No man can take his place. No man can be a substitute. He is the only propitiation for sin. And I am thankful for that this morning. As we go through these days celebrating the birth of Christ and what we call the First Advent, you can't help but think about the Second Advent. and think about the coming of Christ, the two go hand in hand and it ought to excite us that the Lord is closer now to his return than it's ever been and every day that we live on and on and on we get closer to that fulfillment of the promise that the Lord is going to return, amen, and I'm glad of that. And the older I get, the more glad of that I am, amen. I appreciate the Lord this morning. If you would, let's turn to Luke chapter two, Luke chapter two, and we've been looking in the past couple of weeks at a thought here in this chapter concerning the birth of Christ, and again, the first advent, and some things here that happened the first time that are pretty similar to the days that we're living in. And the Bible lets us know that the closer we get to the coming of the Lord, the more we're going to understand and see things. And the Lord Himself said, as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the coming of the Son of God. And we can see some things on the horizon. I know we don't look for signs, and we're not Jews. We don't seek after a sign. We have the Word of God, the completed Word of God. But isn't it amazing when we see some things come to pass that are in the Word of God, and it just blesses our hearts and just reminds us that what the Lord promised that He's going to do, He is going to do it. Amen. So we're going to probably finish this thought here this morning. We began a couple weeks ago with a thought out of verse number one, and this thought here about in those days, where the Bible said it came to pass in those days, and there were some things that were happening in those days that we looked at. We're gonna look at the third and final one on this this morning, Lord willing. So let's stand if you're able, and I wanna pick up reading this morning in verse 25. Jump down to verse 25, and we'll begin reading there, and then we'll read on down to verse 35, and then we'll go to the Lord in prayer. Luke chapter 2 verse 25, the Bible said, And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. And the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel. And the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ. Let me just stop right there. This is not the message, but that's good advice for anybody. You better not die before you see Christ. By faith and accept Him as your Savior. Verse 27 said, And He came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for Him after the custom of the law, Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. And Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken of him. And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be spoken against. Yea, a sword shall pierce through thine own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we do come before you humbly this morning thanking you for the opportunity again to be saved and to be in your house. And Lord, for what you've done already, thank you for your presence. Lord, we know we sure don't deserve that this morning. Lord, if we got what we deserve, every one of us would be screaming from the pit of hell. But I'm so thankful this morning, God, that You loved us enough to come and to give Your life on the cross, to be born of a virgin in that manger there in Bethlehem, and live that sinless life, and go to the cross willingly, and rise up on the third day, and ascend back to the Father, Lord, to make intercession for us. I'm thankful for that this morning. I'm glad You're still working in the hearts of Your people, and I'm glad You're still wanting to save those that will be saved. Father, I pray this morning, as we conclude this thought, that it would be a blessing to the hearts of your people. And Lord, if there are any among us today that don't know you, maybe they know about you. Maybe they've been in church. Maybe they know how to talk and how to live a certain way. But in their heart, they've never been truly born again. I pray this would be the day, Lord, that you would turn the light on in their soul, and they would see their need of a personal Redeemer, and they would turn from their sin and trust you by faith. Lord, we know we have the promise from the Scripture that you will receive them and you will save them. Lord, we thank you for your mercy, and we love you this morning. We ask that you'd have your way in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. You can be seated. Now we begin about two weeks ago looking at this thought here in verse one, where the Bible said, and it came to pass in those days. And if you remember, I know some of you haven't been with us maybe in the past couple of Sundays, but you remember that first Sunday we dealt with this, we looked at the hardships in those days. We saw how that just The taxation and Mary and Joseph going to Bethlehem from Nazareth and all the events that were leading up to the birth of Christ happened in days of hardship. They were under the Roman Empire oppression and the taxation of Cyrenius that's mentioned here in these verses And it was days of tyranny. It was days of dictatorship. And we can see just a little bit of that in the days that we have lived in. And then secondly, on last week, we looked at the hungry in those days. And we saw how that God had a group of shepherds that were hungry. Not physically hungry, but they were hungry for the things of God. They were looking for, when the angel came and began to reveal to them that Christ was born of a virgin in the manger, then they got hungry of the things of God. And they went and sought out the Lord and found Him just as the angel of the Lord told them that He would be found. So we saw the hungry of those days, and that reminds us this morning that, thank God, there's still some of us that are hungry in these days for the things of God. I realize there's so many temptations and flashing lights and one thing another from the world, but the real child of God, we have a hunger for the things of God. We may get sidetracked every now and then and get our eyes on things we shouldn't, but the child of God won't stay there long. The Spirit of God will draw us back and get us fixated on where we need to be. So we saw the hungry in those days, the days of the birth of Christ. Now, this morning I want to finish with this final thought here and look at the hope in those days. Even though there was hardship in those days, even though there were those that were hungry, which was a good thing in those days, I'm glad there was hope in those days. And just as there were hope in the days of the coming of Christ the first time, there is hope in these days. You know, we've been in a year, and I don't want to say to you, I feel like this is all I keep coming back to, but it's just reality. This is where we're living at. We've lived in a year where lives have been changed. We've lived in a year where we've seen things that we never thought we would see in our generation before. But through all of that that's been going on, and some that's still going on, I'm glad to report to you this morning, there is hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. We do not have to live walking around in discouragement and despair and with our head hung down. I'm glad the same God that brought them through these days is the same God that's going to bring us through the days we're living in and eventually take us home to spend eternity with the Lord. So I want you to have hope this morning. If there's any time of year that we ought to have hope, it is during the Christmas season. But then it ought to continue after that. We ought to go into 2021 here in just a few weeks with hope in our heart. God is not dead. God is not finished. The church is not going down. She's going up. And there's work for us to do and there's rejoicing for us to get involved in between now and the time that the Lord comes. And then when He comes and takes us home to be with Him, you talking about having a time, it'll be a time then. Amen? So let's look at a few things in our text here this morning on the hope in those days. And I want you to, if you don't get anything else this morning, I want you to leave this service with hope in your heart. I realize there's a lot of discouraging things around us. I realize there's personal trials and things that some of you have experienced this year that were hardships and things you never thought you'd have to face. But I'm here to report to you this morning, through Christ, there is hope. Amen. Let's notice this this morning. In verse 25, as we come on the scene here with this account of Scripture concerning Simeon, it's one of my favorite places in the Scripture. I've preached several times in several different directions out of this text. And I love the character of Simeon, and I love what he represents. And you'll notice in verse 25, the first thing here that we want to draw your attention to is the expectancy of hope. We find a man by the name of Simeon that was expecting Christ to come. He had an expectancy in his heart. I don't think that Simeon was hanging around the temple discouraged. I don't think he was dragging around through the daytime with his lips stuck out as I so often do. I don't know about you, but I'll preach on me this morning. I don't think Simeon was letting all the activities and even the tyranny of that day Get him down to a place where he was not expecting the coming of the Lord. Because the Bible lets us know he had an expectancy about him. And child of God, this morning, you and I, we need to live in the midst of expectancy. We need to understand that even with all that's going on around us, there's some good things, according to the Word of God, that we can expect to come. He that will come, he that shall come, will come, the Bible said, and he will not tarry. Amen? The Lord is coming. We don't know the day or the hour, but we know that He's coming. And in these last days that we're living in, that's where we need to have our eyes. The apostle Paul said this in Hebrews, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. That's where our eyes need to be. That's where Simeon was at in our text this morning. Notice a couple things about his expectancy. I notice his character in verse 25. The Bible said, Behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and the same man was just and devout. These were days, we've already talked about, of tyranny. These were days where the government was not what they would have wanted it to be, and some of the happenings of the hour were not as they would have wanted them to be. But we find a man by the name of Simeon who's living right. He's just being just. He's just still being devout. My, we're living in a day where it seems like that many people are falling away. I'm telling you it's heartbreaking. I don't say that with any kind of pride because I realize that I could be the very next one outside of the grace of God and not following Him. But we look all around and we see a lot of people in these last days that are falling away from truth. We see many that used to walk with God used to have a life as Simeon had of being just and devout and dedicated to the things of God. And sadly, we hear report after report all the time of many that are getting away, getting out of church, walking away from the things of God. I don't know whether it's the hour we're living in and they're allowing the things of the world just to discourage them so much and just to drain all the hope out of them to where They feel like there's no reason to go on. I know the devil is sneaky and he's subtle according to the Scripture. And any way that he can get you and I from serving the Lord, any way he can keep us from staying faithful in these last days, he's going to try everything he can. And it seems like that he's just taken out everything he can on the church in these days. And I believe it was that way in the coming of the Lord the first time, in Luke chapter 2, when we see our text. But we find Simeon was a man that his character was right. And I want to encourage all of us this morning, we can have good character in these days. We can still live for God in these days. And by the way, there still is a number living for the Lord in these days. I know that our human nature, we get fixated on the things that are bad, don't we? We get fixated when someone falls. We get zeroed in when something goes wrong. Seems like bad news is what makes the news in these days. But I want to remind you this morning, there's still many that are serving the Lord. And there will continue to be many that are serving God all the way till the Lord comes to take us home to be with Him. So you find His character, and this is a challenge to you and I this morning to have this kind of character in the days that we're living. But then you find Simeon's confidence here also in verse 25. The Bible said, "...whose name was Simeon, and the same man was just and devout, Notice what he was doing. Notice his confidence. Waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Ghost was upon him. Now what do we find Simeon doing? Is he wringing his hands? No, we don't find that from the Scripture. Is he ready to throw the towel in? No, that's not what the Scripture said. But he's waiting on the consolation of Israel. He's waiting on the coming of the Lord. I'm telling you, if there's ever been a time where you and I need to get our eyes upon the second coming of Christ, it's the day we're living in. I was thinking of this the other day, and I was thinking of this to my own shame. I don't hear a whole lot of preaching anymore on the second coming of Christ. And I really don't feel like I've done enough preaching on the second coming of Christ. But it is a reality. It is a promise. It is a future event that is going to take place. We know as Bible believers, the second coming of Christ is divided in the Scripture to two parts. The first portion of it will be the rapture of the church, according to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, that at any time, we believe as the Apostle Paul did, the imminent return of Christ, at any time, he could come and call the church out, and we'll go home to be with him. and then there'll be seven years of tribulation, and then the revelation, which is the second portion of the second coming of Christ. And that's when he returns, and we return with him, and he deals with the nation of Israel, and he sets up his throne there in Jerusalem and rules and reigns for a thousand years. And those are exciting things if you're a child of God. Now, if you're not saved this morning, those events should scare you. If you don't know the Lord, those events should cause you to be a little nervous. But for the child of God, we have a consolation that the Lord is going to come again. We have a consolation that it is going to get better, that He is going to take us home to be with Him. This world is not our home. And we're only passing through, as the songwriter said. Our treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. Amen? My consolation's not in this world. My consolation's not in the events or the outcome of elections and one thing or another. Yeah, I'd like to have it one way, and you would too. But I'm telling you, that's not where my consolation is this morning. My consolation is in the coming of my Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where Simeon was at. With all those things in those days that were going on around him, the Bible said in verse number 25, he was waiting for the consolation of Israel. Ask yourself this question this morning, what are you waiting on? What are you looking forward to? Are you looking into the next year maybe to be prosperous? Well, I hope you are. I hope everybody becomes a millionaire in the next year, but that'll make our tithes and offerings go up and we can get some more things done. Amen? I hope you do if you'll use it for God. If it won't ruin you, I hope you get it. Most of us couldn't handle it, so that's why God doesn't give it to us, because it would destroy us instead of help us. I hope we have a prosperous year in this next year. I hope some great things come. I hope America would find revival. I hope that she would turn back to God. But whether that happens or not, I am looking for the consolation of the coming of the Lord. And no matter how bad this thing gets, we can have hope in keeping our eyes on the return of Christ. So Simeon had some confidence here. Aren't you glad we can have confidence in God and His Word? I'm telling you, you can't have confidence in much in these days. There's very few people you can have confidence in, sadly. This society we live in, you can't have confidence in. But I'm glad we can have confidence in the Lord. So Simeon's confidence here was not in the political things of the day, but in the Lord and His return. Notice something else about his expectancy of hope. We find he had a comforter. Look in the last phrase of verse 25. The Bible tells us here, "...and the Holy Ghost was upon him." Now remember, this is the winding up of what we would call the Old Testament dispensation or the dispensation of the Law. The Spirit of God had not moved into the hearts of men yet. He would come upon them, but He did not live in them. One of the greatest truths of being a New Testament Christian is that we have the indwelling of the Spirit of God. You remember in John 14 and 15, how Jesus taught His disciples there in the upper room about His expedient, that He Himself should go away, and that He would send the Comforter? Wasn't it good this morning to know you and I have the Comforter? He abides, He abides. He lives with us, He's in us. When we wake up in the morning, He's there. When we go through our days, He's there. When we pillow our head at night, the Spirit of God abides in the heart of the believer. I'm telling you, that's one of the greatest truths that you'll ever get a hold of as a child of God. Now Simeon was blessed, and Simeon had an expectancy here, and he had a Comforter beside him, which was the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was upon this man. This was a man that walked with God. This was a man that kept his nose in the Scripture. This was a man that had a prayer life. This was a man that spent his time around the things of God. And the Bible said God gave him some comfort in those days. Well, I'm glad this morning I've got some comfort in these days. You've got some comfort in these days. I'm thankful this morning that when things go bad, and things try us, and things get turned upside down, like we've seen here recently, the Spirit of God in us never changes. He never leaves us. He never forsakes us. When we go to the Word of God, which is authored by the Spirit of God, He reveals to us the tried and the true promises in the Word of God that never change. You know, I'm glad this year through all the things that went on and all the craziness that's happened, I'm glad I never opened my Bible one time this year and saw it changed. I'm glad I never went to the Lord in prayer and found out that He wouldn't be there. I'm glad the Spirit of God has been as real to me in these days as He's ever been. We've got a Comforter this morning. I know we have trials. I know there are real things that come into our life that discourage us, and they cause us to weep in the midnight hour. And there are things that we faced and things we're going to face between here and getting out of here that are going to break our hearts and are going to cause us to weep and not know what to do. But you remember this morning, child of God, we have the Comforter. Simeon had a Comforter. We have that same Comforter, but he lives within us, and he's a person of the Holy Spirit. And if you don't know him this morning, he's the dearest friend you'll ever have. And by the way, he is a person, amen? He is part of the Godhead. Co-eternal, co-equal, just as much God as the Father, just as much God as the Son. I know he's been accused of a lot of things in religion in these days that he's not guilty of, but I'm thankful for the Holy Spirit. I'm thankful for that Comforter, amen? That even when I'm not what I ought to be, and even when I mess it up, do things I shouldn't do, and that's not something we ought to be proud of. I'm glad the Holy Spirit never leaves me. He reproves me. He smites my heart. He tells me, you better get that right. But I'm glad He loves me, and He stays with me. And Simeon knew what it was like to have a comforter in those days. Aren't you glad you got a comforter this morning? If you're saved, you got a comforter. If you're not saved, you can have the comforter today, amen? Notice something else about his expectancy of hope. Not only do we see his character and his confidence and his comforter, but then in verse 26 we find there's a confirmation that is in the heart of Simeon, and it gave him an expectancy in those days. Look in verse 26, the Bible said it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. You know what Simeon had here? He had some confirmation. There were some things that the Spirit of God confirmed in the heart of Simeon. Now, I don't know how many people outside of Simeon, and of course on down in the Scripture here, Anna, she knew who the Lord was when He came. But outside of those two examples and others, I don't know how many knew, but I do know that Simeon knew. And I do know the Bible said that through the Spirit of God, there were some things revealed to him that put confidence in his heart. Child of God, I've already mentioned we have the Spirit of God living in us. I'm going to tell you what else we have. We have the Word of God. And that Word with the Spirit will give us confirmation in these days. If there's ever been a day that you need to read your Bible, it's the day we're living in. If there's ever been a time where we need to have a steady diet of the Word of God, it's the hour we're living in. You say, Preacher, what's coming? I don't know. Oh, what are we going to face? I don't know. But I do know the Bible knows. And I do know that God knows. And I do know that if we'll stay in the book, and if we'll stay in prayer, we can have some confirmation in these days. There are some things that God will reveal to us that this world knows nothing about. You know, there's a lot of people today, and I'm not being critical when I say this, I'm just being honest. There's a lot of people in this hour, they're living their life in fear. Everything they do is wrapped around fear. Their whole being is covered up with fear. But aren't you glad for the child of God this morning? We don't have to live that way. Yes, we do get fearful sometimes. We have moments of fear and days of fear and sometimes even months of fear. But aren't you glad God delivers us and helps us with that? Aren't you glad for the confirmation of the Scripture? How many times have we had fear and we've went to the Word of God, and the Spirit of God that lives in us began to reveal Himself, reveal Christ out of the Word of God, reveal truth out of the Word of God, and it confirmed in our heart that God was who He said He was and was going to do what He said He would do. You see, Simeon had that. He didn't have a Bible like you and I. He had some of the Old Testament, but he had the Spirit of God, and that was confirmation in his heart. I'm glad in these days we can have confirmation. See, this world, about everything I've heard recently is about, we don't know, we don't know. No, there's a lot of things we don't know. But what I do know, I can be confident in. And what I do have through the Scripture, I can trust the Lord and know that He is going to bring us through. Amen? Confirmation. That's what Simeon had. So you see the expectancy of hope. Child of God, the Lord wants us to live with an expectancy of Him coming again. An expectancy of spending eternity with Him. A joy in our heart. Just like if you've ever had a loved one that's ever been away from you for a while. I don't know if any of you ever experienced that. I remember when I was overseas in the military, six months I was gone from my family. Got to talk to them on the phone very little and got to read letters and that was it. That was before the days of internet and Skype and all that. And six months I was gone. And I'm going to tell you about three or four days before I got back. I mean, I was wanting to get home the whole time. But we were busy and working and doing things. But about three or four days before I got back, there was an expectancy in me. And then two days before I got home, there was an expectancy. And then the morning I woke up, that we were headed back, there was an expectancy. The closer I got to coming home, the more I got to thinking about it. The more I got to rejoicing over it. The more I wanted to get there. And that's the way it ought to be for the child of God. Every morning we wake up is another day closer to the coming of the Lord. It's another moment that we could see the Lord return at any time, and we ought to have that rejoicing and that desire in our heart to see Him when He comes. And look at this. Notice, secondly, let's look at the entrance of the hope. We saw that expectancy there in the heart of Simeon, and now we're going to see how that hope comes through and how it comes about. Look in verse number 27. In verse 27, I notice the place of the entrance. The Bible said, "...and he came by the Spirit into the temple." Where did Simeon find the Lord at? He found Him there at the temple. Now I realize, I've already mentioned to you, we have the indwell in the Spirit of God. I know I can worship the Lord riding down the road in the car. I can worship the Lord at home from time to time. There's a lot of ways you can worship the Lord. But there's something special about being obedient to come into the house of God. There's something special about fulfilling the book of Hebrews 10.25, where it teaches us to forsake not the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some. And he said, so much the more, as you see the day approaching. You know what that tells us this morning? The closer that we get to the coming of the Lord, the more we need to be around the house of God. The more we need to be around the people of God. There's just something special about being around God's house when He shows up. And that's the place where Simeon found it. And I'm going to tell you something, you all know this, but I'm going to just reiterate it with you this morning. In these days, these are not the days to get out of church. This is not the hour to get slack on coming to church. These are not the times that you want to take your family and find something else to do other than be faithful down at the house of God. If there's ever been a time where you've got a commitment in your heart to be faithful at the house of God, it better be this day you're in. I'm telling you, we're going to need each other more than we've ever needed each other in the days to come. We're going to need the assembly. There's something about the assembly that nothing else will do. Amen? There's something about coming together where two or three are gathered and the Lord shows up in the midst. You can't duplicate it anywhere else. You can't find it anywhere else. I thank God for the live stream and the ability to be able to live stream to some that can't be here from time to time and some that are sick and some that are shut in. I'm not talking about that this morning, but you that are able to get here, you better be here in these days. You better be every time the doors are open. You better be at the house of God because you will never know when he's going to show up. Boy, I'd have hated to miss church this morning, wouldn't you? I'd have hated to miss the choir singing and the testifying and the shouting and the praising God. I'd have hated to miss that this morning, amen? I'm glad I was here when the Lord came. And Simeon was in the right place when the Lord showed up. I'll promise you this, if you'll just be in the right place, God will show up in your life. I mean, if you'll just stay with God and be where you're supposed to be, and do what you're supposed to do, it is amazing how the Lord will just show up. I'm reminded of Elijah. You remember Elijah and the days of famine? You remember what the Lord told him? He said, go to the brook Cherith, and he said, there will I feed thee. There was a lot of brooks in those days. There was a lot of places Elijah could have hid in those days. But if he'd have been anywhere else than Cherith, he would have starved to death. Because the Lord programmed those ravens to bring Him flesh and bread in the morning, flesh and bread in the evening. And because Elijah was there, God blessed him in days of famine. And we're living in days of famine. And I'm going to tell you, you need to be in your there. Amen? That's where you need to be. You don't get your mail at just any address, do you? You got an address where you get your mail. You got a spiritual address too, amen? Simeon had a spiritual address, and he was a present and accounted for, and on that day, the Lord showed up, amen? You see the entrance of hope and the place, but then I see the purpose of the entrance here, found also in verse 27. Look at what the Bible said. He came by the Spirit. He's being led by the Spirit. He came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him after the custom of the law. You know what the purpose was for Jesus coming to the temple that day? Was to fulfill the law. He was supposed to come on that eighth day and to be circumcised and all those things that took place under the law on that day. He came to fulfill the law. You know what Jesus did when He came to this world? He came to fulfill the law. He didn't do away with the law, but He fulfilled it. Man couldn't fulfill it. Adam couldn't fulfill it. He fell in the garden. Noah couldn't fulfill it. He sinned. Moses couldn't fulfill it. Elijah and Elisha couldn't fulfill it. King David couldn't fulfill it. But in the fullness of time, Christ Jesus came to fulfill that law. And He showed up because He did what His Word said He would do. And I know we're living in days where sometimes it seems like the Lord's never going to return, don't He? I mean, there's been a lot of talk about the return of the Lord in these past several months because of the events that have happened in our society with this virus and all these things and all this stuff that's coming to pass and things we've seen. There's been a lot of talk about that, but one of these days He's coming. One of these days He's going to show up. There's a promise there, and Simeon knew that, and he was trusting the Lord, and he believed God, and there was a purpose for him coming, and that purpose was to fulfill that law, and to do what he said he'd do. And do you know when I look back at the first advent, and I see that Jesus did everything those prophets said he would do? He was born where they said He would be born at. He came through a virgin just like they said He would come. All the prophecy of the Old Testament was fulfilled. Every jot, every tittle came to pass exactly like those Old Testament prophets proclaimed it. And they didn't even see the coming of Christ. They didn't even understand the fullness of Christ. But when He did what He did in the first coming, that lets me know He'll do what He said He's going to do in the second coming. So how do you know he's going to return? Because he did the first time. He fulfilled it the first time. He did what the Bible said the first time. What the law wanted the first time. And he'll do it again. Amen? Simeon knew that. Hey, there's a purpose of his entrance. Notice this. Then you find the praise of his entrance. Look in verse 28. When the Lord comes in, Simeon's waiting patiently for the consolation of Israel. Here comes Mary and Joseph bringing the babe to the temple. Notice what happens. The Bible said in verse 28, Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said... You know what Simeon did right here in the temple? He's waiting in the temple. Here comes Mary and Joseph in with the babe to do according to the law. And you know what Simeon did? He walked up and said, let me see him just a minute. Let me hold him just a minute. You know, the older I get, I like to do that. I mean, when I was little, when I was younger, not little, but when I was younger and a young parent, I was so busy, I don't even remember holding my own children, amen? But now that I'm getting older and I've got grandchildren and there's some little ones running around here, I like to take some time every now and then, just pick them up and hold them. I could see Simeon coming in there. I could see him taking Jesus. You know what he did here? He received Him. That's what he did. He didn't shun Him. He didn't say, no, I don't think that's Him. He's going to come another way. He received Him. I'm going to tell you, you better know that you've received Christ. You better know that He's yours. You better know that you've embraced Him. You better have an assurance in your heart in this hour that you are saved. That you know Christ. Not just a church member. Not just been through water baptism. Not just shook the preacher's hand and started coming to church. But no, you better know you've been born again. You better believe this is an hour when your faith is going to be tried. This is an hour when we're going to have to know that we know that He is the one that we've received. That's what Simeon did. Amen, and he praised him. He praised the Lord for him coming in, for his interest. Notice the third thing this morning. Notice this, we find now the expounding of hope. You see, this scene we're looking at here in Luke chapter 2 is a scene of hope. Now, outside of the temple, what was going on? Outside of the temple, it was Roman oppression. It was Roman tyranny. There were things going on that the Jews didn't like. There were societal issues that were happening that were unfair. And if you looked on the outside of the temple, in the days of the first coming of Christ, you'd say, what a messed up world was on the outside. And that's true. But you look on the inside of the temple, they were having a rejoicing service. They were having a time. They were enjoying the things of God. It was different on the inside than it was on the outside. And I'm glad in these days it can be that way, and it should be that way. Amen? Look at this. Look as he expounds on this hope. Let me give you this quickly. In verse number 29, notice the expounding of hope brings satisfaction. There's very few people in this day that I really believe are honestly satisfied. They can honestly look you in the eye and say, I'm satisfied with my Lord. I'm satisfied, not necessarily what we've done, but satisfied with being saved, is what I'm talking about. Look in this verse, look in verse 29. In verse 29, Simeon said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word. You know what Simeon was saying? I'm satisfied. He said, Lord, ain't nothing else I have to see. Ain't nothing else I have to do. There's nothing else I want to get involved in. I've seen the Lord. I've held the Lord. I've received the salvation of the coming of Christ. And he said, I'm satisfied. And he said, just let me depart. He said, I can leave now in peace. You know, there's very few people in this world today, if you look at the masses of the world, what are they? 330 million just in America, roughly. I don't know how many are in the world's population. But if you look at the masses of the world, I wonder how many of those people have peace this morning. Very few. There's very few Americans that have peace. I'll go as far to say there's a lot of God's people that don't have the peace that they ought to have. Simeon said when he held the Lord and received the Lord, and he saw the Lord for who He is, he said he was satisfied. I'm going to tell you something this morning, child of God, we need to get satisfied with the Lord. We need to quit trying to get satisfied with this world. It will not satisfy you. You can taste of this world. You can drink out of its cesspools. You can go to this world and taste all the things it's got. And the Bible said there's pleasure in that sin, but it's only for a season. It's going to run out. It's going to dissatisfy. It's going to dishearten you. You're going to be discouraged. You're going to be depressed over it. I'm telling you, the only satisfaction is in Christ alone. Simeon said, I'm satisfied. As he hailed baby Jesus, he said, I'm satisfied. This is what I was looking for. That's what Simeon said. What are you looking for this morning? What are you looking for this year? What are you looking for in the years to come? We better be looking for Christ. Amen? You see, it brings satisfaction. Notice something else. It brings sight. Look in verse 30. He said, For mine eyes have seen thy salvation. I wonder how many people in this day can honestly say they've seen salvation. I wonder how many people with confidence in their heart and an assurance in their soul can say that I know that I'm saved. Well, I'm telling you, there's nothing like that. There's nothing greater than that. I realize from time to time God's people struggle. I know that. I know a lot of times, especially as a young Christian, most young Christians go through periods of doubt and things like that. I understand that. I went through that myself. But boy, when I got founded in the Scripture, When I got to reading my Bible and letting that Bible soak into me, I'm going to tell you where you'll get that assurance of salvation at. It's not going to be in a prayer you pray. Now, I know we've all done this, we've dealt with that problem of assurance, and we've ran to the altar and thought, boy, if I pray another prayer, that'll help me. And I'm not against praying. But I'm going to tell you where you'll get your assurance of salvation, and where you'll get your assurance of God working in your life, you'll get it out of His Word. Somewhere, I'm telling you now, you're looking at one this morning, I struggled, I thought you could be saved one minute, lost the next, and that was after I got saved, okay? And I know I got saved, but I struggled for a while. But somewhere, somewhere on the USS Saipan in the Mediterranean Ocean, God nailed her down in my heart, that I was saved for eternity. I can't remember the verse I read, I can't remember the thought He gave me, but I was studying my Bible, I was asking God to help me. I was weeping. I said, Lord, I'm tired of living like this. And I'm going to tell you, when that light came on, I have not doubted it since. Amen? I've not always lived like I'm saved. I've not always done everything a saved person should do. But I'm telling you, through God's Word, He nailed it down in my heart that I'm saved. When Simeon held that baby, he said, I ain't looking for nobody else. He said, I'm not looking for somebody to ride. You know, a lot of those Jews, I think, especially the Pharisees and them, that didn't know God and didn't listen to the prophecies, they were looking for some great leader to ride in, maybe on a white horse and defeat the Romans and take back the Jews and establish that. That's not the way he came. Simeon said, right here is salvation. Simeon said, this little baby, this little eight-day-old baby I'm holding in my arms, he said, that's where my salvation is. And I'm going to tell you, the world's looking for this, and the world's looking for that. Man, they're looking for a... There was the British Prime Minister, saw this on the news the other day, the British Prime Minister said, thank God for the vaccine, we have the salvation of humanity. I looked at that article and said, no sir, no sir, you are wrong. The salvation of humanity is Christ and Christ alone. Amen. I found the salvation. I'm not looking for any other salvation. I'm not looking for any other way. Amen. It's all wrapped up in Him. That's what Simeon said. Simeon said, I'm ready to die now. I'm going to tell you, you'll never get ready to die until you get saved. You'll never get ready to die until you see Him for who He is. And that's what Simeon said. He said, I've held Him, I've believed Him, I've seen Him. He said, I'm ready to depart in peace. He said, whatever happens from here on out, it really don't matter. He said, I know Him. Boy, isn't that a blessing this morning? Hey, it brings sight, it brings salvation. I've got to be done. Look at this, verse 31. Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people. Isn't that good? This is not pick on Calvin this month, but everywhere I read, I find contrary scripture to Calvinism. I'm telling you, not even looking for it. He didn't say, for the face of a few people, did he? No, look at that verse again, look what he said. He said this, he said, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people. Amen? The gospel and the presentation of Christ is for all. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that great this morning? Isn't it good that we can tell all, we can tell whosoever we are, about what God has done for us? And I'm going to be honest with you now, I'm going to confess a little this morning. In these past days and what we've seen this year, I'll tell you what really dwindled in my life, and this may not have happened to you, but I'm going to tell you what really dwindled in my life was my desire to be a witness. I'm telling you, I've struggled with it this year. I'll be honest with you. I've gotten so wrapped up in the events of what's been happening in my life that I failed to be the witness that I should be. You say, well, you preach three times a week. Yeah, but that's not personal witnessing, amen? I'm talking about talking to people out in public. I'm talking about talking to others with Christ. And now with all this social distancing and mask and all this stuff, I mean, you don't want to just run up in somebody's face and say, hey man, so you got to be a little careful about it and you got to kind of do it with a little bit of sense about it. But the Lord spoke to my heart the other day. He said, son, if there's ever a time you need to be witnessing, now's the time. If there's ever a time you need to be telling others that Christ came for whosoever will, now is the time. And I'm wanting to get help with that. I need it. You prayed for your preacher this morning. I want to be a better witness in these days because this is a time that God has given us just like He did in Simeon's day. We know the truth. We know how this thing's going to end. We know where salvation's at. And we need to be telling a lost and dying world that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. You see, it brought salvation. Notice this final thing. I'll be done. Number four, we see the excitement of hope. Look at this. Verse 33, we find the marvel. The Bible said, "...and Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken of him." You know, hope ought to bring excitement to our heart. When we think about Bible hope, Bible hope is not the same as the way the world uses hope. A lot of times with the word hope, we'll say, well, I hope the weather's good tomorrow, or I hope this is good, or I hope this is okay, or I hope this happens. That's not Bible hope. Bible hope is based upon the authority of the scripture. Bible hope is knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is going to do what he said he would do. And here is an excitement going on in this temple in this day because of the hope of Christ coming to this world. Look at that marvel again in verse 33. Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken of him. Can you imagine how they must have felt? Can you imagine what was going on through their mind? I mean, the Bible tells us Mary pondered these things in her heart. Can you imagine how all of this was affecting them? There had to be an excitement there. Listen, I know we're living in days that we don't understand. I know there are things happening sometimes that we get a little fearful about. But I believe there ought to be some excitement in the heart of the child of God. I believe somewhere down in our heart, we may have to fan the flames every now and then. We may have to stir it up. We may have to help one another stay excited. But in the heart of the child of God, there ought to be an excitement in our heart because of this hope. There ought to be an expectancy like Simeon had. There ought to be an excitement like Simeon had. They marveled. Look at this. Look at the mission. Look at verse 34. 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. You know what Simeon said? Simeon said, this child's got a work to do. Mama, Mary, this child's got a work to do. There's something. He's going to make a difference, is what Simeon said. There's a mission. Christ came with a mission. I'll promise you, when He comes a second time, He's coming with a mission. A lot of the old-timers used to preach that He ain't coming for a dry run, amen? And He's not. He's coming on a mission. When the Lord returns a second time, we are going home to be with Him. In a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, we're going to be snatched out of this sin-cursed world. This crazy world that's denying God on every hand, and it seems like the noose is tightening down on the believer just about daily. Am I the only one that feels that way sometimes? I mean, just about daily. It seems like through the government and even society, the mentality of society, churches have been hated more in this year than they've probably ever been hated since the early church, maybe. Probably in the early church, it was worse, but in our time, there's been more hatred and animosity toward the church. The noose is tightening, the noose is tightening, the world's clamping down. But one of these days, when the Lord says it's time, He's going to come back and take us home. One of these days, our hope is going to come, and we're going to see Him face to face. Our faith is going to be turned into sight. Well, I can imagine as they left the temple that day, Simeon had that desire in his heart, that excitement in his heart to go on and be with the Lord because he had seen the Lord's Christ. Listen, I want to leave you with this thought this morning. There's hope in these days. There's hope in these days. I know there's problems. I know there's trials. I'll tell you, it seems like the people of God just in the past few months, some that I have known, have been through some of the greatest trials. I mean, some people that I have talked to and prayed with and counseled with have been through some things here recently. You just scratch your head and you say, Lord, what's next? What's next? But I'm here to tell you this morning, we've got hope in Christ. Just stay with Him. Just do like Simeon did. Just wait on that consolation.