You ever notice how songs lose their value, lose their meaning completely sometimes, if the tune is right? I grew up in the 80s, best decade for music in the history of the world. And, alright, so you all agreed, nobody laughed. There you go. And one of the songs that was my favorite at the time, was Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA. Just great beat, even I could keep rhythm with it, the beat was so obvious. I used to lip-sync to it in my bedroom a lot, that's what we did in the 80s. It was a great song, except nobody understood what it was about. It was a protest song. It was a song that protested a country that claimed to honor its veterans but nobody would hire them. It was a song about veterans not being able to get jobs when they returned. And yet the beat was so catchy and the chorus was so catchy that people talked about this song about how patriotic it was and how wonderful it was and politicians played it at their rallies and nobody listened to the words. And I think that comes to mind every year at Christmas because you hear Christmas carols everywhere, right? Yesterday I was driving around town and heard Sarah McLachlan singing Angels We've Heard on High. She's got a great voice and it's cool. But those words are powerful. Glory to God in Excelsis Deo. That's a powerful phrase. Are we missing that? You know, Alanis Morissette singing O Holy Night. Again, love her voice, beautiful version. Are we really thinking that when we're hearing that? Fall on your knees? Are we missing it, is the question. Has the spear been used so much that the tip is dull? I think that's a question we need to ask and we need to think about, especially when it comes to Christmas. Has Linus told us the Christmas story so much that it's become dull? Is the story of the nativity just become another bedtime story? I think that's an important question. You know, when the Magi came and found Jesus, they didn't, you know, say, they didn't talk about how cute Mary looked. Oh, look at her. She's so pretty. They didn't kind of comment on Joseph. Look at him. What a young guy, playing the man. He'd be great. They fell on their faces and they worshiped the baby Jesus. That's the correct response to the nativity, to fall on our faces and worship. And, you know, we play it out in Christmas pageants, millions of Christmas pageants all over the world, and it seems to have lost its message completely. And we've lost the sword of it. We've lost the power of it. And so I've chosen kind of a different Christmas text. It's a Christmas text. It's a text about the baby Jesus, but I want to kind of use one that's a little less common. to see if we can maybe feel the sword again and see the importance, the gravity of this occurrence that our Lord has become a man and dwelt among us. I'm going to read to us from Luke chapter 2 beginning with verse 28 or 25. And I want you to hear that our consolation, the consolation of God's people, He's come and He's brought with Him a light and a sword. The consolation for God's people has come and He's brought with Him a light and a sword. Please stand as we read the story of Simeon. Joseph and Mary have come to the temple to make the sacrifice for their baby, as you are supposed to for every firstborn male. And they met this man. 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're 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 the thoughts from many hearts may be revealed. Thus far the reading of God's holy word. All men are like grass, and all of our glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but not God's word. God's word stands forever. You may be seated. The consolation of Israel, the consolation of God's people, the consolation for the church has come, and He's come with a light and with a sword. So I want to just kind of look at these three words, consolation, light, and sword, and see what they reveal to us about Jesus and His mission. And the first thing we see is he is the consolation of Israel. Simeon had been coming to the temple, he'd been praying, the Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he will not die until he sees the Messiah, until he sees the anointed one, the one who is going to be, and I think this is a rare phrase, the consolation of Israel. And he comes in and he finds Jesus. Joseph and Mary have brought him to the temple. The law said that the firstborn belongs to God and he must be redeemed by a sacrifice. And if you were poor, as Joseph and Mary were, then you could catch two pigeons. and bring them in. And so they brought in the two pigeons and that was their sacrifice. And Simeon sees them and sees this child and the Holy Spirit reveals to him, this is it, this is the one you've been waiting for. And he receives him and he says, now my eyes have seen your salvation. The consolation of Israel. That's a strange word, isn't it? The consolation. It's not what anybody else is looking for. Nobody else wanted a consolation. Everybody else wanted a conqueror, a king, someone who was going to free them from Rome and make them into a great power again. But Simeon knew better than that. That's not happening. That's not what the Lord has revealed. The Lord has promised a consolation. Why don't we like that word? Well, I tell you, I don't like that word because consolations are for losers. I can't say that word without thinking, here's your consolation prize. You lost. Pick up your consolation prize at the door. You went on a game show and you lost. You didn't get to go for Final Jeopardy or you didn't get to go for the big prize, but you were given a consolation. Here's a nice microwave. Sorry you didn't win the trip to Europe, but here's a nice oven for you. Here's a toaster. your consolation prize on the way out. It feels like Jesus is more than a consolation prize on the way out. Yet, we're told he's the consolation of Israel, the consolation of God's people. He's the comforter. He is the one that consoles us. That's what Simeon was looking for. This is a sermon point that might not resonate with you young folks yet, but I think it does explain why the people who end up coming to Jesus come. As the Apostle Paul said, not many of us are winners. If you read 1 Corinthians chapter 1, Paul gives us this I don't know, roll call of who comes to Jesus. And it's not the most complimentary roll call. He says, consider your calling. Not many of you were wise. Thanks, Paul. Not many were powerful. Not many were noble. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing those that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God." In a world that despises losers, the church is filled with those who admit that we are such bad losers. that only God himself dying give us hope. That's how broken we are. Nothing less than that could have saved us. There's nothing we could have done for ourselves. It's interesting whenever I do the children's professions of faith like we did last week, and they're so wonderful. I love it. It's one of the top two things I love about my job. But every time I ask that first question, you can see this look on the kid's face of befuddlement, right? Do you know that you're a sinner and without hope saving Christ's mercy? And you kind of see them go, they want so badly to go, no, I'm not a sinner. No, that would be bad. And we still get that look of befuddlement on our faces. Is it okay for me to admit this? And the truth of the matter is, if you're not ready to admit this, you don't belong in here. If you're not ready to admit that your life was so messed up that you could not save yourself, you don't belong in here. I had the privilege of going to an AA meeting with a friend one night, and it was kind of an open-chair night, and one of the ladies in the room said, you know, my problem is that I'm very, very smart and intelligent, and I always think I'm the smartest person in the room. And every time I think that, I'm reminded, if you're so smart, why do you have to go to AA? And that same kind of humility should apply to us. If you're so great, why are you here? This is a room for people whose lives are broken. This is a room for people whose lives are hopeless outside of Christ, who know their weakness. This is a room for people who outside of Him would have ruined everything. And we need consolation. We need consolation. We need an eternal hope that points us beyond this life to the hope, the reward that is to come. We come in here admitting that life has beaten us up, that we have failed and the things that we wanted to achieve we're not going to achieve and the things that we're proud of really are meaningless and the things that matter about us we did nothing to earn. The thing that matters the most about us is that the Lord loves us and we did nothing to earn that. That's our consolation. That's our consolation. The Apostle Paul says our struggles in this life are momentary in light. Our light and momentary struggles are just preparing us for an eternal weight of glory. That is us. That's our consolation. He's a consolation. Our consolation brings with Him two things. When I think consolation, I think if you're going to bring something with me to console me, a nice warm blanket, maybe some chicken pot pie, some comfort food, maybe some cookies, a consolation basket. But our consolation brings with Him a light and a sword. A light and a sword. What does Simeon go on to say? He says, this baby is the light of revelation to the nations. A light to the Gentiles. It's echoing that great prophecy from Isaiah chapter 9. Those who are in the darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwell in the land of deep darkness, upon them a light has shined. You're not lost anymore. The light has shined upon you. They finally understand that the truth, Jesus has brought the truth, the light to a world that walked in darkness. To a world that walked in darkness. That is so comforting. Have you ever been? Y'all probably haven't. You're kind of city people. You ever been lost in the dark? Like really lost? One Halloween, I don't recommend this, children. One Halloween, a friend of mine convinced me to come out and throw eggs with him. And so we did. And the problem with throwing eggs at cars other than the fact that it's just stupid and dangerous, is when you're out in the country where I lived, like every third car has a shotgun in it. Okay, and so about the third car we threw eggs at was a truck, and all of a sudden he just hits the brakes, and we're all kind of looking like, what is about to happen? And he pulls his shotgun out and starts firing. I don't know where he was firing, probably up in the air. I didn't wait around to find out. I just turned and ran. And I ran and ran and ran and realized I was lost in the woods. I was as lost as I could be. And just wandered around until somebody else was lost in the woods and we found our way out. It's a terrifying feeling to be lost in the dark. And that is, that's the description of the nations. They were so lost. Their religion was lost. They had no idea who God was. The false gods they worshipped were manipulative and evil and required that they degrade themselves, cut themselves, shed their own blood, and give their children over to all kinds of disgusting prostitution and just terrible, terrible things. They were lost. And that lostness is just as clear today. I had lunch Friday with some friends and one of them was describing one of his jobs when he was in college was working at a liquor store and this woman coming in and she would come in four and five times on a night just buying a little pint each time. And he couldn't figure it out for a while and then he realized every one of those pints was her last one. Everyone that was the last that's why she didn't buy a big one, right? She just want a little bit. This is my last one And she'd go through four and five last ones a night She's lost She's just lost And God comes and He brings us the light through Jesus. He shows us what God is like. He is not a God who degrades. He is not a God constantly demanding that we rise up to some level. He is a God of grace and of humility who is born in a barn. He is born in a stable and He makes Himself into a child that is easy to pick up and He is easy to approach. That's what God is like. He's humble. He dwells with the contrite and the broken hearted and the bowed down in spirit. That's what he's actually like. He shines a light of hope that no one is below this God. When He takes on human flesh, He spends time with the sick and the poor and the sinful and the degraded so that they can be lifted up and they can be glorified. That's what God is like. He brings a light of revelation. He is our consolation. He brings a light And he's our consolation, he brings a sword. These words how how Mary must have felt right holding her child and she's already seen some strange things You know, she's seen shepherds come in talk about angels. She's seen these Magi come from from the Far East Bringing gifts and worshipping her son. She's seen an angel tell her that the Sun's pretty special She knew she knows but the answer to the song Mary. Did you know is? Yeah, she knew But This one's strange. Simeon looks at her and says, a sword's going to pierce your heart. A sort of division that separates, that reveals the thoughts of everyone. And that sword really does get lost. That's the part of the Christmas message that gets lost. One music critic, Tim Keller talks about a music critic who was listening to Handel's Messiah and was musing about, do we hear it too often? Has it lost its point? And he says, well, the good news is it's so well written and so beautiful that you can't mess it up. I've heard terrible, well not terrible, but very ragtag choirs sing it and it's like, that's awesome. That was great. You can't mess that one up. But we do lose the point. This particular critic, while he was listening, he looked up in Revelation the passage that you're actually singing during the Hallelujah Chorus and it's a passage that describes Jesus in a linen robe that has been dipped in blood with a sword. and the blood of his enemies. And Simeon is reminding us that everyone who comes into contact with Jesus, well, everyone actually, will come into contact with his sword. The thoughts of your hearts are going to be revealed. You'll either feel this sword of conviction and turn in repentance, or you'll feel his sword of judgment, but you will not miss it. And we want to say, well, what about peace? Isn't he the Prince of Peace? Why would the Prince of Peace need to come with a sword? Well, how do you think peace is accomplished? When the Allied forces wanted to bring peace to Western Europe, what did they do? Did they come in throwing olive branches? No, they had to come in in violence and shed blood. When a surgeon is trying to remove a tumor that is at war with the rest of your body, what does he do? He brings a scalpel and he sheds blood. And when God wants to bring peace on this earth to end the war between him and us, he comes with a sword. And that sword comes in one of two ways. It comes in conviction and repentance or it comes in judgment. The thoughts of our hearts will be revealed, Simeon says. Feeling his sword is that feeling of being caught. It's that feeling of knowing that you have been seen. Whatever you have done has been openly revealed, it's openly known. Jesus says the things that are done in secret will be made public. One day my son, one of my sons was on his phone And he was looking at pornography on Twitter. And he had forgotten that the Bluetooth speaker was still connected to his phone. So his mom and I were just listening to everything he was looking at. He was caught. Bogged up. What are you looking at, son? You're caught. Do you know that feeling of being caught? Knowing that feeling that God has seen everything that you've done. He's heard everything you've said. He knows the secrets of your heart. And that is the feeling of a sword. When Peter preached the gospel for the first time to the Israelites in Acts chapter 2, we're told that they were cut to the heart and cried out, what must we do to be saved? And the good news is what you have to do is you have to turn toward that sword and let it cut you and come to the very one who wields it and let him heal you. Let Him heal you. We sing a song here, it's beautiful, called Come Boldly to the Throne of Grace, and it has this verse in it. It says, you wretched souls who fear and know the hell of sin within, come boldly to the throne of grace, and He will take you in. He will take you in. Those He kills, He makes alive. He hears the sire groan. Come to the one who's caught you and let him heal you and then you'll know peace. Then you know peace between yourself and him. Then you know peace that will eventually come through your entire life. Then you will know the consolation of Israel. He is our consolation. But first we have to feel the cut. Please pray with me. Father in heaven, you are the God of all grace. The God of all mercy. And you could have sent your son the first time with a sword and a great horse and brought judgment upon us all. but instead you sent him as a child so that we would know your mercy, so that we could see your grace. Father, I pray that we would not turn away from that uncomfortable sword that cuts us to the heart, but that we would turn toward the very one who wields it so that we could be healed. so that we would be at war with you no more, so that we would know peace. When we come to you, Father, some of us coming for the first time and some of us for the 10,000th time, seek your grace. For it is by that grace alone that we live. In Jesus' precious name we pray.