We're moving pretty quick through these long chapters of Luke, the first two especially. But I want to, as I've said before, I want to cover some key themes. And the key theme that I want to look at that weaves in and out of Luke's gospel, especially the opening chapters, is this idea of the Word and the impact the Word has as it comes. And we see it again this morning as we come to the passage before us, Luke 2, verses 21 to 40. Jesus being taken up to the temple and the encounters with Simeon and Anna that occur while he and his parents, Joseph and Mary, are there. So let me read that story for us from Luke's Gospel. It is no mere story, of course, but it is the very Word of God Himself. So Luke 2, starting at verse 21. And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. As it is written in the law of the Lord, every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord. and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons. Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel. And the 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 Lord's Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word. For my eyes have seen your salvation, that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.' And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. And Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary his mother, Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed, and a sword will pierce through your own soul also, so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed. And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour, she began to give thanks to God and to speak of Him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Israel. And when they had performed everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was upon him. So ends the reading of God's holy and infallible and inerrant Word. As we come before it this morning, let's once again approach the Lord our God in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, as always, we ask your blessing as we come to this part of our time of worship. We come before your word. We come before it humbly, and we ask that you would teach us and guide us and lead us as we hear it this morning. We ask that you would fulfill your promise that it goes out and does not return to you empty, but accomplishes what you have purposed for it and is successful in the things for which you send it. We pray as well that you would fill us to overflowing with your Holy Spirit, to open our eyes to see and to open our ears to hear what you have for us this morning, to make your word a lamp to our feet and a light to our path, that we may walk according to what it teaches us. Father, all this we pray in the precious name of Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen. Well, two weeks ago we covered Mary. Mary was visited by the angel Gabriel, given an announcement that she would give birth to a son, and her response was simple, but powerful. Let it be to me according to your word. What a powerful thing for all of us to embrace as the basic motivation of all life. Lord, let it be to me according to your word. Whatever happens, whatever you declare to me, let that be. Let that be the pattern, the motivation of my life. Mary trusted in God. She believed Him deeply and submitted to His will with great joy, as we saw in the song that she sang. Now today, as we see that the story continues, that Mary did not just speak words, emptily, vainly, and then go on living her life the way she wanted to. When she said, let it be to me according to your word, she meant it. And she lived that way, and Luke shows us that in the verses we have before us. She and Joseph and the others around them are examples of actually following through and living lives that are submitted to God. People who did what they did and did it according to the word given to them. It's one thing to say we're going to do something. It's another thing to actually do it. And we all do this. We're all guilty of it, shamefully. We say we'll do something and then we forget about it or we just fail to do it. It exits from our mind completely. We say we'll submit to God and then we go and do what we want. We say we'll pray for people and we forget about it. But we know, we know we don't do the things that we promised as often as we should. And it's one of these continuing problems, I think, one of these persistent weaknesses in the Church of Jesus Christ throughout history is that people will come with great joy to the faith, repent and believe and acknowledge Jesus as Savior, but then continue to go on and live their lives the way they want. Jesus is Savior, but He's not Lord. And that controversy comes up over and over and over again throughout history. I got my golden ticket into heaven, and so I can do what I want. It's the very thing Paul writes about in Romans. Do we sin more so that grace abounds more? Certainly not. What a terrible thing. But people will do that nonetheless. So what we have this morning for us is these wonderful examples of believers who live their lives according to the word. Now, the word has come into the world as an infant, the baby Jesus, and his story is still to come. In the meantime, in these verses before us, those around Jesus, his parents and these two wonderful people, Simeon and Anna, demonstrate what obedient faith looks like. And I want to look at that through three lenses this morning, three ideas. First is that living life according to God's word is necessary. It's not optional. And this is tied to the word as a revealing word. The word reveals to us not just who God is, but what we're supposed to do. It's necessary. The second thing is that living life according to God's Word, it doesn't come naturally. We need God's power. We need that strong hand of the Lord in Exodus to live life according to His Word. And that's the power of the Word as it comes. And that if we live life according to God's Word, the third thing, we will have true and very deep joy. This is the compelling word. The word comes and compels a response. And for those who live life according to the word, there will be joy. There will be true joy. And it's a deep and wonderful joy. So, those three things. Living life according to the word is necessary. One of the ways that Luke points us to this fact is that there are five times in these 20 verses where we're told that Mary and Joseph are doing what they're doing according to the law of Moses, according to the law of the Lord. Five times we're told they're doing things this way. Verse 22, the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses. They went up to Jerusalem. They did it as it is written in the law of the Lord in verse 23. They offered a sacrifice according to what it said in the Law of the Lord in verse 24. And then in verse 39, the conclusion, they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord. We're told about Simeon in verse 29, that he's now ready to depart according to the word that was given to him. And I think I skipped over one there too, but in any case, it's repeated throughout this passage. These people are acting according to the Word of the Lord that's been given to them. Three things specifically that Mary and Joseph were doing. First of all, they circumcised Jesus. Secondly, Mary went and was purified according to the law. And the third thing is they dedicated Jesus, redeemed him from the Lord as is taught in Moses' law, as we read in the Old Testament reading this morning. Now we know circumcision was to be performed on every single male that was born in Israel when they were eight days old. This was the covenant sign given to Abraham when God made his covenant with him, a sign of membership in that covenant, and a sign that the child who's been circumcised is an heir, a beneficiary of the promises of that covenant, the promises God gave to Abraham. Mary had to be purified according to the law of the Lord in Leviticus 12, verses 1 to 4. When a male son is born, there's a period of time when she has to go up and be purified, 40 days according to Leviticus. This is done according to Luke. And then we have that command to dedicate, to redeem the firstborn male son that we saw in our Old Testament reading. All these things are done according to the law of the Lord. God commanded them, and so they did them. And that's a powerful example to us, if you look at the details of what's going on. Because sometimes we follow God's commands, but we hedge a little bit here and there. We do the main parts, we get the main idea right, but maybe we fudge a little on the details. Worship's a good example of that for the churches as a whole. Everybody says that they want to worship in spirit and truth, but very few take the time to figure out what that means. To search God's word to see what he wants us to do and how he wants us to do it. The commands and examples given in his word. And so people do kind of the general thing right, but the details, eh, we got flexibility in that. It's very common, very tempting. There's all sorts of commands that are examples in our own lives when it comes to tithing and our offerings. We know the command to give, and so we give, but it's a little, or it's as much as we can afford, or it's what's left over after everything else has been taken care of rather than giving generously. We're told to love others. Well, it's easy to love the people we like. It's easy to love our family. It's easy to love the other people in the church, usually. But it's hard to love those who are unlovable, to love our enemies, to love that homeless person in the street who keeps bugging us. coming up and asking for money. The same person that you drive by every day, coming up to your car window asking for money. Those are the hard people to love, and so we fudge a little. That's true for us. Think about Old Testament believers. Circumcise your son on the eighth day. I can just see people back then. Well, I'm busy that day. I got to plow my field. I've got a business transaction to attend to at the city gate. How about we do it on the 9th day? Maybe the 10th. I may be free by then. Or let's do it early, the 6th day. People are people. They're no different then than they are today. You know this was happening. But that's not the command of God. Command of God is to circumcise on the eighth day. What's so big about eight days? There is something big about the eight days, I think. That's a separate question in and of itself. But what's big about it fundamentally is that God commanded it. So it's necessary for the people to do it and to do it the way he commanded them to do it. The mother of a son to purify herself 40 days after birth. Again, can it wait till the 41st day? How about 45 days? I got things to do. I've got a nursery to set up or whatever it might be. I'm busy with life, I've got other things to do and take care of. Is 40 days really all that big a deal? Well, yeah, God commanded it, it is. God's people must obey his commands. The sacrifice to redeem the firstborn son, man, that's expensive. If you don't redeem the animal with the sacrifice, you have to kill it. But your son, that requires a sacrifice. Animals, that's their livelihood. That's how they make money. That's how they live. And a poor family especially, two pigeons, two turtle doves, believe it or not, that's meals for a few days. We're just going to kill it? Can't we skip it? Can't we do something else? But see, that sacrifice is the idea, a test of faith that God will provide. But it's also a teaching point, a reminder of what God had done by His strong arm in bringing the people out of Egypt, the house of slavery. It's to be a perpetual memory generation after generation. It's a reminder of God saying, back in that day, I spared your firstborn, they're mine. So you got to buy him back from me. That's what he's saying. Your sons are mine. You all are mine. You are my people. And this is a reminder of that powerful truth. Those who would refuse to do it or compromise on it are basically saying to God, well, we're not really your people. And that's an insult, a slap in the face to God Himself. So none of these commands are optional. None are to be modified. None are to be adjusted according to the whims or desires or conveniences of men and women. Every single one is to be done according to the Word of God, His command, His law. And so Luke is making a point here, showing us over and over, Mary and Joseph doing things according to the law of the Lord is an example to us. God revealed these commands to the people and they are not optional. And so they submitted to them in obedience and in faith. That's part of what the Word does. It comes to reveal God's truth. It comes to reveal His law, His will for us. And the response of a believer, faithful obedience. Let it be to me according to your Word, and then live that way. We can't just say it. The words have to be followed by obedient action. It's what James is writing about. Show me your faith by what you do. Now the difficulty is we can't do this on our own. We cannot do this in our own power, by our own will, by our own ability. It's not said of Mary and Joseph in particular, but we see the principle, I think, at work in Simeon and in Anna. Two old people who have had to wait for the revealing of the Messiah, also obedient followers of God. Simeon is a righteous man according to the law, but we're also told that he had the Holy Spirit on him, in verse 25. And that the Spirit had revealed to him, this is God's word to Simeon, that he would not die until he had seen the Lord's Christ, the Messiah, verse 26. And then compelled by the Spirit, in the Spirit it says in verse 27, by the Spirit's leading and power he came to the temple and saw Jesus as his parents brought him up to do the work required by the law. This emphasis on the work of the Spirit demonstrates, shows that Simeon is not obeying God by his own will or power or strength, but he's being compelled and enabled by the very Spirit of the living God. Anna is old. We're told that while she was still a virgin, a young woman, she got married and was married to her husband for seven years. He died. And then she lived until she was 84 years old, says in verse 37. Now, there's another way to translate that. It could be that after he died, she lived another 84 years. She's either 84 or probably well past 100. A remarkable age for someone, especially a woman, at that time of history. Clearly Anna is not doing this in her own power. She's not striving, let me just live a little bit longer. God is preserving her and keeping her until that day when she will see Jesus. Same thing with Simeon. God made him a promise. You will not die until you see the Lord's Christ. It's by God's power that these two people are alive. It's by God's power that they get to see what has been promised. completely dependent upon God, and Anna in particular is completely dependent upon the generosity of others around her while she is never leaving the temple day or night, it says, to worship and to pray and to fast. These two people are examples of what we know, and we know this, that without God and without His power, without His strong hand working in us, we're lost. It came up this morning as our assurance of pardon, but Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 and verse 10 reinforce this so powerfully. It's by grace you have been saved through faith and it's not your own doing. It's the gift of God, not a result of work so that no one can boast. Then it goes on to say, we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. None of that is us. None of that is our doing. The faith is given. It's God's grace. It's not our works. It's not our effort. Even our good works are things that God prepared. God prepared them before time began for us to do. Nothing is by our own power or strength, not our faith, not our obedience, nothing. We are His workmanship to do good works that He's prepared for us. It's in His power. It's in His strength, not in our own strength or power. Without His power, we are rebels. We are lost in sin. Without His power, we want nothing to do with Him. But with His power, we hear the good news of salvation in Jesus, we repent, we believe, and then we do walk, not perfectly, with faulting, halting steps, but we walk in obedience to the Word of God. And this is in contrast to how many view the commands of God. You don't need to know church history, but there's a famous name, Pelagius, who reasoned. This was Pelagius' thought process. If God has commanded it, I must be able to do it. I must have enough good in me that I can accomplish what God has commanded me to do. Well, he was reasoning from his own thoughts, and he was wrong. And the great teacher Augustine opposed him from scripture on this. Ephesians 2 reminds us that that's not even possible. We are dead in our trespasses and sins and must be made alive in Christ. We do nothing on our own. But that's a very common error that many people make. And you may run into people like that. And you can always point them to Ephesians 1 and 2 to help them understand that properly. We can do nothing to please God. We can do nothing to keep His commandments properly. without His power at work in us. Well, the third thing that living life according to God's Word does is it produces joy, true joy, a powerful and a deep joy. And that's not normally how we think about obedience. Obedience to someone else, we usually think of it as an imposition, an intrusion, interference with our own independence, our own freedom, our own ways of doing things. That's not what I would choose. You can't tell me what to do. One of our nephews in our family used to say, or was it a niece, don't tell me do. Now, we all get to tell you do. We're adults. But it's even more important on a spiritual scale. God is our Father, and He gets to tell us what to do. And we have the pleasure and privilege of obeying Him. And when we do, it brings joy. We know this already from what we've seen in Mary's story, that she is filled with joy and praise for God. Go back and read her song in chapter 1, verses 46 to 45. Look at her reaction in chapter 2, verse 19. Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. She didn't just remember them, she treasured them. That's a word powerful with meaning. She valued them. As we talked about last week, what a powerful exercise and practice for us as well. So obedient Mary has great joy as she lives her life according to God's Word. Simeon and Anna are also joyful followers of God. The word comes to them and it compels this joyful response. Simeon sees the Lord's Christ as was promised to him and breaks into song in verses 29 to 32, what some have called the fourth Christmas carol ever written. Lord, now let your servant depart in peace according to your word. My eyes have seen your salvation, the salvation that you prepared in the presence of all people. Everybody's going to see this. It's light for revelation to the Gentiles. It's glory for your people Israel. He goes on to prophesy about the child to his parents. A child appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, a sign that's opposed. You got that idea from John 8, right? Jesus was clearly opposed. A sword would pierce through Mary's soul as well. But the hearts and thoughts of many would be revealed. Some for destruction, but some for everlasting life. Semen has great joy that the promises made to him by God have been fulfilled. His joy is so deep that he begins his song by saying, I can now die in peace. We kind of joke as we go through life. Boy, if I could just do that, I could die today happy. And it's usually about something trivial and silly. But I think, I believe, for every Christian, we can have that attitude constantly. From the moment that we're saved, from the moment that we repent and believe, I can die now. I can die joyfully because I have Christ who is all in all. Paul wrote that to the Philippians, right, when we went through that book. For me to live is Christ, but to die is gain. So as long as we live on this life, there's nothing but joy over the blessings and wonderful things that God has given to us. But to die and be with Christ? Wow. I could die in peace. Now, 10 years from now, 30 years from now, whenever it might happen, I can die in peace because I have seen my Savior. That's powerful. That's joy. That's deep, deep, deep joy. Anna, of course, responds by sharing her joy with others. And that's, I think, the other typical Christian reaction that we should have. She saw Jesus and began telling other people about Him. She went about, in verse 38, speaking of him to all those who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. She's an evangelist. She's a witness. She's an ambassador of the good news. Here's this old lady who's been sitting in the temple. Hey, the Messiah is here. You looking for the redemption of Israel? You looking for salvation? I found it. An old lady, full of energy and joy, for the joy of seeing Christ. If we have seen Christ, it's a joy that should permeate out from us to share with others. Anna knew who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem and she went to them. That's the eager audience, those who are ready and waiting and hopeful. Now we know in a general sense that all people need redemption, all people need salvation, and we can witness in that in that effort, street preaching, campus outreach, certain kinds of beach ministry. We have an announcement about that later today. But it's often, and I think perhaps more effective, when we interact with those around us and we sense the need in their life for the seeking, the questioning. Those people are looking for something, and we have the answer. The world in general is looking for answers that we have. But often that most powerful witnessing opportunity is the one who is struggling with something. But too often we're blind to what's going on around us and fail to see it and capitalize upon it. So keep your eyes open and be ready for those opportunities to share the good news with people who really are fertile ground. Perhaps God is preparing their own hearts as fertile ground to hear the word, to plant it deep within them and to bear fruit. Or if nothing else, just invite them to church, Bible study, or a fellowship, or worship itself. So again, here in Luke, we have the Word that comes, and comes powerfully, comes revealing God's will and His commands for us, and compels a joyful, deeply joyful, deeply powerful response. We all say we're followers of Jesus. That's kind of a new catchphrase. I'm a Jesus follower that we hear today. But according to Jesus himself, he says it in John 8, he says it elsewhere. If you love me, if you're mine, keep my word, keep my commandments. That's how we show others that we are his. So hear the word and obey the word. Don't do it in your own power. Do it in the power of the Holy Spirit. And know this. I'm confident of this. You will experience the profound and deep and wonderful joy that comes when we live our lives according to the Word of God. Let's pray. Our God and Father in heaven, we do ask for wisdom as we Study your Word as we seek to learn from it and as we seek to apply it in our lives, to live our lives according to what it teaches us. We can't understand it on our own. We can't apply it on our own. We can't do it on our own. And so we ask again, Father, that You would pour out Your Holy Spirit upon us. Fill us with Your Spirit to guide us into all truth, to point us to Jesus, our Savior, to teach us Your Word, and to make us doers of the Word and not just hearers only. This is a prayer that we know that you will answer positively, and so we pray it with great confidence and with great joy and with great expectation for the work that you will do in us. All of it, of course, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.