Sunday Morning Worship Service December 13, 2020

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Sunday Morning Worship Service from Faith Baptist Church

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Good morning, good to see you on this Lord's Day. What are we, a week and a half away from Christmas, one more
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Sunday before Christmas. Enjoy hearing those Christmas carols as Kelly plays those.
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The limitation in services this year has reduced the number of Christmas carols we've been singing, and that is an unfortunate thing.
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I hope you're making up for that in your home and listening to some good
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Christmas music this holiday season. It's always a blessing, I think, to add that to our lives at this particular time of year.
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A couple of announcements to emphasize in your bulletin, if I may, before we begin our worship service itself.
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A week from Wednesday, we have that candlelight service. So because of the COVID thing, we're kind of limiting services, but we're not going to eliminate that Christmas candlelight service.
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It's always a highlight of our calendar year. So plan on that, seven o 'clock on the 23rd.
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Do have opportunity for a congregation to participate. If you'd like to do that, there's a signup sheet on the
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Foyer Bulletin Board, and you just write down who you are, what you're planning to do, what kind of thing it is, if it's a reading or music or whatever.
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So please do that. And then the following Sunday, two weeks from today, we have our annual budget approval and hopefully election of officers for 2021, trying to get that squared away before that date.
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And then let me just remind you in the bulletin is that missions commitment form. Do this every year, this time of year, to help us in our budget planning for the next year, just to get an idea of how you would like to designate funds just for missions.
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And that form helps us know how you plan to do that. And then of course it helps us in our budgeting.
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So if you are inclined to specify funds over and above your regular tithe to the general fund of the church, and have those funds go specifically to missions, you fill out that form, you specify how much you're planning to give and the basis of giving.
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And then just, you don't have to sign it or anything like that. It's anonymous. Just pop it in that offering box and we'll get that information and it will help us out tremendously.
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Now there is a thing in there in the bulletin about some devotional books that have just arrived.
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There's kind of an oops about that. They haven't arrived. They were supposed to. You get this little tracking thing from the postal service that tells you where your package is and when it's gonna arrive.
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Well, the postal service on Thursday said that package was going to arrive
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Friday. And here it is Sunday and it's still sitting in Milwaukee. So chalk it up to USPS or whatever,
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I guess. I don't know, but they will be available soon. They should arrive this week for sure.
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And I would encourage you if you're looking for some devotional reading for the next year.
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This is a time of year we often think of that. These are some good resources for that and I hope you'll give some thought to that.
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We begin our service this morning, Isaiah 42 verses five through eight. Isaiah writes this, thus saith
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God the Lord who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it.
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I am the Lord. I have called you in righteousness. I will take you by the hand and keep you.
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I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison, those who sit in darkness.
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I am the Lord. That is my name. My glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.
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So we worship together today. Let's join with the angelic chorus and sing glory to our
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Lord. Jim, please come lead us. Thank you, pastor. It's 193.
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193 in your hymnals. We'll sing verses one, two and four. One, two and four of 193.
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Let's all stand together, please, and sing together. ♪
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Angels fill the realm of the earth ♪ ♪
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Ye who sang creation's story ♪ ♪ Now proclaim
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Messiah's birth ♪ ♪ Come and hear her shirt cry ♪ ♪
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Shepherds in the fields abiding ♪ ♪
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Watching o 'er your flocks by night is now residing ♪ ♪
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On Christ the newborn
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King ♪ ♪ Saints before the altar bending ♪ ♪
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Watching long in hope descending ♪ ♪
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In his temple shall the worship worship
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Christ the newborn King ♪ Brother Dan, would you lead us, please?
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Let us pray. Our Father, we thank you for that light that came into the world, the
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Lord Jesus. Father, we praise you for your wisdom, your understanding, your knowing that your creatures would need a
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Savior. And Father, you had it all planned, and we praise you for that.
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And Father, as we come again to hear the word of God, may we be open, attentive to it.
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May we apply it to our lives, Father. It is that light that gives a light to our steps.
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Father, as we sing these praises unto your name, may we honor you with uplifting our voices.
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We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. If you'll notice, our theme today is that Jesus is the candle or the light of Christmas.
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And just coincidentally, the bulletin coincided with that. The cover of the bulletin, that statement of Jesus, I am the light of the world.
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And be looking for that theme, that idea of light throughout the elements of the service this morning.
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And one of those elements shows up in Psalm 36, verses five through 11, our psalm reading for today.
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On the back of your bulletin, if you can follow along. I'm gonna read
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Psalm 36, verses five through 11. The psalmist writes,
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Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens, and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains.
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Thy judgments are a great deep. O Lord, thou preservest man and beast.
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How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! Therefore, the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.
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They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house, and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.
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For with thee is the fountain of life. In thy light shall we see light. O, continue thy lovingkindness unto them that know thee, and thy righteousness to the upright in heart.
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Let not the foot of pride come against me, and let not the hand of the wicked remove me.
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Lord, add his blessing to the reading of his word today. In your bulletin is a insert with some different text to the carol,
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The First Noel. Appreciate the emphasis of these lyrics.
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The original hymn is fine, it's a good hymn, but if you remember the text of that hymn, you have to sing just about every stanza because it tells the story.
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And this tells the story of the cross in relation to Christmas.
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So Jim's gonna come and lead us. Same tune, different lyrics. Jim, please. And we'll sing all three verses in your insert together.
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First Noel. ♪ The first Noel ♪ ♪
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Earth and heaven embrace ♪ ♪ As a virgin beheld her newborn babe ♪ ♪
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From realms on high to a manger on high ♪ ♪
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Salvation had dawnly breathed ♪ ♪
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Noel, the
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Son of God, in kindness He came ♪ ♪
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To pray for sins
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He bore, yet His name despised ♪ ♪
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And the hands that brought healing were pierced as He died ♪ ♪
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Noel, Noel, the hosts
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He laid ♪ ♪ As the grave cast its shadow and dark rain ♪ ♪
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Then up as He rose up in victory, the glorious Christ ♪ ♪
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Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel ♪ ♪
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Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel ♪ You might write this down. Remember this lady, a lady by the name of Carol. Not give the last name, but Carol.
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She's a woman that I had first met at Micron.
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She retired a few years ago from there. But recently, like in the last year, she came to faith in Christ.
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And one of the other chaplains from Micron who has now moved away, he contacted me and asked me if I would visit her because she has stage four cancer and it's terminal, there's no cure.
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She's in hospice care. Saw her the other day. Her daughter has moved in with her to care for her.
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And I told her we would pray for her at this time and for her daughter. So we want to pray that God would be gracious to Carol and not sure about the daughter's spiritual condition.
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She needs Christ. But pray that in this time of life, drawing to a close, have the opportunity to minister to that family and that many in that family would come to faith in Christ even as God would graciously comfort them in the time of sorrow.
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We also want to pray for our nation and its turmoil on so many levels.
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It's kind of ironic. It reminds me of the Christmas carol,
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I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day. Longfellow goes through that litany of hearing the carols and yet sees all the strife and the conflict in the world.
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And he concludes, there is no peace on earth, I said. And what a great message of that reality.
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That there is no peace on earth apart from Christ. And the turmoil in our nation just brings that out.
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So in that regard, may we pray for a Christmas miracle. There's a Christmas revival.
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There's obviously a lot of pressure being put on families and churches and people to tone down your
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Christmas celebration this year. Almost kind of pretend it's not happening. And cannot do that.
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We want to emphasize Christ has come and emphasize why. So pray for God to use those messages of Christmas, the truth, the true message of Christmas to get out at this season of the year.
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Let's look to the Lord in prayer, shall we? So our Father and our God, we are grateful today that the light of the world has come.
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We're grateful that even as there is yet so much darkness and men sit in darkness, that the light is plentifully available.
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And the light will shine in the darkness of the human heart that is so corrupted by sin.
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Father, we thank you, we who know you as our God, our refuge, our
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Savior. We thank you that in Christ Jesus, the light has shined into our hearts.
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And you have delivered us from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light, to the kingdom of your dear
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Son. And yet, Father, we would also confess to you today that the darkness that is just part of our human nature, our sin nature resides within us.
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And too often, we find ourselves following the path of darkness.
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We sin and we don't want to, yet we do those things that we don't wanna do and we don't do the things that we should do.
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And we confess that with the Apostle Paul. We confess that dwelling in us is no good thing, that there is this indwelling sin.
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We confess this to you today, Father, and we thank you that in our confession, as we especially specifically name and confess to you our sins, you are faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
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This is the glorious gospel of Christ. This is the light that shines in our dark hearts.
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We thank you for that forgiveness. And Father, we would pray that in your grace, you would give opportunity for Chuck Kempf to carry on his itinerant ministry of taking the light of the gospel to places of darkness, to souls sitting in darkness.
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I pray that you would use him. I pray for Ruby and her physical afflictions, that you would give grace and strength to her.
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And I pray that she would sense your presence even as she suffers physically.
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Father, we do pray today for Carol and for her daughter. We pray that you would give
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Carol grace as she struggles in these days with the cancer that is eating up her body.
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And pray that many in her family would come to faith in Christ even as she has.
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Bless her daughter who cares for her. Father, we thank even in our own congregation, those who are struggling physically and pray for them.
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We pray for Bob, that you would continue to bless him. Thank you for the good report this week that he received.
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Continue to strengthen his body, we would pray, and bless Jerry and her care for him.
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Father, we pray for those who are shut in and especially feeling the isolation and the loneliness in these days.
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I pray that your presence would give comfort and joy to their hearts even if we can't visit them.
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Father, we pray for our nation and its turmoil and a stark reminder that there is no peace without Christ.
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And the fact that we as a nation have done so much to eliminate
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Christ from our national life. So many professing
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Christian churches have distorted the light so that it very dimly shines, if at all, and so many in the public square have made it clear that they don't want the light to shine in the public square.
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Father, we are a nation in turmoil because we have turned our back on you.
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I pray that in this time of turmoil that you would bring forth a revival, that there would be a turning, a mass turning to Christ, to the light, the only light that can shine in this dark world.
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Lord, I pray that you would do a work of grace in this nation, bring resolution to so much of this turmoil that we are currently experiencing today.
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Father, there may be some here this morning who are in their own heart in turmoil. I pray that you would bring peace, comfort, grace, and strength.
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Lord, solve the, bring resolution to the struggles of heart and mind and soul.
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We thank you that we can trust you for these things and those who are your people especially can look to you and as your word promises, you will keep in perfect peace the heart who stayed upon you.
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Father, perhaps there's one here today who is still sitting in darkness and hence the anxiety and the unrest in their soul.
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May the light shine in that dark heart today, we pray. We ask these things in Jesus' name and for his sake, amen.
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For our message today, Jim's gonna come and lead us in another hymn, Jim. And that is on page 199.
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Hark the herald angels sing. 199, let's stand together and sing verses one and three.
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One and three of 199. ♪
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Hark the herald angels sing ♪ ♪ Glory to the newborn king ♪ ♪
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Peace on earth and mercy mild ♪ ♪ God and sinners reconciled ♪ ♪
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Joyful all ye nations rise ♪ ♪ And the triumph of the sky ♪ ♪
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With angelic hosts proclaim ♪ ♪ Christ is born in Bethlehem ♪ ♪
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Hark the herald angels sing ♪ ♪ Glory to the heaven born prince of peace ♪ ♪
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Hail the son of righteousness ♪ ♪ Light and life to all he brings ♪ ♪
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Risen with healing in his wings ♪ ♪ His glory is the sons of earth ♪ ♪
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Born to give second birth ♪ ♪ Hark the herald angels sing ♪ ♪
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Glory to the king of kings ♪ You would take your
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Bibles and turn to Luke chapter two for scripture reading this morning. Luke chapter two,
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I wanna read together verses 22 through 35. First couple of verses, verses 22, three and four, reference requirements of the
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Mosaic law regarding the laws of purification following the birth of a child.
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So a son, when a son is born, is to be presented at the temple.
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And that was supposed to be eight days after his birth when he would be circumcised and named.
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Read that in verse 21. And then 30 days later, about 31 days later, ends up being a total of 40 days after the birth, then the child of the son is brought to the temple again and there is a ritual of purification.
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There's an offering of purification. And that's what's referenced here in this passage. So let's begin reading in verse 22.
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It says, when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him,
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Jesus, 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
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Lord. And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the
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Lord, a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons. And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was
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Simeon. And the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel. And the
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Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen the
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Lord's Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the child,
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Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, then took he him up in his arms and blessed
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God and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light to lighten the
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Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel. And Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken of him.
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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.
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Yea, a sword shall also pierce through your own soul that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.
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Lord, I have this blessing to the reading of his word, a brief prayer. Our Father and our
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God, I pray that we would see today clearly the light that has shined. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.
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I think one of the most beautiful aspects of the decorations of the Christmas season would have to be that of candlelight.
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Candlelight that has transformed into various forms of electric light.
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But nevertheless, those electric lights, those little lights that you see in the strands here before us, on the railing behind me and up above in the back there, all those little lights are little miniature candles, just a different form, fired by electricity rather than a match flame.
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But they work to create a certain ambiance, don't they?
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I think it is one of the most beautiful aspects of the season. It's why we have the candlelight service.
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It makes for a beautiful service. But why do we do that? Why is that tradition of light at Christmas?
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I think the answer is found in something that this old man here in Jerusalem a couple thousand years ago at the birth of Jesus, he said to Mary and Joseph when
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Jesus was brought to the temple 40 days after he was born.
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This child, Simeon said, would be a light for revelation to the
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Gentiles or to the nations. This child is a light. This child is a candle for the nations.
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So in the record of this very brief encounter with someone that you don't read about anywhere else in scripture and that never shows up again and that Mary and Joseph have never met before and will never meet again.
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In this very brief encounter between Simeon and Jesus and Mary and Joseph, the
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Lord confronts us with the real purpose for the coming of this
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Christ child into the world. Now there are a couple of purposes in this text that are implied purposes for his coming.
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They're not clearly stated to say this is the purpose, but we can see some implications that tell us, well, this is why he came.
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One of those is that he came to stimulate piety within a man.
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He came to stimulate piety. We see this in Simeon himself. Well, we read in verse 25 that he was a just and devout man waiting for the consolation of Israel.
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He was a just and devout man. So we see here in Simeon's example and the way the scripture records or testifies of him is that the true piety is going to be marked by righteousness, by righteous living.
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The word just could rightly be translated and maybe better translated righteous.
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We're just kind of to us in our modern English limits the notion to like legal justice or like a just balance of fairness or something like that.
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But the term is broader than that. The idea of righteousness is to have a genuine eagerness and a diligent effort to do what is right in the sight of God, to do what
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God deems and says is right. A person who is righteous is one who wants to know what
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God likes and then diligently wants to live that way and puts into practice what he discovers about what is right.
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So true piety is marked by righteous living. Simeon is a righteous man, but he is also a devout man.
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So true piety is marked not only by righteous living, but by devotion to God.
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He is devout. And I would suggest that this devoutness implies three different things or includes incorporates three different interrelated aspects.
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True devotion involves first of all, a deep respect for God. Can't be devoted to God if you don't have a deep respect for him or the fear of the
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Lord. Secondly, devotion to God also includes a great love for him.
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You see, it's not enough. You can't say you're devoted to God if you have a great respect for him and you fear him, but you don't love him.
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I mean, that's not devotion. You're not gonna be devoted to him in that circumstance. No, devotion has that great respect for him, but also is going to have a deep love for him.
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But there's a third element, I think, in true devotion. And that would be a sincere commitment to him.
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So there's a respect, a love, and a commitment. And it is the respect and love for God that drives you to having a commitment to him.
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And when you put all those three things together, you put those three things together, then you have a person who is devoted to God.
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Now, think about this. I mentioned earlier, and there's this little blurb in the bulletin about these devotional books.
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And the idea of devotional books is that you might read those in your devotions.
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What's that all about, anyway? I think it's simply this, that you have devotions, as we call them.
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And what do we do in our devotional time? We turn our attention to the
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Lord and to things of the Lord. We read his word. We meditate on what we read.
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We think about what we read. It'll involve a time of prayer, of speaking to the
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Lord as he has spoken to us in the reading of the word. And it may involve the reading of devotional material, devotional literature, little paragraphs or a page or two in a devotional book that will get you to think about something related to your
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God that will stimulate a response of some kind or another. And we call that time a devotional time because that time expresses our devotedness to God, if rightly done and for the right reasons.
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It expresses the great respect that we have for him and the deep love that we have for him and a sincere commitment that we have to him.
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I don't know what your devotional practice is. Maybe right now it's greatly lacking.
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If so, I suspect that that's a point of discomfort for you, that you wish you were more consistent in having your devotions.
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Why would you feel that way? Well, because there is a measure of devoutness in your heart.
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You have a respect for the Lord. You love the Lord. You're committed to the Lord and you're dissatisfied with the failure to express that in some tangible way, some meaningful way.
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A devotional time gives you an opportunity to do that. Well, Simeon was a devout man.
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He was a devout man. So true piety is marked by righteous living.
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It's marked by a devotion to the Lord. But then the key here, and this brings us to our focus, the key here is that true piety is marked by Christ -centeredness,
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Christ -centeredness. So again, all these go together, righteous living, devotion to God, and Christ -centeredness.
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True piety is going to be Christ -centered. You see, Simeon is a righteous man who is devout waiting for the consolation of Israel.
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And that is a term referring to the
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Messiah, the consolation of Israel, the comfort of Israel. You may have in your Bible a little marginal note, a cross -reference.
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You know how you have the little letters that point you to a center column or maybe a side column? If you do have that kind of a
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Bible, a cross -reference Bible, you probably have a cross -reference at the consolation of Israel to Isaiah 41, which begins, comfort my people, comfort my people.
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Who is the comfort of Israel? It is the Messiah.
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So what our text is telling us is that Simeon, this devout man, this righteous man, is waiting for the
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Messiah, waiting for the coming of the Messiah. All right, so here's the point. The righteousness of his living and the devotion of his heart are motivated by Messiah's coming.
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They're motivated by a Christ -centeredness. And I suggest that this should also be the motivation for our own righteous living and devotion, for our own piety.
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And I suggest that because, well, the New Testament tells us that. Listen to what
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Peter wrote in 2 Peter 3, 14. He said, wherefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, that is, these things that accompany the coming, the second coming of the
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Messiah, of the Christ, of Christ, the Lord Jesus, but since you are waiting for these, be diligent, see, let this be a motivation to you to be diligent, to be found by him without blemish or spot and be at peace.
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John is even more direct here in 1 John 3, verses two and three, when he says, we know that when he,
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Jesus, appears, we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is. But now listen to what he says.
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All right, remember what we're saying here. This Christ -centeredness is the motivation for righteous living and devotion to God.
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So John says, we, New Testament believers in Christ, we are waiting for him, we are looking for him, and when he appears, we shall see him and we will be like him because we shall see him as he is.
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And then he says this. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure.
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So this, our own anticipation, our own Christ -centeredness, looking for the second coming, looking for the coming of Jesus, serves to motivate us to righteous living and to devotion to our
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God, to be a devout people. So the coming of Christ, the coming of Christ, is to stimulate true piety.
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Then secondly, I would suggest that implied in this text is that Christ came to bridge the gulf between God and man, to bridge the gulf between God and man.
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We see this at the end of verse 25 down through verse 30. How so?
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Well, notice how this man, Simeon, is a man, a mere man.
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That's all he is, he's just a mere man. Notice that the text doesn't tell us that Simeon is a priest, like he's a particularly set -apart man.
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It just says in our text, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was
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Simeon. He was devout, he was righteous, but he was a mere man. And this mere man interacts, the text tells us, this mere man interacts with the
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Trinity, with the triune God. Notice how the emphasis in this text, that he is, how he is impacted by the
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Holy Spirit. Verse 25, the last part of verse 25, tells us that the
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Holy Spirit was upon him. Now this is, this is in the
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Old Covenant context, when the Spirit of God would come, and come upon a person, and leave for particular reasons.
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But here the Holy Spirit came upon this man. And what the Holy Spirit did when he came upon this man, verse 26 tells us, is that he informed him of truth.
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Verse 26 says, it was revealed unto him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death until he had seen the
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Lord's Christ. You wonder how the Holy Spirit did that? How did the
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Holy Spirit reveal this to him? Don't you wonder? Did he, did the
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Holy Spirit reveal this to him in a dream? You know, were those, you know, we have those examples in the
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Old Covenant time period, where a dream came, and there's a lot of dreams that happen, even related to the birth of Christ.
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Joseph had dreams, you know, and so on and so forth. Did the Holy Spirit give him information, reveal this to him in a dream?
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Or perhaps, perhaps also, Simeon was reading through the book of Isaiah, and he came to chapter 40, when
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Isaiah the prophet says, "'Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,' saith the Lord." And he's reading about the
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Comforter, the one who is going to come, the consolation of Israel. And he's meditating on that, and he's thinking, oh, that the
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Messiah would come. Did the Holy Spirit come to him at that point of meditation and reflection, and say to him, "'You know what?
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"'He's going to come before you die.'" We don't know, but we are told that the
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Holy Spirit revealed to him this truth. A mere man is interacting with the
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Trinity as he's impacted by the Holy Spirit, and then in verse 27, look at how the
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Holy Spirit gave this man clear, specific guidance. Verse 27 says, he came by the
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Spirit into the temple. So the Spirit, now watch this, the
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Holy Spirit led this man to a particular place, the temple, at a particular time of day for a particular purpose, to meet this consolation of Israel that has come.
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The Spirit specifically guided him to place, day, time, people.
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What an incredibly powerful work of the
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Holy Spirit, as the Holy Spirit, the third person of the
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Trinity, if you will, impacts the life of this man. But he also interacts with the
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Trinity as he communicates with the Father. This comes out in verses 28 and following.
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He took up Jesus in his arms and he blessed God, and he said, Lord, now let your servant depart in peace.
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Let me die in peace, let me go, because my eyes have seen your salvation.
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What's he doing? He's speaking to the Father. Here's another person of the
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Trinity, God the Father. He's impacted by God the
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Spirit, but in verse 28, the first part of the verse tells us that he embraces the
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Son. He picks up the Son, the child, in his arms, and he's holding him in his arms, this 40 -day -old infant.
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And so he's interacting with the Trinity, but here's the deal.
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It is the Christ child who is the link. It is the Christ child who bridges the gulf between this man and the
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Trinity. How so? Well, it is the Holy Spirit, the third person of the
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Trinity, who gave revelation about and led this man to the second person of the
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Trinity. It's the Holy Spirit who is leading to the Christ child. And it is in his prayer to the
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Father that he clarifies, he specifies, Simeon does, that the
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Father is the sender of the Christ. He says in the last part of verse 26, it says that Simeon would not see death before he had seen the
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Lord's Christ, the Lord's Messiah. The Holy Spirit is communicating to Simeon, and then
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Simeon praises God for, is that this Messiah, this child, is the
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Lord's Messiah. He's acknowledging that the Father is the sender of the
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Son. All right, so here is this mere man who is interacting with the
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Trinity. The Christ child is the link in that interaction.
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So he's bridging the gulf, this baby, between man and God.
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So those two reasons for or purposes for the coming of the
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Christ child are implied in this text. Now, what is clearly, clearly revealed is that he came, the
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Christ child came, to burn as a candle in behalf of mankind.
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He came to burn as a candle. You see this in verses 30 to 35. Notice how he came to be a light.
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He came to be a candle. This is his function, and it's brought out in verse 32.
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Verse 32, Simeon says that this one, this child is a light to lighten the
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Gentiles, or literally the nations. He's a light to lighten the nations. What is the function of a light?
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What does a light do? It's kind of a rhetorical question, isn't it?
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A light dispels darkness. When he came in this morning, the auditorium was completely dark.
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There's a little bit of light coming in from the doors and the foyer, but even with that, it's pretty difficult to maneuver around in here without hitting a pew.
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So what do we do? We turn on the lights to dispel the darkness so we can see our way.
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Light comes to dispel darkness. And what does the Gospel of John tell us in John 1, verse 5?
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That that's exactly what Jesus did. He is the light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not overcome it.
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I mentioned earlier about our nation in turmoil and the efforts that are underway by the secularists that want to dispel or to put a lid on the light of Christmas.
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It isn't going to be successful. The darkness cannot overcome the light.
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Well, light dispels darkness, but the other thing that light does is light is critical for life.
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It's critical for life. Verse 4 of John 1 says, in Him, in Christ, was life, and the life was the light of men.
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Light is critical for life. And again, this is a very common sense thing on a physical level.
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We understand this. I mean, you see up here at the front, right next to, right in front of me, there's a couple of poinsettias here.
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And one thing we know about these plants is that they need water.
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They need water. Came in, was it a week ago, Wednesday, and this one on my left, your right, was just all shriveled up.
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All those red leaves were just all shriveled up. I thought, oh man, we've destroyed this plant.
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And it was just dried out. It needed some water. Got some water, poured it in, and it perked back up. And that's fine, and they're okay for now, but there's one thing about these plants.
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If we don't move them, probably this week, if we don't move them to another place in the building where they're going to get sunlight, eventually those leaves are going to just, it doesn't matter how much water you put in there, they're just going to, eventually they're just going to fall off, and the plant will die.
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It needs some sunlight. Now, if you know anything about poinsettias, you also know that there's got to be a good mixture of light and dark for those red leaves to shine forth, but they need light.
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And you know what? You do too. Your life needs light. I've heard a lot in this last six months about the necessity of vitamin
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D to fight off this COVID thing, you know? It's one of the natural things you can do to kind of boost your immune system against COVID.
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Get plenty of vitamin D. And where does vitamin D come from in a natural source? You get out in the sunlight, and that sunlight will help your body to deal with, to get vitamin
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D, to get the vitamin D you need. The more you stay in darkness, the more your physical body suffers.
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No, we need light for life. And Jesus came to be that light, the light to dispel spiritual darkness, and the light to give spiritual life.
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So he came to be the light.
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But then this light, this candle, if it's going to shine, it needs a wick.
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It needs a wick. Behind me on the railing and off to the side in several different places here, we have a bunch of candles.
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And those candles are basically useless right now. They're just sitting there. They have wicks, but they're showing no light, not shining any light.
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When are they gonna be useful, those candles? When the wick is burnt.
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The light of the candle needs a wick to burn. And so when
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Simeon talked about this child being a light or a candle to the nations, he has in mind the typical light of the day, the typical candle of the day, which was a little, almost like a jar, a small pot that would have oil in it and a wick coming out of that oil.
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And the wick would be lit. And then you have the light. The light needs a wick.
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We get that, makes sense with a candle. This would be the method for the light to shine on a wick.
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Where's the wick come from? Where's the wick? Verses 34 and 35. Simeon blessed them and said to his mother, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel and for a sign which shall be spoken against, then the end of verse 35, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.
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I would suggest that it is the cross that is the wick on which the light of Christmas burned.
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The cross is that wick. On which Christ, the flame burned.
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It was on the cross that he became a sign that was spoken against.
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It was on the cross that he pierces, that Mary's soul is pierced.
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It is there on the cross. This is the method for the light to shine. And why?
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Why? What is the purpose for this candle to be inflamed on the wick of the cross?
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Again, Simeon tells us in verse 30. He says, my eyes have seen your salvation.
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Your salvation. This child, this baby in his arms is the candle to the
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Gentiles. It's going to burn, or the nations. It's going to burn on the wick of the cross for salvation.
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This is his purpose. And notice that it is God's gracious remedy for our plight.
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He says in our verse, in verse 30, my eyes have seen thy salvation.
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He doesn't say, my eyes have seen our salvation. My eyes have seen your salvation, he says to God, the
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Father. My eyes have seen your salvation. It is the salvation that is devised by the
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Father, designed by the Father, initiated by the
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Father, and is put into place by the Father. It is his salvation.
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And there he sees that salvation embodied in this little child in his arms.
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This is God's remedy. It's his gracious remedy, but it's also his exclusive remedy.
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It's his exclusive remedy. All salvation that man, any salvation that man might hope to experience is going to be found only in Christ, only in this one whom
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Simeon holds in his arms. Now what we read in Acts 4, 12, Apostle Peter preaching that first sermon, says there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
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No other name. Salvation in none other than this one.
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The candle of Christmas that will burn on the wick of the cross.
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He came to burn for salvation for people.
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For people. This is his impact. Verse 31, says that my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared before the face of all people.
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Literally, we could read all peoples. It's plural. All peoples. Not just for one narrow ethnic group.
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Not for just one kind of human being, but for all kinds of human beings.
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For all the peoples. As verse 32 says, he is a light to lighten the nations.
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Literally, the nations. John 8, verse 12, as Jesus say,
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I am the light of the Jews. I am the light of white
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Anglo -Saxon Protestants. I am the light of those who descended from the
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Dutch or the Italians. I am the light of the world.
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A light for all nations. The light is not for a select group of people.
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The light is for all the nations. But the light is only for those who will believe.
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This is brought out in John chapter 12. Would you turn there with me in your Bible to see a few verses in John 12?
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John 12, look at verses 35 and 36. Here Jesus himself, speaking of himself as the light.
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John 12, 35, Jesus said unto them, yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness come upon you.
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For he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may be the children of light.
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And look at verses 44 through 46. When Jesus cried and said, he that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me.
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And he that seeth me, seeth him that sent me. I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.
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Oh, he's a light. He's a light for all peoples, but he's a light in reality only for those who will believe.
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And it is this light, this light, this candle that is on the wick that is the deciding point.
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What do I mean by that? Well, look back at verses 32 and 33. Jesus says,
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I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men to me. And this he said, signifying what death he should die.
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Now go back to our text in Luke chapter two and listen again to what Simeon said in verse 35.
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Last part of verse 34 and verse 35. He said, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.
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He said for the fall and the rising again. Some will see this candle burning.
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Jesus said, I, if I am lifted up, I, the light of the world, if I am lifted up, I will draw all men to me.
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I will draw men to me, and there are some who will see that candle burning.
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They will see me on the wick, high and lifted up. They will see me lifted up and they will stumble.
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They will fall. He is set for the fall of many.
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But then again, he's also set for the rising of many.
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There are some who will see this candle on the wick. They will see him lifted up, the son of man, lifted up on that cross.
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They will see the candle burning and they will live. They will live.
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You see, it is the light on the wick, the cross that is the deciding point.
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Everything about your soul's destiny, eternal destiny, hinges upon what you think of the
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Christ, who is the candle of Christmas. Everything does, everything.
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The light, Jesus Christ, burning on the wick, the cross.
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What think you of that? Does this cause you to stumble or to rise again?
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What thoughts of your heart are revealed as you see the son of man lifted up on that cross?
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When you get right down to it, here's the thing, isn't it? What is your view of the
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Christ child, this little baby that Simeon is holding in his arms? Have you also embraced him, the son of God?
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Who is the consolation, the consolation of his people?
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You see him as God's provision for your salvation? Have you come to trust him as such, your savior?
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This one, this Christ, this child, this candle of Christmas, is he your savior?
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Our Father and our God, we do thank you again that Jesus is the light that shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it.
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We thank you, Father, that in your gracious plan, this one who is the consolation, this one who is the salvation of your people, he gave himself to be born on that cross that as the light of the world, he could be lifted up that all might see.
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Father, I pray that if there is one here today who has to this point stumbled at him, that today they would rise.
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Today, you would graciously so work in their heart that they see
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Christ for who he is, they see themselves for what they are, sinners in need of this savior, the only savior.
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May they today put their faith and trust in the only one who can save their souls.
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And this we pray in Jesus' name and for his sake, amen. Would you take your hymnal as we close this morning and turn to number 223, 223.
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It's the Christmas carol, Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne. And I want to sing stanzas one and three.
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Of course, the emphasis of this carol as he comes at the chorus, come to my heart,
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Lord Jesus, there's room in my heart for thee. Let's stand as we sing stanzas one and three of number 223.
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Thou didst leave thy throne and thy kingly crown when thou camest to earth for me.
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But in Bethlehem's home was there found no room for thy holy nativity.
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O come to my heart, Lord Jesus, there is room in my heart for thee.
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On the third, thou camest, O Lord, with thy living word that should set thy people free.
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But with mocking scorn and with crown of thorn, they bore thee to Calvary.
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O come to my heart, Lord Jesus, there is room in my heart for thee.
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Remind the men who are in the nominating committee that we need to meet for a few minutes and we'll get together right away.
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Some have to leave very quickly, so let's get right to that. Now, worthy is this lamb who was slain, worthy to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.
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To him who sits on the throne and to the lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and forever.