In the invitation, your church has meant a great deal to our family, both for Jacob being able to attend here while he was at LaGrange and for Savannah now and Tim to establish their new home and have a great solid church to be a part of. It's been a great encouragement to our family. I'm going to ask you to stand in honor of the reading of God's word from Luke chapter two. And I'm going to begin reading in verse eleven. This is God's holy and infallible word. For there is born to you this day in the city of David, a savior who is Christ the Lord, and this will be the sign to you. You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. So it was when the angels had gone away from them into heaven that the shepherds said to one another, let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us. And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger. When they had seen him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told to them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen and as it was told to them. And children start paying much closer attention now. And when eight days were completed for the circumcision of the child, his name was called Jesus. The name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. Now, in the days of her purification, according to the law of Moses, were completed. They brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. As it is written in the law of the Lord, every male who 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. And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. And this man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel. And the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. So he came by the Spirit into the temple. 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, which you have prepared before the face of all peoples. a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people, Israel. And Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken of him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother, behold, this child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel and for a sign which will be spoken against. Yes, the sword will pierce through your own soul also that the hot thoughts and many hearts may be revealed. Now, there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Fanuel of the tribe of Asher. She was of great age and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity. And this woman was a widow of about 84 years who did not depart from the temple but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. And coming in that instant, she gave thanks to the Lord and spoke to him, to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem. May the Lord be pleased with the reading, the hearing, the applying of his word. Please pray with me. Lord Jesus, I pray that your name would be exalted among us. That your people with one voice would give glory to you. Oh Lord, we desperately need hope as your people and oh Lord, how desperate it is for hope in the world that's dying around us. We pray that today that we would be filled with your hope and we would carry hope with us and bring the message of hope to those around us. We pray that Christ would be glorified in all these things. It's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen. Please be seated. The title of the message today is Waiting in Hope, Simeon and Anna. It will not be a detailed exegesis of that long section. It would be best described as maybe a textual or thematic sermon on this topic. So I'm hoping that we'll get a greater sense of what hope is and what we should be thinking about this glorious time of year. What is hope? Well, it means to trust in. to wait for, to look for, or to desire something or someone or to expect something beneficial in the future. The Christian life is really made up of hope. We are a hopeful people. Jeremiah, the prophet, appealed to God by saying our hope is in you. The Lord is the hope of his people. It implies trust. God's people trust the Lord. They put their hope in Him. In the Old Testament, believers were encouraged to wait for God expectantly. In difficult times, we should wait upon the Lord. Psalm 25, 27, Psalm 40, Psalm 130. This theme is repeated throughout the Psalter. The hope that believers are to have is accompanied by the prayer that we will not be disgraced or ashamed. God's promises to us is that we will not be disappointed. Twenty seven times in the step to agent. Greek translation of the Old Testament, the idea of hope is tied to waiting. To be patient. To endure. When there is suffering, the individual bears affliction patiently while hopefully waiting for the Lord's deliverance. Psalm 40, a Psalm of Thanksgiving, recounts the sufferer whose hope was realized. I waited patiently for the Lord. In the New Testament, Paul writes about setting our hope on God. First Timothy four and on Christ, Ephesians 1. He also says in Romans 5 that hope does not disappoint us. In our text today, we have two significant individuals whose lives are characterized by hope and expectancy. Simeon looked for the consolation of Israel at the advent of the Messiah. And Anna, recognizing who Jesus was, proclaimed His arrival to all those who were expectantly waiting redemption. Hope is linked to patient endurance. In the New Testament, we learn that trials lead to hope. And hope in 1 Thessalonians is described as steadfast. When we hope for something, we wait for it through patience. Hope is the proper response to God's promises. I want to repeat that. If you're taking notes, you should probably write that down. Hope is the proper response to God's promises. Abraham was very old, but he had confidence that God would fulfill his promise And it says in Romans 4, against all hope, Abraham in hope believed. The eyes cannot see it. How do nearly 100 year old men have children? Hope. Only in hope can it happen. We too trust in God's promises and lay hold of and even seize the hope that is set before us. There's something else about hope. It's not merely the power of positive thinking from a generation ago, which is empty and hollow. Hope has a sanctifying effect. Those who look expectantly for Christ know that when we see him, we shall become like him. Hope also stimulates righteous living and good fruit. After Paul taught on the resurrection, he exhorted his hearers to do the Lord's work in abundance since this kind of labor is not in vain. I have a question for you. Do you have great hope for the arrival of Christ? And the bringing in of his salvation? You see, there's something very important that happens for the people of God. We we are people who rehearse historic facts and spiritual realities. We are talking about the incarnation of Christ today in this season, but that happened a long time ago. It's very helpful for us as the people of God to return to that cycle and maybe remember a little bit what it was like prior to Christ's arrival. That's what I hope to accomplish today a little bit. in our study of Simeon and Anna. Well, here's my sermon in a nutshell. Christ, the son of God, became man. That we might become the sons of God. Simeon and Anna waited, served and proclaimed that truth about the arrival of Christ and His salvation. They were defined by the hope and expectancy of Christ. Now today, you and I need to grow in patient endurance and having hope. I may have a family gathering with some of your extended relatives and maybe some of those people don't know Christ. You have to have great hope about Christ being able to save sinners. He saved you. And you also need to take it a step further and you need to declare to them and proclaim to them the hope that is found in Christ. Our world is a disaster. Little teenage girls are depressed at a high rate. The world is filled with hopelessness. We have the most wonderful, powerful gift to offer them. We have the hope of Jesus Christ. We have the hope of salvation. And Simeon and Anna long for the day when they might see and catch a glimpse of Christ the Savior. And what a glorious time for us to be alive. We see not only the Incarnation, but the sinless life. the efficacious atoning death on the cross. We see a resurrection of Christ. We see him ascended on high. Even now, our king and our God reigns in the heavens. Let's look at it. Luke chapter two. The first thing I want to point out is those of you who are taking notes, the circumcision of Jesus and his dedication at the temple This is background information to the main thrust of my point, but it's about Christ. So because of that, it leaps to the top. It becomes very important because we're speaking of Christ. If you need a simple outline today, write Christ number one, write Simeon number two, write Anna number three. And the fourth point will be application. Christ, Simeon, Anna. The circumcision of Jesus. Look at verse 21 again. And when eight days were completed for the circumcision of the child, his name was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. When we read over these kinds of things, we're we're tempted to just kind of pass over them to get to something else. I think we should be Careful not to do that in your devotional reading. Don't pass over things. Take a moment to consider what's being said here. I want you to get a picture of this. The glorious second person of the Trinity. The one who put the worlds into motion and holds them by his power, this one comes in the form of a baby conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary. He comes to rescue us and save us from certain judgment and damnation. He comes to deliver his people from all that they deserve and gives them something much more glorious. In one sense, we can say that Jesus doesn't really need a purification, right? He's without sin. Jesus didn't need to participate in one sense in the baptism of John the Baptist for a baptism of repentance. He didn't need to repent. What does he say? Let it be so that I might fulfill all righteousness. So notice the scrupulous care of Christ to fulfill all of these things so perfectly, so precisely that he might confer to us an imputation, his righteousness. On the eighth day, like Jewish boys should be, according to the law, Jesus was circumcised. There's something interesting about that, a side fact that has always been very interesting to me, and one of the things that's so amazing about the wisdom of God is he calls us to obedience and he also supplies provision for us when we are striving to obey him. Why the eighth day? Well, he committed Moses to circumcise on the eighth day. Did you know that in the 50s, 60s, 70s and into the 80s, they discovered a scientific truth. That little baby boys between the age of two days and five days old have a significantly higher risk of hemorrhaging and bleeding for any cause. It's a very dangerous time in the life of a baby. But you also know that on days five through seven the babies produce more vitamin K than they ever would at any time in their life. Their bodies are getting prepared to endure a surgery. And did you know that on the eighth day. The prothrombin rates, the height of that chemical composition in the body, is higher than it will ever be at any time in the child's life on the eighth day. Why? God didn't want his little covenant people to bleed to death. The best day to perform surgery on any human person, even a baby, would be on the eighth day. The scientific fact was proven in the 20th century. And God instructed Moses 4000 years ago to circumcise. On the 8th day. Abraham, sorry. So when he calls us to obedience, he provides for us as well. The mother is required to go through a time of purification. Later this afternoon, if you want to read through these texts, Exodus 13, Numbers 18, Leviticus 12, there's a 40 day purification period and process that she has to follow. And at the end of that time, she has to bring a burnt offering and a sin offering. The burnt offering is to be a lamb while the sin offering is to be a pigeon or a turtle dove. It's interesting that Mary and Joseph offer two birds for this purification, right? And I don't think it should be passed over as insignificant, but I believe in part not only because they identify Jesus does with the poorest among us. And of course, it'd be fitting for him to have the poor man's offering given for his mother's purification. But I actually also believe that The only way that Mary could be clean or any mother could be clean or any of us could be clean is that the precious blood of the Lamb of God would have to be offered. There could be no blood of the Lamb offered for the Lamb of God. He has to be the one who offers the blood that purifies and sanctifies and saves. These firstborn sons are consecrated to the Lord. Every firstborn son that opens the womb is dedicated to the Lord, to his service. The child, in effect, positionally belongs to God for his service. How beautiful and picturesque that Jesus would be consecrated and set apart to the Lord's service. You remember that Samuel was left to serve at the temple by his mother so that he might serve the Lord all the days of his life. And in fact, the Levites, as a tribe, serve in the place of the firstborns of all the other tribes, because the parents have to pay an offering of five shekels to redeem their fourth born children from temple service. The Levites fill in the gap of the place of all the firstborns of all of Israel, and they serve at the altar in the temple service. That substitution is, of course, very important to our faith. Jesus, as a little Jewish boy, the first born of his family, was consecrated to God. Jesus would be the high priest. Who would officiate at the heavenly altar? He would be the one who would make the perfect sacrifice, and it turns out that Jesus would not be redeemed from temple service, but he would be the redeemer of all of God's elect Jesus. The one who comes as a baby is the savior of the world. Notice how scrupulously, how carefully Christ follows all of these things. Even his parents participate in the fulfilling of all righteousness, bringing him to be dedicated to the temple, having him circumcised on the eighth day. As I was sitting here today, I had a little crackle in my singing and it was imperfect. I'm not a very good singer. And as I was thinking about that, I remembered that the feeble attempts that I make at worship today on this glorious Lord's Day run through the mediation of Christ. My songs given to Christ in honor of our God are acceptable in the sight of God because of the perfect mediation of Christ. Everything that happens today is acceptable in the sight of God because of Christ and his mediation for us. So we should esteem these things highly. The lamb is not offered for Jesus. Two turtle doves. But what about Simeon? Verse 25 says there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. And this man was just and devout. Waiting for the consolation of Israel. Since the fall, the people of God have waited for the arrival of the seed of the woman. to crush the serpent's head since the fall. That's a long time to wait. Been waiting and longing for the enemy to be crushed. And Simeon has a Holy Spirit enabled capacity to wait and to discern and to see that the Lord is bringing salvation to Israel. If you recall the narrative in the Exodus, the history of Israel is riddled with suffering and a need for deliverance. The Passover event was marked by the salvation of the firstborns of Israel. They were covered in the blood of those lambs. Egypt suffers the decimation of all of their firstborn. They were subjected to captivity and exile because of their sin. They longed for the righteous one, for God's Messiah to deliver them. They needed consolation. They needed comfort. And this could only come when the son of David would arrive. Pastor Boyd mentioned this arrived to shield them to protect them. The son of God. becomes the son of man that we might become the children of God. There's something else. Simeon, his waiting is done in hope. He faithfully served God with expectancy. He was given assurances by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. Christ's incarnation is the realization of that great messianic hope. Salvation was coming to Israel and it was also coming to the nations. Simeon prophetically told the truth about the division that Christ would bring. Look again at his song and beginning at verse twenty nine. Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles In the glory of your people, Israel and skip down again in verse thirty five, it says he's speaking to Mary. Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel and for a sign which will be spoken against a sword will pierce through your own soul also that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. My friends it's always sad to me my church meets in an old Episcopal historic Episcopal church building and we have to start everything an hour later. We're driving to church and at a time when people the Lord's people gather to assemble the vast majority of the people in my community are out doing other things. So we saw on the way here to people out shopping and doing other things, probably getting ready for Christmas. They don't know, and we have to warn them, it's our duty and our obligation, we've taken too much of a neutral or passive approach to our neighbors and their paganism. We have to warn them of the surety of God's judgment upon them. We have to tell them that they are in great danger and there's great hope for them if they trust in Christ. We have to. We are obligated, we're bound. It should be a privilege and a joy for us to tell people about the hope that exists in Christ. So in connected to Simeon's hopefulness, he has a message of warning, a message of judgment. He waits patiently, but he also prophetically tells them the truth. Do you actually believe that judgment is coming? The doctrine of hell is in disrepair in evangelical churches, but people don't really believe it. That one who tends toward antichrist behavior, the pope has said there is no hell, the pope. Said there is no hell. Do we believe it? Do we believe that really there's a sharp dividing line before the sheep and the goats, the people of God and everyone else? Do we really believe that some are made joint heirs with Christ and others to everlasting punishment? If we believe that, then we have to be a people who prophetically warn. Judgment is coming. Sharp line of divide is reminiscent here of the Passover. His blood covers the sins of some those who put all their trust in him. But his judgment falls upon all of those who reject him. The character in our study today that I would like to highlight a little bit more is Anna. So we're on to our third point, Anna. And Anna is an interesting figure. She is, I believe, an 84-year-old woman who probably got married in her mid to late teens. And she became a widow, let's say, at the age of 24. That means that this widow dedicated her life in round speculative numbers, 60 years she has devoted herself to the service of God. And she's not doing the glamorous things like Boyd and I get to do. She's not getting to stand in front of people preaching the gospel. She's doing the hard work of the hard spiritual disciplines of the spiritual life. She's fasting and praying. Continuously, there's a morning sacrifice and there's an evening sacrifice. And apparently she's there whenever those things are offered. She's there. She's always ministering, always serving. Her life is entirely given over to this service. Her hope had to shift away from her husband, I wonder what her dreams were about her husband and her family, what they would be like. But she had to make a turn and she entirely dedicated her life to the Lord and his service. Notice that her expectancy now is realized. She's been serving, she's been longing, she's been waiting. I wonder what the relationship is between Simeon and Anna. They're probably always around. They maybe talk. about the day when Christ would come, when the Messiah would come, the one who would deliver Israel from all of his sin and death and bondage. She didn't depart from the temple. But serve God with fastings and prayers night and day. I have to ask you a question. What is your life defined by today? What are the defining characteristics of your life? We have two heroes of the faith here whose lives are characterized by worship and service. You say, well, I'm in a different position, I have a job, I have a business, I have a family, I have other obligations, and I say you need to have worship and service rise to the first place and whatever your vocation and calling is, whatever you do, Make that be the place where Christ is exalted and you serve him. See, we don't hear stories about people and their their legendary athletic skills in the scripture, there's other people who are honored. We don't hear a lot about people building big businesses and the scripture, but we do hear about people who have great faith. And my friends, sometimes I think we forget we want to as reform people to have an organized and coherent system of doctrine. It's very good. But so much of what we are as a people is built on faith. On believing. And hope. It's not easy to explain, is it? We have to simply trust the Lord. We have to believe him. We have to take him at his word and act accordingly. We have to implicitly have that kind of faith. And it seems that Simeon and Anna were those kinds of people. Hannah looked for the day of salvation. She looked for redemption and my friends. Christ came to pay the redemption price. His bloody death on the cross that we might be delivered from sin and death and be united to him. Simeon and Anna waited in hope for the day when the Savior would come. We rehearse the occasion at Christmas. We go through the redemptive historical process again, and we remember, do you know what you'll do tonight at communion? You'll rehearse Christ going to the cross. The work is finished. He's not getting incarnated every December 25th. That's not what happened. We're not putting Christ on the cross every time that we observe the Lord suffer. What an abomination. But we rehearse it. We remember it. We get back into the redemptive cycle and remember there was a time where mankind it appeared his sins and his salvation hung in the balance. But Christ came. So their salvation. The incarnation as the start of Christ's earthly ministry Is the beginning of the messianic salvation that has come to Israel and to the nations? Well. Let's start to go toward our conclusion. I have a bigger section of application. So I have to cut that short a bit to get through this. I want to go back to this idea of our main theme, the first born son of a woman. was consecrated to God. He belongs to him. The firstborn over all creation became a man that we might become the sons of the living God. It has become my favorite description of redemptive history. The baby Jesus comes not to be a cute baby in a nativity scene. But accomplish redemption. And not only that, he stomps on the serpent's head. He crushes him. Our glorious King Christ has come To kill the dragon and to get the girl. The bride of Christ. Back there in Genesis, Eve and Eve. Can you imagine what it was like for Adam and Eve to live in that sinless perfection? And to fall into sin. To never have a stomach ache. To never have any of those things. And to be plunged into sin. Since that day, humanity has long we heard also from Paul that the creation longs grows for the redemption of the people of God. My friends, that day has come. It's what we're celebrating here at Christmas. The faithful wanted. A seed, a seed of the woman, and he's come. His name is Jesus. We have great hope in Christ. Put all of your trust in him. Believe in him. Cling to his precious promises. Lay hold of them and never let go. You have unbelieving children. Hope in Christ for the salvation of your children. You have unbelieving family members. Hope in Christ to save them. Is your marriage a disaster? Put all of your hope in Christ and He'll preserve and protect your marriage. Whatever befalls you. Whatever trial you face. Put all your hope and all your trust in Him. Do we have any reason to have confidence in this hope that He supplies? I'd like you to turn in your Bibles to Romans 8. will be our concluding part of this. Message. I hope you get something and you're reminded during this this week of the cosmic and cataclysmic nature of what's happened. When the son of God puts on humanity and becomes flesh and the implications of that are. Delightfully mind boggling. But do we have reason or confidence for hope? Listen to Paul's words in Romans 8 beginning at verse 19. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope. Because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of the corruption is the glorious liberty of the children of God. Someday there will be no gray 43 degree raining skies. I don't know how y'all live in a place like this. We don't get this where I'm from. We have other problems. But the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also have the first fruits of the spirit. We already possess it. Hope has been realized in us and our salvation. The spirit dwells in us, yielding this fruit of the spirit. Even we ourselves grown within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. Friends, we are getting older. And just a few years ago I had no gray in my beard. But I have great hope My body, which will rot in the grave, will turn to dust and it will be grotesque to look at, will be raised incorruptible because of Christ. See, we have a great hope. The world doesn't have this. We have it. What about all of my sin? All of my wretched sin? Can we catalog the billions of sins that we've committed? Do I have any hope? I have great hope. I have Christ. I have the forgiveness of sins. I've been united to Christ. His righteousness is my righteousness. His death atones for my guilt. Oh, what hope for the people of God. Even the creation groans. What does it say about us? Verse 24. We are saved in this hope. But hope that is seen is not hope. For what does one still hope for what he sees? There's a very good sanctifying function of hope. Little children, I love that it bothers you that Christmas is coming and you can't open those presents. That little time of hoping and waiting and wanting. Maybe that'll be instructive to you for your Christian life. You're going to have to wait. You have to pray. You're going to have to trust. You have to put all your hope in the giver of all these things. We hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. Someday I will no longer sin against my God or against my fellow man. Likewise, the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. We do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. For he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. People of God, if you had some way to apprehend or grasp, Just how blessed you are in Christ. You're grumbling and you're murmuring and you're complaining would go away if you could only lay hold of it and know who you are in Christ. The promise. The hope has been realized. You possess it. If you're a believer, you trust in him. It's yours. Belongs to you. Verse 28 going through some rough trials in your life. We know that all things work together for good to those who love God for it to those who are the called. According to his purpose. For whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. That he might be the first born among many brethren. Moreover, whom he predestined, these he also called. Whom he called, these also he justified. And whom he justified, these he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? People of God, you don't believe it practically sometimes, but it's true. If God before us, who could be against us? What can they do to us? What can those pagans do to us? They can do nothing to us. He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It's God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us, who shall separate us from the love of Christ, shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword. As it is written, for your sake, we are all killed. All day long, we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Simeon and Anna had great hope and we marvel at the way they live their lives as a result. We have a sizable portion of hope realized. Shouldn't we have greater hope than Simeon and Anna? We have greater evidence, more proofs more redemptive history accomplished, shouldn't we be characterized by worship and service and our whole lives being dedicated to Christ and his service? Well, I have a few words of application to that, and I hope it will be helpful to you. God's promises require us to wait and hope. And we read the pages of Scripture. Sometimes it takes thousands of years. But he brings all of those promises to pass. Exercise your faith today. Take him at his word, believe him, trust him, put all your hope. And him. This time of the year, we have to really instruct our children Because they are pursuing in their dreams things that are not ultimately valuable. They're shiny, they make funny noises, but they're not ultimately valuable. In fact, in a few weeks they will have forgotten those extravagant toys they wanted. They'll be gone. All will pass. Simeon and Anna were hoary-headed old saints serving in the temple. And they valued and prize that which is ultimately valuable, which is Christ. You and I have the opportunity to do the same. We can put our affections on other things. Let's not do that. Let's turn from that. Let's repent of that and put all of our value, all of our hope. In Christ, our relationship with God is more valuable than any of these things. Their lives were defined by hope and expectancy for Christ's coming, appearing live in the hope and expectancy of union with Christ and his salvation. Is your life defined by the hopeful expectation of union with Christ and the salvation that he brings? Answer probably could be no today. Let's turn it from no to yes. Third, Simeon and Anna were known for being worshippers and servants of the living God. Sometimes we come to worship on Sunday. We're drowsy. We'd rather be doing something else. We'd rather give our attention to other things. We're not so disciplined in our private devotional life because we have failed to appreciate what it means to live in the presence of God. To hear God's promises is to hope. To encounter the living God is to fall on your face and worship. And then service. Our lives should be characterized like Simeon's and Anna's of worship. And service. There's something else, Simeon and Anna were defined by Thanksgiving this morning. Let me ask you, are you exceedingly grateful that the Son of God became man? that we might be the sons of God. You have, starting now, an inexhaustible eternity of Thanksgiving you could offer for that truth. You can spend the rest of your every second of every day for all of eternity and never exhaust the truth of that. Our lives need to be characterized by Thanksgiving. Make it the giving of thanks, a constant refrain of your life. There's something else in this time of weak need Christianity, Simeon and Anna proclaim the truth. Anna delighted to tell people who were looking for salvation that Jesus had come. We have a hopeful message, we also have a message of condemnation and judgment, lest they repent. There's another side cuts both ways if you don't have Christ. You're like the Egyptians at Passover. If his blood doesn't cover you, you die. It's truth. It's reality. We have to be unashamed to proclaim that to the world around us. And finally. And I particularly gave us a great model to follow. She could not keep silent about Christ and his salvation. Sometimes we take greater pride in our doctrine of predestination. We say we are the people of God. We're OPC. We're Presbyterian. We're Westminster. You need to rejoice that your name is written in heaven. That should be the cause of your rejoicing. We need to keep our standards. Don't misunderstand. Fanatically. But our names are written in heaven. And we need to tell people that their names can be written there, too, because of Christ and the hope that he brings. Please pray with me.