The Rise and Fall of Many (Luke 2:33-35)

Kootenai Church

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Luke chapter 2, and we're going to begin reading at verse 21. Looking today at verses 33 through 35, we'll begin reading at verse 21.

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And when eight days had passed before his circumcision, his name was then called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

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And when the days for their purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the

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Lord, as it is written in the law of the Lord, every firstborn male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the

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Lord, and to offer a sacrifice according to what was said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons.

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And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout looking for the consolation of Israel, and the

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Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the

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Lord's Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to carry out for him the custom of the law, then he took him into his arms and blessed

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God and said, Now, Lord, you are releasing your bondservant to depart in peace according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light of revelation to the

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Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel. And his father and mother were amazed at the things which were being said about him.

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And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed, and a sword will pierce even your own soul to the end that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

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Let's pray together. Our Father, we do pray that your word would reveal our hearts this morning, and that we would be laid bare before it, that we would see in your word wonderful things, that we may behold the glory and the honor and the dignity of Christ, and that we may see him for what he is in truth as your word has revealed him.

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And we pray that we may love and adore you and respond in obedience to your word, and that you would help us to see this morning the importance of Christ and what he has done, that you would be honored and glorified in our time here, and that your spirit would be our guide, we pray in Christ's name, amen.

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So when somebody says to you that old adage, I have good news and I have bad news, which would you like to hear first?

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What is your typical response? Do you like to hear the good news or the bad news first? Are you like me, you want to hear the bad news first to get it out of the way, knowing that it can only get better after that?

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That no matter…then if the bad news is really not all that bad of news, you think to yourself, okay, so there's a lot of room for improvement obviously with this, and if the good news, if that's the bad news, then the good news has to be really good.

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Or do you think to yourself, I would rather hear the good news first because I'm not sure that I really ever want to hear bad news, and I would like the good news to sort of prepare me to sort of soften the blow for when the bad news comes,

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I'm not as set back by it. Which of those type of people are you? There's got to be some study done somewhere that would show that how you answer that question is probably going to have something to do with your success in life or the type of spouse you would pick or your personality.

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There's probably a study somewhere that would tie all of that together, and it would be a government -funded study, of course, because that sounds like something that our tax dollars would be well -spent researching.

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Well, Simeon had both good news and bad news for Mary and Joseph. Last week we looked at what he says in verses 30 through 32, 29 through 32, where he is exultant over this

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Christ child that he has seen in the temple, but Simeon's good news is somewhat subdued by the bad news which is to come, and the bad news is addressed to Mary, and you read it there.

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This child is appointed for the rise and fall of many in Israel. A sword will pierce your own soul.

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That's the bad news for Mary, verse 25, to the end of the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.

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And last week we looked at that happy, joy -filled, exultant exclamation that Simeon gives as he held the

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Christ child in his arms. This is on the account of Mary and Joseph coming into the temple to fulfill in… for concerning Christ all the things contained in the law, to name

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Him there, to present Him there, to offer a sacrifice and fulfill everything that was required of them, having now had a firstborn child.

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And they meet this devout, obedient, faithful, expectant, Messianic Jew who is there waiting to see the consolation of Israel, waiting to see the

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Messiah because he had been promised by the Lord that he would not die until he saw the Lord's Christ. So Simeon, led by the

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Spirit of God into the temple that day, saw the Christ child, held the Christ child in his arms, and he was exultant when he says, my eyes have seen your salvation, prepared in the presence of all the peoples, a light of revelation to the

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Gentiles, the glory of your people Israel. This was the hope, the fulfillment, the expectation of everything that as a

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Jewish man he was… he was hoping to see in his own lifetime, and he got to see it. Now he knows that as God's bondservant, he can depart in peace.

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His eyes have seen what God had promised him he would eventually see, and now having seen that, he knows that he can die peacefully.

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He has seen the Lord's salvation. This brings us to verse 33, now having said what he said to the

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Lord, that's verses 29 through 32, that was addressed to the Father. This is the words of the

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Spirit of God that are on Simeon's tongue. So as he beholds the second person of the Trinity incarnate, he speaks by inspiration as it were of the third person of the

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Trinity, describing the second person of the Trinity to the first person of the Trinity. So this is a very joy -filled exultation that he has in verses 29 to 32.

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Then he turns to Mary and Joseph, and we pick it up now in verse 33. His father and mother were amazed at the things which were being said about him.

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That is, being said about the Christ child. Now I wonder that, and I say, how is it that they could be amazed at this?

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It kind of amazes me that they were amazed. You might say, well, why would it amaze you that they were amazed?

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This is truly an amazing statement. He has declared that this is the Messiah, this is the salvation, the light of revelation to the

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Gentiles, the glory of Israel, the hope and consolation. It's right here in this Christ child. How is it that they could be amazed that,

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Jim, why would you be amazed that they would be amazed at this statement? And I would say to you, given the track record of the last 12 months in this couple's life, is it really all that odd to run into a

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Jewish man in the temple who makes a few statements like this? Joseph had seen an angel who appeared to him.

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Mary had an angel appear to her. Mary's cousin Elizabeth had an angel appear to her.

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Elizabeth conceived in her old age, which though not a miracle, was quite rare because she had been barren up to that point.

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And then Elizabeth's husband Zacharias was struck mute and was not able to speak until John was born.

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And then he spoke and named John. Before that, when Mary walked into Elizabeth's presence, when

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Elizabeth was six months, you remember, Mary spoke and the baby leapt in Elizabeth's womb at that point.

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And then on the night that the Lord Jesus was born, the angel appeared and spoke to the shepherds, and then all of the angels appeared and sang to the shepherds.

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And then the shepherds went in to Joseph and Mary and told them what they had seen out in the field when they had watched that.

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That's the last 12 months. It's miraculous supernatural encounter after miraculous supernatural encounter.

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You would think that the awe factor would wear off after a bit. And now running into a

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Jewish man in the temple that they would just think, yep, yep, you're just telling us something we already knew.

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Didn't Joseph and Mary already know that? How could they be amazed at this? Of all the things that have happened that we would consider remarkable for the last 12 months, this would have to be the most unremarkable of all of the remarkable things.

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Would it not? Now what amazed them? Because verse 33 says his father and mother were amazed at the things which were being said about him.

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See, it wasn't amazing to them that they would see this Jewish man in the temple. What was amazing to them was not that the

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Holy Spirit might providentially guide this man's steps. What amazed them was what was being said about the

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Christ child. What is it that was being said that would amaze them? I'm not the first person to ask that question.

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In fact, one commentary that I have suggested that Luke's inclusion of that detail is evidence that he was borrowing from a source who really didn't know much about the story, and he just included it in here and forgot to edit that out, which is just bonkers.

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That's nonsense. Bonkers is a theological term that I use when I'm going through quite a few of my commentaries from time to time.

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So what amazed them? I would suggest there's a couple of different possibilities here. First, it is possible that what

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Luke includes for us in verses 29 through 32 is not the full extended account of everything

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Simeon said, that this is sort of a condensed interaction, as it were, between Simeon and Mary.

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We have that often in the Gospels. We don't have every word that was ever…we don't have every word recorded that was ever said.

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The Gospel writers did sort of telescope down sometimes or condense down into smaller sections, extended discussions.

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And that's what I think we could have here. So it might be that there was a lot of things that Simeon said, and that this is just sort of a brief outline, an explanation of it, and that that was amazing to them.

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I would suggest to you that maybe what amazed Joseph and Mary was the statement that he would be a light of revelation to the

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Gentiles. You see, of all the things that they have heard concerning their child up until this point, this is new information.

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That he would save his people from their sins, they had been told that. That he is the hope and consolation of Israel, they could have expected that.

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That this was a supernatural conception conceived by the Holy Spirit, they would have understood that.

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But this piece of information is new. The angels didn't sing anything about this. The shepherds didn't say anything about this.

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The angel appearing to Joseph or Mary from what is recorded, they didn't say anything about this. But now this man comes in and says, this child is not just the consolation of Israel, he's a light of revelation to the

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Gentiles. Through him, all the nations of the earth will be blessed. That's a new piece of information.

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Now they should have expected that that's what the Messiah would do. They should have expected that if this was the child who was to fulfill the word promised to Abraham, that he would bless all the nations, and that blessing obviously would come by way of salvation to them, revelation to them.

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They should have expected that. But I think it might be that statement that suddenly this child is not just the hope and consolation of Israel, but this is going to be a light of revelation to the

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Gentiles. Now everybody is going to be included. This child is not just going to save His people from their sins who are

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Jewish people. This child is going to save His people from their sins who are Gentile people as well. That's a new piece of information.

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Maybe that is what amazed them so much. Notice that in verse 34 that these words then, as Simeon blesses

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Joseph and Mary, and by the way, the blessing here is probably a word of benediction, some word of a positive encouragement to them, a blessing issued upon them and upon their family in the temple.

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It wouldn't have been uncommon to see that. So you have this elderly, older Jewish man who is now providing a blessing to this couple as they are obviously commissioned with raising the

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Christ child. So that's verse 34, he blessed them. And then he said to Mary, his mother, and notice that Joseph is not included in that.

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They together are there. They together are amazed. But what Simeon is about to say is directed to Mary specifically, suggesting that by the time that this would come true, that a sword would pierce even her own soul, that Joseph would be out of the picture.

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He's addressing Mary specifically because beginning in chapter 2, I should say later on in chapter 2, verse 41, when

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Joseph and Mary appear in Jerusalem with Jesus there and Jesus is 12 years old, that's the last reference to Joseph in all of the

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Gospels. We have no record at all from history or from the Gospels or from anywhere in the New Testament that Joseph was with Jesus and with that family any time after Jesus was 12 years old.

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So we can speculate that by the time that this happens, that a sword would pierce Mary's soul that Joseph himself would not have been around to see that, probably because he died some point before Jesus started his public ministry.

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So he says in verse 34, after blessing them, Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel and for a sign to be opposed.

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And a sword will pierce even your own soul. That piercing of her soul by a sword, it's obviously a metaphor, it's a figure of speech that's described there, but it is going to result from him being opposed.

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This child is appointed as a sign to be opposed. And that opposition really is the key to the rest of the passage.

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It results in two things, first a sorrow for Mary and then second, a sifting for all men. And we'll deal with it in that order.

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Even though he mentions the sifting of all men first, Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel and for a sign to be opposed.

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You'll notice that parenthetical statement. And a sword will pierce even your own soul. That's in parentheses, as it were, to the end that the thoughts of every heart may be revealed.

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So he's addressing something that's going to be true of Mary. But the first and the last part of those two verses, they really go together.

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He is a sign to be opposed. This is going to be for the rise and the fall of many in Israel to the end that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

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So we'll do first of all with Mary's sorrow that's going to result from this. We do not have to reflect long and hard about what it was that would have been the piercing of Mary's own soul concerning the destiny of this

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Christ child. The public humiliation, the national rejection, the scandalous shame that would have accompanied the life of the

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Lord Jesus Christ was enough to pierce Mary's soul. The salvation that Simeon describes, if you notice it in verse 30, my eyes have seen your salvation.

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That salvation would be purchased and would come through an event, the crucifixion of the

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Lord Jesus Christ, which would pierce Mary's soul. And that is what Simeon has in mind. This is the good news, bad news.

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The good news, he's the salvation of all your people. The bad news, that's going to happen through something that is so tragic it would crush

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Mary's soul. It would pierce her own soul. She would suffer in her affections because of her affection and her love for Christ.

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She would suffer as well. Now, let me be clear. Mary's suffering is in no way at all salvific or redemptive.

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This is just, we're not Roman Catholics here, we're not saying that Mary suffered and in some way her suffering helped pay the cost of our sin or merited some salvation for herself or from other people.

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That's not what we're describing. We are describing something here that every parent would understand, that if you had to see your child endure that, you understand exactly what you would have to.

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If you've ever lost a child, imagine losing it in the most horrific and excruciating way possible.

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It's not just death, it's death on a cross. Millions of people have lost children, but to lose through a death on the cross and to not understand fully until it was all accomplished what exactly is intended there and what is accomplished there, that would have been just grief to Mary.

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Some have suggested that this statement that a sword will pierce even your own soul is Simeon's prophecy that Mary would be martyred.

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Some have suggested that Mary was martyred. There's nothing in history, there's nothing in scripture that says that Mary suffered martyrdom.

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There's no record in the New Testament of Mary after the day of Pentecost. In Acts 1 and Acts 2, she is there with those people gathered in the upper room and after that there's no mention of Mary.

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She disappears from the scene and from history there's no record she was martyred, there's no record of how she died at all or where she lived.

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It's believed and speculated by some that she eventually landed in the church at Ephesus and that Timothy was her pastor and then later

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John the Apostle was the pastor in Ephesus because you remember that Jesus committed to Mary, or sorry, to John the care of his mother

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Mary. Well, John later went on to be exiled to Patmos, but before that he was pastoring in the church at Ephesus according to church history.

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So some have speculated that she died in Ephesus and of course if you wander around the Middle East long enough, you'll find all kinds of places where Mary lived and her house was there and she ate a breakfast here and of course she washed her clothes over here and all of that nonsense.

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It's easy to find all the relics built up to Mary, but we just have no record that she was ever martyred.

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It seems most natural simply to understand this as a statement of the grief that she was going to expect in watching the death of her son and she was there for that.

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I think this is a very gracious thing that the Lord does through Simeon in preparing Mary for what was to come. This little piece of information here that your own soul will be pierced, you're going to be crushed by what happens to this son, yes, he is light and revelation and glory and salvation, but all of that would come at a great cost and it is gracious of the

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Lord to bring Mary into that at this early stage and even though it wouldn't happen for decades to come, at least three decades.

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The fact that she is warned of this is something of a gracious thing for the Lord to do simply because later on as this child would develop and he would grow in favor with God and man, eventually the opposition would come, eventually he would start his public ministry, eventually he would be opposed and spoken against, and eventually she would see him die on a cross.

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I can only imagine, I can't say this because Scripture doesn't say this, but I can only imagine that Mary's thoughts would have gone back to this warning time and time again, yeah,

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I was warned about this, he is appointed as a sign to be opposed. And so even when watching him die and suffer on the cross, this is something that Mary had at least information that was going to come, this is some sort of pain, sorrow was going to come to her own soul.

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Remember for three years she would have seen him opposed, and this is something to keep in mind. It wasn't just the crucifixion that would have been a source of great grief to Mary.

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For three years she saw him opposed, he was rejected by the religious establishment of his day, all of the religious leaders, all of the political leaders, his own family members doubted him, his brothers thought he was crazy, at one point they accused him of being out of his mind, they didn't believe that he was the

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Messiah or that he was anything special until after the resurrection. Controversy surrounded him for his entire ministry, and for most of the three years of his public ministry he was hated and hunted and hounded by the religious leaders of the nation of Israel as the worst kept secret in all of the nation was the fact that the

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Pharisees wanted him dead. They plotted and planned his murder for years before they ever actually murdered him.

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Mary had to have been aware of all of that since everybody in Israel was aware of the fact that the Pharisees hated him because he called them out publicly.

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The worst anguish she would experience would come in the events surrounding the crucifixion.

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His disciples would abandon him, his best friend would deny him, and all of his followers would go into hiding.

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His public trial would consist of him being humiliated and scandalized and falsely accused.

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He would be publicly hung on a cross on the busiest day of the calendar year, along the busiest street coming into the busiest city in all of Jerusalem.

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He would be hung there naked and made a public spectacle for all of the people walking by.

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They all would have seen it. And then he would have been rushed off of the cross and put without any kind of burial ceremony, without any kind of dignity at all, he would be put into a borrowed grave.

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All of that was tremendously humiliating for the entire family, and Mary would have been a witness to all of it. A sword will pierce even your own soul.

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Yeah, good news, good news. He is salvation and revelation and the glory of your people

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Israel. But in hindsight, we understand exactly what that cost, not just the Lord Jesus Christ, but what

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Mary would have suffered in the anguish that she was warned of. Now let's look at the sifting or the sorting that would come to men as a result of this.

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Simeon told Mary not only what awaited her, but what the birth of this child would mean for all men and women.

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Behold, this child is appointed for the rise and fall, or the fall and rise of many in Israel, a sign to be opposed to the end that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

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The word appointed here is referring to two things. He is appointed for the rise and fall of many, or the fall and rise of many, and he is appointed as a sign to be opposed, his opposition.

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And the result of both of those things is that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. The word appointed there is a word that means to put in place or to lay down or to lay aside.

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It was used of laying an ax to the root of the trees. It was used of the grave clothes which were laid in a certain spot inside the tomb on resurrection morning.

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It just simply means to put something someplace with an intention to lay it somewhere or to set it somewhere.

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So used in a context like this to describe this child, it would simply mean that by God's providence, by His sovereignty, this child was appointed or set into this place and into this time for this purpose.

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He is a set as a sign to be opposed and he is set as for the rise and the fall of many in Israel.

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This is what God has put him there for. He is appointed for this. He is set there for this purpose. Two of them.

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First, the fall and rise of many. These are two opposite destinies, two opposite things would happen as a result of the coming of the

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Lord Jesus Christ. Men would be sifted or sorted as it were and divided into these two categories, those who have fallen and those who rise.

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The word fall there is only used twice in the New Testament. It's interesting. It doesn't just describe, you know, like the tripping, you trip and you fall or somebody said to me today that they fell on the way into the church today on the icy parking lot.

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It's not that kind of falling. In other words, it's not the kind of falling where you fall down, you get up and you come on in. This word means a destruction, a complete and utter ruin.

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It's only used twice in the New Testament, once here, and it's used in Matthew chapter 7 where Jesus is giving the parable of the story about the two men, one who built a house on the rock and one who built a house on the sand, and the one who built a house on the sand, the winds came and the rain,

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I was going to say the rain blew, I almost said that, the rain came and the winds blew and then that house fell and Jesus said, great was its fall.

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That's the word fall. Great was its destruction or its ruin. In other words, it is ruined by the fall, the falling ruins this.

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This is utter and complete and final destruction that is being described here. He is appointed for the final destruction of many in Israel and he is appointed for the rise of many in Israel.

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That word rise is the word for resurrection and it is used consistently in the New Testament in that way of literal physical resurrection.

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It's used of the resurrection of Jesus on the third day. It's also used of the, generally speaking, of the doctrine of resurrection, the resurrection of the dead.

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It's also used to describe the resurrection at the end of time, both of the righteous and the wicked. So it seems to be in view here of the fall and rise is not just a temporal salvation, but it is an ultimate and eschatological salvation that is in view.

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He is looking forward in time and saying that this child is going to sort all men into two categories.

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In the one hand, you will have those who are destroyed because of what they do with this child. And on the other hand, you will have those who rise again on the last day because of what they do with this child.

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In other words, the destiny of all men hinges upon what they do with this child. He is established and appointed as the one who will determine whether men are finally ruined because of their rejection of Him or whether men finally rise because of their embrace of Him.

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And He does both of these. If He is the Savior of men, then men rise because of Him. And if He is the

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Judge of men, then men are ruined and destroyed and suffer eternal loss because of Him.

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So it is an eschatological concept that is in view. It's final salvation and final ruin.

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The destiny of all men hinges upon Him. There's only two options.

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You either fall, you're destroyed, or you rise again and receive eternal blessing and delight.

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There's no third option. There are only two. And the same Christ who is salvation to some is a judge for others.

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This is what the prophecy said. Matthew, sorry, not Matthew, Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 8 verses 14 and 15 describe the

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Messiah as a sanctuary and a stone over which men stumble. These two things. Listen to this,

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Isaiah 8, then He shall become a sanctuary, but to both the houses of Israel a stone to strike and a rock to stumble over and a snare and a trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

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Many will stumble over them, then they will fall and be broken. They will even be snared and caught.

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And Peter quotes this passage in 1 Peter chapter 2 verses 7 and 8, this precious value then is for you who believe, but for those who disbelieve, the stone which the builders rejected, this became the very cornerstone, and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, for they stumble because they are disobedient to the

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Word, and to this doom they were also appointed. You see, the same Christ who is savior to some is the judge of others.

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And there is no third option. He is the saver of life to life, or He is the reeking scent of death to death.

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And all men because of His birth and because of what He has done are divided into one of those two categories.

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And so to receive Him is to receive all of the blessings of eternal life and salvation, all of the joys and delights that He has secured on behalf of those for whom

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He has died. And to reject Him is not to simply suffer some harm, it is to suffer ultimate loss and ultimate and final and eternal ruin and complete destruction.

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Those are the two categories into which all of humanity falls. And there is no third alternative.

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There is no option of indecision with Him because simply put, He doesn't leave open the option of indecision.

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Since it is true that He demands repentance and He demands faith and obedience and fealty to His commands and to His truth, since He demands that men divorce themselves, men and women, divorce themselves from their sin and turn and embrace

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Him entirely by faith and faith alone, since that is His demand, there is no such thing as an indecision.

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You can't stand back and listen to the claims of Christ and hear the proclamation of the gospel and then say to yourself,

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I will make a decision later. No, that's not making a decision later, that's making a decision now. That is to decide that I can deny

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Him and disobey His demand that I repent now and I can repent later.

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It is to deny Him. It is to choose against Him. It is to choose instead to take one more step toward eternal ruin.

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Jesus Christ has been set in history, set in God's redemptive plan and established in this world.

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He has been put here for this purpose, for the saving of some and the judging of others. And all men fall into one of those two categories.

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He is the rock under which men will seek refuge or He is the rock under which men will be ground to powder.

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He is the stone under which people will seek shelter or He is a stone over which men will trip and fall to their eternal destruction.

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There is no third option. He is a savior to some and a judge to others, either a sanctuary or a snare.

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And you'll find in Him either healing for your soul or you will find in Him, ultimately, because you reject Him, your soul's utter and complete and total ruin.

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And the preaching of the gospel sorts men into these two categories all of the time. Every time a group of people like this or any other group of people hears the gospel proclaimed, any time anybody hears the truth of the gospel, the gospel is accomplishing something.

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Nobody walks away from hearing the gospel unchanged because if you reject the preaching of the gospel, then you are hardening your heart and your heart is being hardened and you are pushed closer and closer to destruction or your heart is being softened by the gospel to the point where you will eventually embrace it.

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But the gospel is always accomplishing one of those two purposes, either softening the heart so that that person may come to an understanding of the truth and be saved, or it is hardening the heart and serving the purpose in God's eternal plan of simply announcing to that individual the judgment that they most certainly face for their rejection.

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But the gospel always sorts men and women into those two categories. Jesus Himself said that the Father doesn't judge anybody, but He has committed all judgment to the

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Son so that everybody will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. And he who does not honor the Son does not honor the

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Father who sent Him. So it is not the Father who is going to be judging on the final day. All men are going to stand before this

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One who has openly embraced and offered salvation to all of the world on His terms on that final day.

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They will all stand before Him and be judged. This Christ was appointed for the rise and the fall of many, second, as a sign to be opposed.

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He is a sign to be opposed. A sign is something that signifies something else or points to something else.

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Jesus referred to Himself as a sign. He called Himself the sign of the Son of Man. There is something about Christ that points to a lot of things that are true about God's nature and God's truth.

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He is a sign in many ways. He is a sign or a symbol of God's coming kingdom. He is a sign pointing to a future judgment.

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He is a sign of the Father's love, of God's grace, of the new covenant, of fulfilled promises, a blessing and resurrection, eternal life, peace with God, joy, eternal judgment, damnation, the wrath of God.

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Jesus points to all of those things. Since we see in Jesus Christ the fullness of God in bodily form,

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He is a symbol or a sign pointing to realities that He is part of, namely, the eternal destiny of all men.

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And He is opposed. That word opposed means to speak against or to rail against or to speak in opposition to something.

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He was opposed when He walked this earth and He is opposed today. During His lifetime, there is nobody who has ever lived a life and received more verbal abuse and been spoken against more in their own life than Jesus Christ was.

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In His own lifetime, He was called a winebibber and a glutton. He was disparaged as a friend of sinners and a tax collector.

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He was spoken against by all of the people of His day, the religious leaders and the political leaders of His day, who charged

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His disciples with being uneducated and illiterate. And that was intended as a slander against Jesus because a student when he is fully trained will be just like His what?

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Teacher. Well, if you say to the student, you're untrained, you're illiterate, what are you saying about the teacher?

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You're saying something about Him. So a slander against His disciples was a slander against Christ. Even for His gracious deeds,

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His miracles were blasphemed. When He healed somebody on the Sabbath, they accused Him of being a lawbreaker with the intention of trying to use that as an excuse to kill

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Him and tried to stone Him for it. When He cast demons out of people, they said that He was doing that by the power of Beelzebub, suggesting that He did all of His deeds by the power of the devil, and therefore

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He was indwelt by Satan and He was Satan's servant. They questioned His legitimacy, suggesting that He was born of fornication.

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That was what was behind the Pharisees' remark when they said, hey, we weren't born of fornication. The implication being, you were.

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Because the reality of His virgin birth was well known. So they tried to slander

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Him as being a bastard child since His mother was not married when He was born. Some suggested

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He was out of His mind, as I mentioned earlier. Even His own family members thought He was a lunatic. They rejected

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His messianic claims and accused Him of being a liar and leading people astray, being a false teacher. And even while He hung the cross, by the people who walked by Him, they hurled abuses at Him and slandered

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Him and reviled Him. And even the two people who died with Him did the same thing until one of them was converted.

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Is there any person in the history of humanity that has been spoken against more than Jesus Christ? There have been multitudes who have deserved it, and none of them have received it as much as He has.

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And He, of all people, was most undeserving of how He was opposed. And this is interesting.

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Wicked men slander and abuse all of God's gift. Every good thing that God gives to us, humanity finds a way to twist and pervert and profane and make unholy.

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But none of God's good gift has received more slander and abuse than the good gift of salvation offered in Jesus Christ.

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He who is the salvation of Yahweh, the light of revelation to the nations, the glory of Israel, the light of the world, the living water, the bread of life, the resurrection of the life, the way, the truth, and the life, the

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Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, the great high priest who ever lives to make intercession for all who will come to Him, He who with open arms stands and bids all men to come and drink freely of the water of life, has received more verbal abuse and been slandered more than any other person who has ever lived, and He deserved it the least.

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If there is any testament to the graciousness of God, it is the fact that after a sinner takes the name of Jesus Christ in vain that they are even allowed to take another breath.

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He is hated and abused more than any other, and He is God's greatest gift to all of humanity. Why is that?

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How do you explain that? Verse 35 explains it, the very end of it, to the end that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

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You see, in speaking against Christ, you reveal something about your own heart. When you blaspheme

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His name and take His name in vain, you're saying something about your own heart. When you disparage Him or profane Him or joke about Him or reject

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Him, you're really revealing your own heart. He is a sign set to be opposed, a sign, a rock as it were set there that either saves and shelters some men or judges and damns and grinds to powder other men.

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But even in this sifting process of all people falling into one of these two categories, those saved or those judged, the condition and the place of the heart is revealed for all to see, so that those who speak against Him and revile

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Him and blaspheme Him simply demonstrate to others that they are people who love darkness.

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What is it that explains the fact that the greatest gift of all to all of humanity is blasphemed and maligned and cursed more than any other gift?

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Why this name used as a profanity? Why this name used as a swear word? Why His name in vain?

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People don't take Osama Bin Laden's name in vain, Adolf Hitler's name in vain, Fidel Castro's name in vain.

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People don't take anybody else's name in vain, but this one person, this one being, this one child born 2 ,000 years ago,

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Jesus of Nazareth, they couple His name with the worst profanities ever imaginable. What explains that?

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It's John chapter 3. This is the judgment that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light.

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That's it. To the end that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. Everybody reveals the condition of their hearts.

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John says their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.

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But he who practices the truth comes to the light so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God. Men hate

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God because they love their sin. That's it. It's not because they don't intellectually understand enough of our cute, quaint, perfect apologetic arguments to explain the faith.

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That's not why men reject it. Men don't reject the truth because they don't know the truth. Men don't reject the truth because it's unpalatable to them or because they don't understand it or because they haven't been convinced of it.

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Men reject the truth because they love darkness. The cause of unbelief is never a lack of evidence.

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It is always a love for darkness. Men hate a holy God because they are unholy and Jesus exposes their sin.

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And because men love their sin, they would rather have their sin than a savior. And those who love darkness do not want to come to the light.

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They don't want to recognize that they've lived their lives in darkness, moral darkness, intellectual darkness, spiritual darkness.

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They don't want to admit that they're dead and so they won't repent. They won't acknowledge their fallen and sinful condition.

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And Jesus Christ reveals the condition of men's hearts as they respond to him and his truth claims. And so countless millions of people have been revealed to be

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God -hating, rebellious, impenitent, proud because they reject him and his good gifts.

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They find that having rejected his offer of salvation, they get nothing but damnation and judgment. If you will not embrace the light, then you get outer darkness forever.

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He's the rise and fall of many in Israel. He's the rise and fall of all Gentiles. He's the rise and fall of all men.

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He is either their eternal destruction because they reject him or he is their eternal life because of the grace that they receive in him by embracing him.

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Embrace him as Savior or face him as judge. Those are the two options that we have. All mankind have those two options.

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And any who will not embrace him as Savior will receive him as judge. He is appointed as a sign to be opposed and that opposition reveals the true condition of all men's hearts.

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So to hate him is to reveal that you are a lover of darkness and to blaspheme him is to reveal that you would rather have your sin than a

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Savior and therefore you will get exactly what it is that you desire. You desire darkness, then you get it for all of eternity.

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Outer darkness forever and ever. Now all men are sifted into these two groups and those who fall under the stumbling stone of Jesus Christ are ground to powder by him and those who find under that stone a sanctuary and a refuge from the wrath that is to come will find him as Savior.

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But listen, if all men are sinners, and we are, and if all men are born in this condition, and we are, and if we are hopeless and helpless and if we have sinned against him and if we are unwilling to turn to the one who offers us light and life and salvation and forgiveness, if all men are born into that condition and if it is true that all men love darkness rather than light, then what is it that explains the salvation of some?

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To what do we owe the fact that you are here and not out there somewhere enjoying darkness? To what do you credit that?

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Are you less sinful than others? Are you less depraved than your neighbor? Are you less in bondage to your sin?

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Are you smarter or freer? Are you better people? Are you more moral? Do you have less of a love for darkness and more of a love for light than the other pagan?

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And I'm speaking of you before you were saved. What is the reason why some believe and some do not believe?

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What causes this division? What causes this separation into these two groups? Jesus explained the unbelief of some in John chapter 6, beginning at verse 35.

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This is the crowd to whom he had fed and fed the multitude in the previous day, and they followed him and wanted to see more signs, and Jesus said, no,

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I'm not going to give you any more signs. I'm the bread of life. You should be receiving me. And they didn't want that. They had no taste for that whatsoever.

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So out of that multitude that he had fed in the previous day, there was only very few, his disciples really, who stayed with him past the discourse that ends in John chapter 6.

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But the rest of them walked away. Why did they walk away? Why did they not believe? They had received bread, literal bread, but they would not receive the bread of life.

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And Jesus explains their unbelief. John 6, verse 35. I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst.

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But I said to you that you have seen me, and yet you do not believe. What explains that? Here it is, the next sentence.

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All that the Father gives me will come to me. And the one who comes to me I will certainly not cast out.

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I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. This is the will of him who sent me, that of all that he has given me,

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I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who beholds the

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Son and believes in him will have eternal life. And I myself will raise him up at the last day.

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Do you hear the language of resurrection? What have we talked about? Raise. He is the fall and the rise of many.

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He's going to raise some. To what do we owe your current condition?

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Do you love light more than you love darkness? Was there something special about you before that change happened?

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No. You were in the same lost condition as anybody else. In fact, Jesus said in John 6, 44, no one can come to me unless the

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Father who sent me draws him, and I'll raise him up at the last day. John 6, 65, and he was saying, for this reason

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I have said to you that no one can come to me unless it has been granted to him by the Father. So all of humanity falls into one of these two categories.

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Those who have embraced the Son receive eternal life. Those who reject the Son are eternally destroyed. Why is it that some embrace the

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Son and receive eternal life? It's because the Father in his grace reaches into a lost and dying and damned humanity and turns them from their sin, grants them repentance, and draws them to the

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Son so that he might redeem them, and then the Son raises them all up on the final day. This child was appointed for the rise and fall of many.

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The salvation and the judgment and damnation of all men rests upon what one does with him.

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So that those who reject this gracious Savior have no one to blame but themselves. You cannot say,

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I rejected the Son and the only reason I rejected the Son is because the Father didn't give me to the Son and the Father didn't choose me.

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That is not an excuse that you can offer. Because your rejection of the Son is in fact that which reveals the condition of your heart.

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You have no one to blame but yourself. So those who reject the gracious Savior have no one to blame but themselves because they reveal their rejection and their love for sin in their opposition to Christ.

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And it is also true that those who come to the Son have no one to credit but God and God alone. Reject him and you have no one to blame but yourself.

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Embrace him, you have no one to credit but God and God alone. He's set for the rise and fall of many. If you do not know

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Jesus Christ, I beg of you, repent of your sin and trust him for salvation. Born unto us that day is a

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Savior who is Christ the Lord. He is appointed by God for the rise and fall of all men.

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Let's bow our heads. Father we praise you for your good gift of salvation in Jesus Christ.

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As our hearts have meditated upon these truths for the last number of weeks, we just rejoice again that you have provided that which we needed most.

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Jesus Christ is for us that which we need, a Savior from our sin. We pray for any and all who are hearing this and who are here today that if they do not know

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Jesus Christ as Savior that you would do that work of drawing their hearts to you. Change their minds, open their eyes to see the weight of their own blasphemy, the weight of their own love for darkness so that they may embrace the light.

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We thank you for Christ for a Savior who is able to save us from our sin and has done so.

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We thank you for a Savior who has secured for us everlastingly eternal life and who died in our stead so that we may be with you for all of eternity.