand at our side as our advocate. Help us as we study this afternoon, in Jesus' name, amen.

You could title this being at the right place at the right time. So let's read through here.

And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called

Jesus, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

Isn't that interesting? How many people were named before they were even born? Trick question.

All of them. We just didn't know it, did we? And so he was named before he was conceived in the womb.

And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses was accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the

Lord. As it is written in the law of the

Lord, every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord. And to all, you know it's interesting to,

I mean it's important to understand, and here's a good teaching on this, but it's important to understand that during the life of Jesus and the apostles on this earth, especially the life of Jesus before the cross, he was living in the

Old Testament economy. He was not living in the New Testament way or dispensation.

He was living according to the Old Testament dispensation still, and that creates some confusion for some people as they get into the book of Acts.

And they don't like to think that that is a transitional book, but it really is. But the big mindset today is to be not a dispensationalist, that it's a bad thing to be a dispensationalist.

Let me just say this, if you're not one, then you're confused. You cannot study this

Bible and not be a dispensationalist. A dispensationalist is a person who understands that God never changes, that God deals with people differently at different times in life, or I won't say in life, but in the life of humanity.

The greatest example is the cross. Things could not have been the same before the cross as they are after the cross.

It changed everything. So you have an Old Testament dispensation and a new.

Now, if that's true, you had to have a transition, and that's the book of Acts.

And so they refuse to believe it's a transition. They say, no, it's the same right now as it was then.

Well, it's not. We don't have apostles that come through and visit our church and correct us and straighten things out and all that.

Maybe we wish we did sometimes, but we don't. Because what we have is this book completed, and we have the

Holy Spirit among us. And God calls us out as a local body of believers.

He gives us the pastoral epistles that teach us how to put a church together, and yet there's leeway there so that ours can be a little different than the one across the street as God works in our life and so forth.

But we don't have apostles. So if you don't have apostles, although there are many who argue that we still do, by the way, that still have the same kind of apostles that there were.

But my Bible teaches that when you get all the way to the end of things, there are going to be 12 of them still, and they're going to be pillars.

So I don't see how you do the math. If you started with 12 and you get a whole bunch more to your church age, and you get out here and you still only have 12, what happened?

You know, it's wrong. It's just silly. But this teaches right here that Jesus was in the

Old Testament dispensation. So there had to be a transition period with his apostles, and that's what we find in the book of Acts.

We'll find that very clearly as we study through that in Sunday school in the coming weeks.

Verse 24, And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the

Lord, a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons. And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was

Simeon. Now this is so wonderful. Try to put yourself back then and be in this time period when all of a sudden you're at the height of the

Roman Empire. And if you study the book of Luke here and then you study history, you'll find that the

Roman Empire was never stronger than it was at this point. From this point on, after the birth of Jesus, it never got stronger than it was at this point, and it became weaker very quickly after this.

But it was at the height of its majesty when he was born into this world.

And here you've had a long season of no prophetic utterances.

God has not spoken by anyone for a long period of time.

They call it the silent age. Up until before John the

Baptist came on the scene, really. Actually, his parents prophesied. But we have all of this happening, and Simeon is just a man who loves the

Lord, who's living in this day. He just happened to be living in what we would call the end times.

He was living in the times right before the first advent. Just right there, born in that perfect generation that got to be there when

Jesus came on the earth. And he was at the right place at the right time. Look at this.

His name was Simeon, and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel.

And the Holy Ghost was upon him. That's exactly the way you want to be right now, because we're living in the times of the second advent.

And it's very possible that it is upon us. And here Simeon lived in that time, the vast majority of the people, and certainly most of the

Jews did not recognize it as the time of the coming of the Messiah. In fact, most of them missed him when he did come.

But Simeon was Jewish, and he did not miss him. And Anna did not miss him, as we'll see in a few moments.

But he was just and devout. Well, there are some reasons why he didn't miss him. They all had the

Scriptures. I mean, I'm not saying they all had a Bible in their home like we do, but they were all exposed to it.

They had teachers, they had scribes, and they had the Pharisees, and they had all kinds of Bible teachers that would stand up at least once a week and teach them, and they had no excuse.

They all were hearing this. They did have the Word of God. And yet, for some reason,

Simeon saw these things and the others didn't. It's because he was devout.

He was serious about studying the Word of God and understanding it with God's understanding.

And he was waiting for the Lord to come. That's what it means about the consolation of Israel.

It means the coming of the Messiah. He was watching for it. This is the attitude we should have right now, today.

And the Holy Ghost was upon him. Well, you have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. But the

Holy Spirit is not upon you in this sense unless you also have the filling of the

Holy Spirit, which means you're walking where your spirit's one with his spirit. There's a unity there where you can almost turn it this way and you only see one thing, and that's the

Spirit of God in you. That's you walking in the new man. And that's the closest thing in the

Old Testament to that is what Simeon was experiencing. The Holy Spirit was upon him in the sense that he would come upon Samson, you know, in the

Old Testament. Certain individuals in the Old Testament, he was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the

Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen the

Lord's Messiah, the Lord's Christ. And he came by the

Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought, just happened to be there the same day, same time period.

You know why? Because it was his practice. He was devout. It was his practice to go into the temple and pray.

And so he was in the right place at the right time. He came by the Spirit into the temple.

And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him after the custom of the law, then took he him up in his arms and blessed

God and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.

He was looking at Jesus, and this teaches us that salvation is a person. It's not a thing.

It's not a religion. It's not a system. He was looking at Jesus in his arms.

And he looked at him and he said, now I've seen God's salvation. Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people a light to lighten the

Gentiles. Now don't you think it's amazing that Simeon had that light? How would this Jewish man ever think that this was a light, to be a light to the

Gentiles? I'll tell you how. He had studied his Bible. Because you go back into Isaiah and some of the other prophets, and it says very clearly that the

Messiah will be a light to the Gentiles. But the rest of the Jews did not believe that. Why?

Because either they weren't studying at all, or they were just taking the word of false teachers who were giving them the good news version of the

Bible. You know, the good news. They were paraphrasing and saying, here's what it really means. And you've heard me speak before about some of the targums that existed when

Jesus came into the world, where they were teaching from targums rather than from the actual Hebrew Old Testament.

And a targum was a paraphrase, and it was so twisted by this time that you could take

Isaiah 53 and not even see a suffering Messiah in it. And yet it's all it talks about, practically.

They totally removed all that aspect of it in their Bible studies. It's almost like the quarterlies,

Brother Otis. They had quarterlies back in the time when Jesus came, and they only learned what they wanted them to learn.

That's dangerous. Very dangerous. So this man was not studying his quarterly.

He was studying his Bible. And he wasn't taking anything from what people said that the

Bible said. He was studying it on his own. Come in. Now, mine eyes have seen thy salvation, verse 31 says, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people of light to lighten the

Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel. And Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken of him.

And Simeon blessed them and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be spoken against.

Yea, his sword shall pierce through thine own soul also. Can't you imagine?

She was wondering in her heart. What is he saying? What does he mean by this?

But you go back now to verse 25, and you see Simeon, why is it that Simeon was prepared, he was in the right place at the right time, and the vast majority of the

Jewish people totally missed their Messiah. Why is it? Verse 25 explains it once again.

And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the

Holy Ghost was upon him. He was watching for the Messiah.

And the Holy Ghost was upon him, therefore as he studied, he learned from God.

So many people seem to study the Bible and never learn. They can study until they're 50 years old, 60, 70, 80, 85 years old, they'll be in some little class somewhere and have a little quarterly at some church, they're not even studying from the

Bible. Or they'll rely on their teachers so much, never get into the Word and study, never study with the

Holy Spirit. Just only study with a human teacher who may not even have an experience with the

Holy Spirit. May not even be saved. Or may be saved and so just totally carnal and not living in the

Spirit, living in the flesh. And no wonder that churches are full today of people in that age bracket who don't know as much about the

Lord as some of the children in our Christian school know. Because they rely upon carnal teachers perhaps, who knows, who knows.

But look at all of the Jewish people around Simeon, try to be in this place. Here he is at the day, he happens to be in the temple the day they bring

Jesus in, on the 8th day for circumcision. He's there and he holds him in his arms and he knows who he is.

The Jews didn't know who he was. He not only knew who he was, he looked at him and said, I see God's salvation.

Salvation's a person, not a thing or a religion. He sees that and then he goes so far as to say, he's a light to the

Gentiles. None of that, you can go all the way over here in the book of Acts, they still don't believe that. The whole thing, you know,

God says, all of a sudden they speak the gospel. You get over into about chapter 10, they speak the gospel, all of a sudden the

Jews are standing around and it says, and when the Gentiles heard the gospel and believed they were saved and the signs of the

Holy Spirit came upon them and the Jews said, wait a minute, they've got the same Holy Spirit we have, that's impossible.

See, all those years, Simeon already knew this. Why? Because he was devout, which means he was serious about his study of the word.

But not only was he serious in practice, he had the Holy Ghost upon him when he studied.

So that he would learn from God. Didn't the scripture say in John that they are all taught of God, that everyone that is taught of God comes to him?

That means taught by God. But a lot of people are not. So, here we see that Simeon is an amazing man in the right place at the right time.

And he even goes so far in verse 35, he knows about the crucifixion of Jesus.

Listen, his own apostles did not believe that. I mean, Peter himself, look at him, oh no, you won't go to the cross, no you won't.

Jesus said, get behind me, Satan. No, you in the flesh don't want me to go to the cross because you want me to set up a kingdom and you want to sit right by the throne.

Peter, you want to be on my right hand. John, you want to be on my left hand. And we'll take the whole world over and kill Caesar and that's what you want.

That's carnal. Get behind me, that's not me. It's not of me. But Simeon, many years before that, said to his mother, a sword shall pierce your own soul because your child is going to be killed.

Amazing. Simeon is an amazing man. That the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

What does that mean? A sword shall pierce through thy own soul also that the hearts of many shall be revealed.

Because the cross reveals hearts, doesn't it? There's nothing in the world that will do that but the cross.

Well, I would say his word can do that as well. It can pierce even between the soul and the spirit.

But this is a reference to the cross. Now, it shifts in verse 36 to another person who is like Simeon, only female.

So God gives us the male version and the female version of the spirit -filled person.

And I'm not saying that they were spirit -filled like we can be now. Because they lived in a different dispensation. They lived in the

Old Testament. They were still all under the law. And I think that's a key when you go back here to verse 23.

22, 23 and 24 where it talks about they're bringing Jesus in. Because it's written under the law that every male that opens the womb shall be called holy, etc.

We see Jesus is born into the law dispensation. But it is a picture or a type of how it is for us today.

It's so different because at the point of salvation we're indwelt by the Holy Spirit. And they were not.

Because it didn't happen until after the cross and after Pentecost. But it still gives us the idea that as Christians today, even if we're indwelt by the

Holy Spirit, that is not enough. We must be filled with the Holy Spirit. Or else when we study we won't even get the truth.

Or else, now let's bring ourselves from that day to where we are today.

Y 'all were doing such a good job of being there. I wanted to bring, you know, come back. Come back to today.

Because just like Simeon was just living in his life. Everyday life.

Most of the Jews weren't even, didn't have a clue that the Messiah was about to come. Oh yeah, they'd heard about him for a thousand years.

He's coming someday. They weren't living as if he was coming. They weren't waiting on the consolation of Israel. But Simeon was.

And we're gonna see here Anna was. What about you today? What about us?

Do we just let our life go by everyday? Take care of business? Take care of the home?

Take care of the children? Take care of the problems? Take care of the cares of the world? The deceitfulness of riches?

Pleasures of this life? Other things come in and choke the word. Are we not as close to the second advent perhaps as Simeon was to the first advent?

So we need to be just as ready if not more. Now look at Anna. And there was one

Anna. A prophetess. The daughter of Phanuel.

Of the tribe of Asher. It's actually Asher. It's spelled different here. She was of a great age.

And I assume Simeon was as well. And had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity.

But now she was a widow of about four score and four years. Which departed not from the temple.

Now when her first husband passed away. Apparently this widow dedicated the rest of her life to the

Lord. And said I'm just gonna let the Lord be my husband. For the rest of my life.

Some people can do that. Other people can't. The Bible teaches us that. There are some who can do that.

There are some who can't. Each person is called to do purpose in their life. But this woman was called to that.

And so from the time of the death of her husband. She dedicated her life to the Lord. She came into the temple every day.

Or to the temple I would say. Probably certain parts of it they wouldn't let her come into. Because she was a woman.

But she was devout. And she departed not from the temple. But served

God with fastings. And prayers night and day. Does that sound similar to Simeon?

Do we see the same word devout is used. Serious about study of his word.

Serious about studying his word. Under the teaching of God. The Holy Spirit of God. And listen.

Don't miss the phrase every day. Young people especially. It is so.

You let the days go by and they are kind of normal. And you have a time when you are supposed to study. The word a little bit.

Have a quiet time. Read a little bit of your Bible every day. Pray.

Well it is kind of we do this every day. It is kind of same old same old. Well you know that she did this for years.

Every day she would study the word. She would pray. It was part of her life.

And it may have seemed some days to her. Like it was just. Oh I am just doing this out of duty.

Though I doubt there were many days with this particular woman. Like that. And there don't have to be for you either. Shouldn't be really.

You should always glory in the word. But look at this day after day. Day and night.

Day and night. And this is how God prepared her for this time in her life. I believe there is a great time.

In every person's life. In this room. It will be at a different age.

In your life. But there is a time. That all of the study.

All of the preparation. All of the hard pews that you sat in. All of the dry sermons.

All of the mornings you got up. Or the evenings. And you studied the Bible. Because you know you are supposed to.

And maybe you didn't feel good. But you did it anyway. And you learned something from the Lord.

There is a day. That God is going to use that in you. And he will use it every day.

But I am saying there may be a great day. This was Simeon's great day. This was Anna's great day.

And she in verse 38. Coming in that instant. Gave thanks likewise unto the

Lord. And spake of him to all of them. That looked. For redemption.

In Jerusalem. And when they had performed all things. According to the law of the

Lord. They returned into Galilee. To their own city Nazareth. And the child grew.

And grew strong in his spirit. Filled with wisdom. And the grace of God was upon him.

So let's think of. Anna and Simeon. In our own lives.

And let's be ready like they are. Like they were. Because he is coming back.

And. I personally believe. He is coming back in our lifetime. I personally believe.

He is coming back soon. And I think that all of the times. We spend in the word.

Are going to need to be there. There is going to be great tribulation. We don't understand.

All the timing. There are people who stand up. Tell you they know exactly. Right where everything happens. Then you go find five other books.

Where they will tell you. Well I know exactly where it's all happening. Oh Jesus. Rapture is going to be three years into this thing.

Oh it's going to be at the end of this thing. They don't know. But it doesn't mean the scriptures aren't clear.

And the more into this thing we get. I think they can become more and more clear. Do you think Simeon and Anna knew exactly.

Ten years prior to this. Date that we read about. Do you think they knew exactly. When the little child was coming.

Do you think they cared too much about it. All they knew is I want to study every day. I just want to be ready. I just want to be there when he comes.

Well we are going to be there. One way or the other. We are either going to be here and be with him. Or we are going to be there and be with him.

But we need to be ready. And I will say this. If we are still here. We especially need to be ready.

We can't take for granted one opportunity. To hear the word taught or preached. Or to study on our own.

In our private time. Because we want to be like Simeon and Anna. Like he was there to hold the

Lord in his arms. And knew him. He knew who this was. Maybe more.

In a way. Even more than his own mother did. Although she was beginning to take things. And hold them in her knowledge.

She knew. Simeon told so much about Messiah.

Right here. And Anna knew. We know. Praise God for his word.

Praise God for the spirit of God. Who teaches us. And for keeping us.

Into good doctrine. Strong Bible doctrine. Keeping our

Christian school going. Safe. So much.

Thanks goes to. Our leaders. People that are here everyday. With that school.

We don't know when he's coming back. Do we? We're preparing these little ones to be ready. Let's stand and have prayer together.

Father. We thank you for your word. We can't say that lightly.

When we think of the people who died. Even to get the word. Into the common language. People who were burned at the stake.

For putting it in English. All through the ages. How you've preserved your word.

And kept it safe. For us. So that every jot and every tittle is in its place.

That you might speak to us. Even more clearly than. Even the apostles understood you.

When you were by their side. Because you were in us. You told them. That you were with them.

But you shall be in them. Thank you that we have you living in us. Thank you that you teach us.

We ask that you continue to prepare us each day. Make us ready. For that which lies ahead in our lives.

Make these children ready. For that which lies ahead in their lives. May we bring glory.