Our scripture reading this evening is from the gospel according to Luke chapter 2. Let me begin to read at verse 21. Luke 2, beginning to read at verse 21. After the account of the birth of Jesus, We read in verse 21, and when eight days were accomplished for the circumcision of the child, his name was called Jesus, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb. And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, as it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord, and to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. 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. 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 let us now thy servant depart in peace according to thy word. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou has 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 thy own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Penuel of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age and had lived with her husband seven years from her virginity. She was a widow of about four score and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord and spake of him to all that looked for redemption in Jerusalem. When they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned unto Galilee to their own city, Nazareth. And the child grew. and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him. I'm going to stop reading there. I put in the bulletin I'd read through the end of the chapter, but I'm going to stop reading there at verse 40. Let's return to the text for the sermon tonight. Verse 29, and following, Lord, now let us 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 then 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. Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. There ends the text for the sermon, 29 through 35. Beloved in the Lord, the text. that we consider tonight contains the inspired words of Simeon, which has been called the Song of Simeon, or set to music and called that. It was spoken to Joseph and Mary when they came to the temple with Jesus for the first time. They were obedient to the ceremonial laws of Israel. And we read in this chapter how they kept every part of that law carefully. They circumcised Jesus on the eighth day, we read in verse 21, and officially named him with the name that the angel had given to Mary before he was even conceived and to Joseph. And after the days of Mary were accomplished, they came to the temple, verse 22, the days of her purification, 33 days after the circumcision of the child, 40 days after the child was born. Until that time, she was not allowed to come to the temple. The law required also that the firstborn son be purchased from the Lord. We read in verse 23 that every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy unto the Lord, that is, devoted to, sanctified unto the Lord. And this was an old law that God passed where he said the firstborn, which represent really the whole nation, belong to me. You are my people, I own you, but I will have the priests and Levites take the place of the firstborn son and they will be devoted to me. They will be holy and serve me in the temple. So the firstborn son was brought to the temple and every father then of the firstborn was to pay five shekels to purchase his son back to him. Then the Levites and the priests would take the place of that son in the service of God. In addition, the law prescribed that offerings be made for purification, normally a lamb for a burnt offering and a pigeon or a turtle dog for a sin offering. After that, the mother would be ceremonially cleansed. That was the law, shedding of blood would cleanse her. But for the poor, they would be allowed to take two turtle doves or two pigeons, one for a burnt offering and one for a sin offering. Joseph and Mary being of the poor, the very poorest of the land, brought the offering of the poor to the temple 40 days after Jesus' birth. There in the temple, they were met by this very excited old man named Simeon, a Jew who lived in Jerusalem. We do not know anything about his family, his occupation, how long he had been in Jerusalem, all his life, or only toward the end. We know nothing. The Bible tells us three notable details about Simeon. First, he was a just and devout man. Language that is used to describe Zacharias and Elizabeth, just and about. A man whose life was all about spiritual things, a man who lived in harmony with the law of God, cared not for the things of this world, they were of no interest to him at all. A faithful, spiritually minded member of the church. Secondly, he was waiting for the consolation, the comfort of Israel. And that, of course, refers to the Messiah. He was waiting for the coming of the Messiah. And third, we are told the Holy Spirit was upon him. And if he was in the Old Testament and the Spirit was upon him, he was a prophet of sorts, that God actually gave him messages, not messages as he would to Micah or to Malachi that would be pronounced to the people, but God spoke to Simeon. This is remarkable, but it's a, in a way, a symbol he represents a faithful remnant that God preserved through these very dark days. Recall that from Malachi to the birth of Jesus, there were some 400 years in which God sent no new prophecy to remind the people of the coming of the Christ. It was a sad time for believers, appalling apostasy, dead orthodoxy in the church, damnable corruption among the Jewish leaders from the high priest down. They were waiting for the comfort. They were grieving in these evil days. In spite of all that, God preserved a remnant. Anna is one of those waiting for the coming of the Messiah, and Simeon is another waiting saint. It's striking that the Holy Spirit had revealed to Simeon an unusual message that he would not die until he had seen the Messiah. And so led by the Holy Spirit to the temple on that day, Simeon was eagerly watching all the people that came to God's house until Joseph and Mary came with their infant Jesus. And with a conviction that only the Holy Spirit could have given him, he marched up to them and took the baby from the arms of Joseph and Mary and blessed God and spoke the words of the text. And that's what we consider tonight, the song of Simeon, seeing the Lord's salvation. That's the theme, seeing the Lord's salvation. We'll notice first of all, a glorious savior. Secondly, a contradicted Lord. And finally, a joyful response. Simeon thanked God for allowing him to see the Lord's salvation. What exactly did he mean by that? What is the Lord's salvation? What was he saying when he spoke those words? Obviously he's in the Old Testament yet. Even though it's a story in Luke, he's still very much in the Old Testament. Christ has only just been born. He hasn't offered himself. The New Testament as such has not been realized in his blood. So he is standing there and his viewpoint is Old Testament and very much looking at the types. His first concern would therefore be the enemies of Israel within and without the pagan nations that had through the years opposed Israel and tried to destroy her and if couldn't destroy her would subdue her and put her bring her into bondage. And so there were many who had done that and brought them into captivity. Simeon saw the enemies of Israel. Rome had taken Israel and made them to be a nation, part of their empire. And wicked Herod, a descendant of the enemies of Israel, of the Edomites, was upon the throne of David in Jerusalem. And if that wasn't enough, the leaders of the Jews would be happy to cooperate with Herod and with the Roman rulers. They were corrupt, they bought their offices, the Sanhedrin, the high priest himself. So he saw enemies. The Lord's salvation would be deliverance from enemies, but that surely is not even the main idea of Simeon as he speaks of the Lord's salvation because the physical oppression only reminded them of the spiritual bondage in which they were by nature. The continual Old Testament offerings for sin reminded the people that they were not cleansed. They had to continue to bring the sacrifices for their sin. The true Israelite knew that they could not, by keeping the law, free themselves from sin. They knew they could not keep the law perfectly, and the offerings did not cleanse them. They needed the Savior promised by God. This is the Lord's salvation. The fact that he is waiting for the consolation indicates that they are clearly not delivered. They're waiting for the salvation that God would provide. So they're looking for the reality. All of the pictures of bondage pointed to their spiritual bondage from which they needed to be freed. But salvation is not merely negative. Salvation is not merely deliverance from sin and death and their enemies, but salvation is unto eternal life. The scriptures speak of the joy of thy salvation. The Old Testament Psalms, Psalm 149, verse 4, for the Lord taketh pleasure in his people, he will beautify the meek with salvation. There's a positive side they are very much looking forward to, and that includes God's Fellowship, fellowship with God, free from sin, experiencing the love of God, the favor of God, which they sang in the Old Testament, that favor is more than life to me. This is my joy that I have fellowship with God and to live with him in heaven. Abraham said that I'm looking for a city that has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. That was the hope of Simeon and all who were waiting for the consolation in Israel. The Lord's salvation from unto. And Simeon saw all of that holding this baby in his arms. He saw the salvation that he says God has prepared before the face of all people before the face of all people means all people can see it. It's obvious it's before their face. This is the one who would bring salvation, not merely for the Jews, but for all people. with the Gentiles as well. And he pointed out these two aspects of the saving work of the Messiah. Verse 34, a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel. Two completely different ideas there. The glory of Israel, let's start with that. Jesus Christ, He said, holding him in his arms, he is the glory of Israel. Israel was God's chosen people. They were privileged to receive God's revelation. Paul wrote of that when he wrote to the Romans, the Gentiles, and reminded them of the privileged position that Israel had in the covenant the line, the theology, the work of God. Romans 9 says, who are Israelites, to whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law and the service of God and the promises, whose are the fathers and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came. Now says Simeon, this child, Jesus is for the glory of Israel. And he is that as the God of Israel. Simeon is making an amazing confession here about this child. Really say he is God. Because God is the glory of Israel. He is the glory of Israel. The temple, the ark, the place where God's dwelt, that's where the covenant was. That's where the glory of Israel was. You remember, children remember that when the Philistines captured the ark in the battle. Terrible day for Israel and the daughter-in-law of Eli, whose wicked sons had brought the ark into the battle. The daughter-in-law gave birth to a child and said, the child's name is Ichabod. The glory has departed. Why? Because the ark of God is taken. The ark was the place where God dwelt with his people. and the tabernacle, God dwelling with them. That is Israel's glory without God. What is Israel? Nation of slaves, an insignificant nation that the enemies of them around them could roll over the top of them and do as they please. The Philistines could defeat them. The Moabites, anybody could without the glory of God in their midst. God had chosen to put his name there. That's what the glory of Israel was. And now Simeon says this baby, Jesus is the glory of Israel. He is God coming to dwell. With his people. The glory of Israel. Jesus has the glory of Israel because he's the God of Israel, but he's the glory of Israel because he's the redeemer of Israel. He is the fulfillment of all the Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah, the one who would redeem Israel from her sins, the one who would deliver them from all their enemies, the one who would sit upon the throne and rule in might. This child is the fulfillment. of all those types of David and Solomon and the high priests and all the prophets, He is the Redeemer. Simeon, of course, could not know the details of how this would happen. And yet his knowledge was not incorrect. That's who Jesus is, the Redeemer of Israel. Though his viewpoint was somewhat in the shadows, though he was striving to see how this would all come about. The full reality is actually far greater than Simeon could even imagine. Don't notice that his viewpoint is more than just Israel. Israel, this child is the glory of Israel, but he's also a light to lighten the Gentiles. That's the other aspect of the saving work of Jesus. Now a light illuminates, a light reveals, it chases away the darkness and it shows what is there underneath the powerful beam of the light. And that's exactly the point here. Jesus would come to reveal God to the Gentiles. That's what a light to the light in the Gentiles exactly refers to. Formerly, God did not reveal himself to very many Gentiles at all, except by his judgment. Sometimes that he brought against them as they would fight against his people, Israel. But the law, the sacrifices, all the ceremonies and the temple itself belonged only to Israel. Jesus would come and reveal God to Gentiles, a light to lighten them, a light gives knowledge, a light also gives life, life. And the knowledge that Jesus would give is the living knowledge of fellowship with God. Sinful man is hopelessly lost and doomed to death eternally. But this light gives the knowledge of salvation, the knowledge of knowing God and knowing God is eternal life, living with him, enjoying God eternally. That's what this Jesus would do. He's the glory of Israel. They've been waiting for that, but he's also the light that will illuminate, that will give the knowledge of salvation to the Gentiles. That of course is not new. That is not new. In the epistle to the Galatians, Paul looks back at the Old Testament, and he has this to say in Galatians 3, verse 8, And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee, in thee, Abraham, shall all the nations be blessed. That's, of course, through Jesus. And again, Matthew quotes Isaiah in chapter four, verse 16, the people would sat in darkness, have seen a great light. And he was referring to the preaching of Jesus, the great light of Jesus showing who God is. Simeon saw this with prophetic vision. This is the one, the savior prepared by God before the face of all people. both Gentiles and Israel. This is the Lord's salvation. Mine eyes have seen thy salvation, a salvation which he said thou hast prepared, a prepared salvation. God sent his son into the world to accomplish the work of salvation. Jesus came with the intent of offering himself, as we saw this morning. God prepared him for that, chose him eternally and sent him into the world to accomplish this work. He was prepared from the moment that Adam fell. God announced it already then, the seed of the woman that would crush the head of the serpent, that would deliver the seed of the woman that would come from Adam and Eve. But his preparation is far beyond merely that moment when God announced him in the Garden of Eden. His preparation goes into eternity. Christ is God's anointed from eternity. chosen by God to be the one who would deliver his people and qualified by the Holy Spirit. In fact, says the Bible, God created everything for Jesus Christ. They were created by him and for him. Ultimately, he would be the one that would reconcile the whole of creation back to God. Reconciled back to God. Jesus is the one prepared by God for this salvation. That's the Lord's salvation. But then notice that pronoun. It's God's salvation. It's only God's salvation. That's why we saying Psalm 3 salvation to the Lord belongs. It's not man's work. It's not Israel's salvation. They could not even produce the Mediator, one who is very God and very man. Israel could not produce that Savior. Man never has a part in salvation. He doesn't have a part in planning it. He doesn't have a part in preparing it. He doesn't have a part in executing the salvation of God. It is emphatically the Lord's salvation. And he made that plain all through history. When the church was down to eight souls, God saved his church with the mighty flood. When Israel was in bondage to Egypt, God brought deliverance to Israel and led them through the Red Sea. All through history, God's salvation. Not man's, but the Lord's. Now says Simeon, This is the fulfillment. Those are types. That's how God always worked. It's his salvation. But now we have the one prepared from all eternity, God's salvation, Jesus, come to redeem his people. You understand the excitement of Simeon as he holds Jesus. in his arm. This is the Lord's salvation prepared before the face of all people. But amazingly. He would be contradicted. He would be contradicted. That's the second thing that we notice, and that, of course, is the second part. Verses 34 and 35. Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel and for a sign which shall be spoken against. Spoken against. A sign. A sign that will be spoken against. As you all know, a sign is something visible. Something you can see that points to a reality that you cannot see. That's what a sign is. A miracle is a sign. A miracle is a mighty work that Jesus or a prophet might perform, something very visible that points to the power of God to save a power that you cannot see with your physical eyes. There is the sign, the visible thing pointing to something you cannot see. Jesus would be for a sign. He obviously was visible. He took upon himself human flesh. People could see Jesus. And in fact, he's a visible representative of God himself. Jesus would say to his disciples, if you have seen me, you have seen the father. You've seen the Father. In Jesus, they saw the glory of God. In Jesus, they saw his righteousness and holiness. In Jesus, they saw God, his holiness that hates sin, that hates hypocrisy, that searches the heart. He would reveal God. Jesus is God. Jehovah Salvation, he would reveal God as the Savior of his people. And especially he would reveal God as the covenant God, as the covenant God who would dwell with his people in covenant fellowship. That's what Jesus came to do. He came into our flesh and he tabernacled, he dwelt among his people. So here is Jesus visible. representative of God, pointing to the invisible God by everything that Jesus said or did, even what he was. And therefore, it says, verse 35, the thoughts of men, thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. Thoughts about God. That's the thoughts that would be revealed. because Jesus clearly represented God. Men could not be neutral about Jesus. They could not hide their true feelings about Jesus. When God, the invisible God, is, so to speak, in heaven, And you can't see him. Of course we cannot either. But when God was in heaven for the Israelites, they could go through the motions and pretend that they were serving God. They could bring their sacrifices according to the law. They could have their, their fastings and their sackcloth and ashes. They could hypocritically keep the law at least from an outward point of view. And if someone would say, but wait a minute, what about the law? Are you really keeping it? They could say, Oh no, we really have. Look at, look at our interpretation. We go beyond what the law even requires of us. But Jesus came to eliminate any possibility of a hypocritical service of Jehovah God. He would expose the hearts of men. He would reveal what is the true walk of obedience, what the law of God really demanded, but he would open their hearts and expose them. No one could be neutral. This was God's plan. You will either have to stand with Jesus and therefore with God, or you will stand against Jesus and therefore against God. The hearts of many will be revealed by the sign that would be spoken against. And as the thoughts of men's hearts are revealed, God will be justified. For God is determined to bring a judgment upon this hypocritical nation. Read the Old Testament prophecies. We're studying Micah in the adult Bible, and we are amazed at the sin and the corruption. And Isaiah the same. And God is determined to bring judgment. And Jesus himself said to the wicked leaders, if I had not come, then you would have a cloak for your sin. You'd be able to cover it. But then if God brought judgment on Israel, he could be accused of being an unjust judge. How can you judge our nation? We are keeping the law. We are keeping all the commandments and the sacrifices. It's not fair. So God deliberately set a sign In the midst of Israel, of himself, a visible representative of God, some believed, relatively few in Israel believed in Jesus, most rejected him. spoke against Him, contradicted Him, opposed His Word and His work, tried to discredit Him in front of other people, blaspheming God in the process. Truly the thoughts of men were revealed. But the real dividing line came with the cross. The trial of Jesus in front of the Sanhedrin and later Pilate and Herod, the trial of Jesus is really the trial of men. God is setting man in a position and judging him. What do you think of me? What do you think of Jehovah God? I will give you a test that will show what you really think about God. If Jehovah God would come to you in a form, weak, lowly, insignificant, seemingly powerless, seemingly that you could do whatever you wanted to that Jehovah God, and he would not do anything back. What would you do to him? And the answer is, away with him. Crucify him. Man would kill God. That's the heinous crime of man. He would kill God. The thoughts of natural man's heart was exposed. That's the sword. That's the sword that Simeon is talking about when he said to Mary, Behold, a sword shall pierce through thine own soul also. As any mother loves her child, Mary loved her special son. She was not expecting that he would be hated, that he would be reproached, that he would be condemned and even put to death. She thought, surely everyone will see this is a wonder child. You can see that by his kindness and his love and later on his miracles even. This bitter wound, God warns her when her baby is only 40 days old of what will happen. A sword shall pierce through thine soul also. The cross, therefore, is what Simeon is talking about when he says, this one, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel." Now, the idea is not that they fall and then rise, but it's the fall of some and the rising of others is the idea. The fall is the destruction of the hypocrites, starting with men like Judas Iscariot. Starting with the leaders of the Jews, the high priest, Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin who condemned Jesus and the nation of Israel as a whole that prided themselves. We are the people of Abraham. And ultimately. All the ungodly, Herod's thoughts would be exposed and Pilate's thoughts would be exposed and they would rage against Jesus and allow the soldiers to do whatever they wanted to Jesus. Their fall is destruction. It is hell. This child will bring about the fall of many in Israel. but also the rising. The word rising there is literally resurrection. Jesus will give life, a new life. Eternal life is what he would give only in Jesus. That's where salvation is. That's where life comes from. The manner of dividing the wicked from the righteous by the power of Jesus would result in The destruction of the wicked, but that's the salvation of God's people. That's the way God saves his people through judgment. And still today, Jesus has the same effect, the same effect. And it's the cross, always the cross. that is the dividing line. Because there are many today who live outwardly a decent life and who even would talk about heaven and how they're going to go to heaven and they're going to enjoy fishing there or golfing or whatever it is that they like to do in this earth. Because I'm living a decent life, I'm on my way to heaven. Some even who would say, well, no, I'm going to heaven because of Jesus. I love him and I'm a follower of Jesus. But the cross is still the great divider. Do they embrace Christ crucified? Is that their Lord? Is that their savior? Do they insist that there is only one way to heaven, and that's through Him? Not through a different religion, but only through Jesus Christ and his cross. And that the fact that cross is salvation, that in fact, I am a damn worthy sinner who deserves hell. But I've been redeemed in the blood of Jesus Christ. And I didn't contribute one thing to that. And I never will. That's the dividing line. That's the offense of the cross. That's what Paul wrote to the Galatians. If you say you believe in Jesus and salvation is in him, but you have to keep the law also. Then there's no offense. Then there's no offense. Then you can claim Jesus as your savior as long as you can do something yourself to get saved. Fine. Anyone will believe in that. But when it's Christ alone, no works, all his righteousness, and that the only Savior, the only salvation that divides between those who fall and those who are raised. So what is our response to the salvation that Jesus brings. Simeon's response was unrestrained joy. He blessed God, and then he said, now I can die, Lord. Now I can die. Verse 29, Lord, now let us know thy servant depart in peace according to thy word. That's a difficult verse even to bring into the English. It's so packed with powerful words. A little more literally, it would be something like this. Release thy slave. Oh, powerful Lord. Set me free. I'm just a slave. And God is potentate. He's the despot, really, that's the word that's translated from the Greek that way, this most powerful Lord. I have seen thy salvation. There's no reason for me to live on anymore. Salvation is absolutely guaranteed because God is powerful and this is his salvation. He will accomplish it. I can die. I can die in peace. Because he had faith. Now think about that. He was just looking at a baby. He did not say this after he had seen Jesus perform mighty miracles. He did not say this after he had sat at the feet of Jesus and listened to his amazing teaching. He saw none of that. He didn't know anything about how Jesus would accomplish it, the atoning death on the cross, taking the curse upon himself, and then the powerful resurrection. He didn't see any of that, just this baby. But he believed, he believed. He understood that the whole, you understand that the whole of his life was wrapped up in this one thing, Lord, that I just may see, The Messiah. That's what I want. That's all I care about. That was his hope. He believed the promises of God. And remember, all the promises embedded in every promise of God is Christ. That's the heart of it. That's the life and soul of the promises of God. Salvation says, my salvation is sure. I can go in peace. That was his response. What's ours? We have seen the Lord's salvation. We have seen it. We have seen it through the preaching of the gospel. Paul writes to the Galatians in Galatians chapter 1. It's a part of a rebuke, but just let me read a little bit of Galatians 3 verse 1. Galatians, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you. Before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you. The preaching, the birth of Jesus and the suffering of Jesus, his perfect life, his obedience, his death. and his resurrection. That's Jesus Christ, set forth before you, crucified. We know the Lord's salvation. In fact, we know far more than Simeon could possibly know at that moment at the temple, because we have the whole Bible. We have the counsel of God laid out in front of us, and we know who Jesus is and how He accomplished the great salvation and how God raised Him from the dead as proof of that. Besides that, He's our High Priest who's applying those blessings to us so that we experience the fruits of His saving work. We know. the Lord's salvation. What's our response to that? Our response may depend a bit on our interests. If our interests are football and money and the comforts of life and the pleasures of this world and beautiful homes, if that's what our life is all about, then The coming of Jesus is not all that exciting because he's not, he's not here to add to that part of our life. That's not important to him at all. But if we see our salvation, if we see the need for salvation, if we see our sins and what we deserve, the horrible depth of hell, what we deserve. And then we see the promise of heaven and the glory of life with God. If that is what our life consists in, if that's what the focus of our life is, as Simeon's was, Lord, just one thing, that I may see the Messiah. That's our desire. then we will still, we will greatly rejoice. But you see, Jesus is still a sign that is spoken against. It still reveals, he still reveals the thoughts of men's hearts by our lifestyle. What's our heart like? What's our interest in life? Peter writes of that in 1 Peter 1, wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect precious. He that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you, therefore, which believe, he is precious. He is precious. But unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner and a stone of stumbling. and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient, whereunto they were appointed." So I say again, what's our response to Jesus when He is preached to Jesus in our daily life? By God's grace, it's the response of faith. The response of faith. that we today and always greet the sight of the Lord's salvation with joy, with joy, Thanksgiving, just as aged Simeon. That was Simeon. When we approach death, we say, Lord, release me. I'm ready. I'm ready to go because of Thy salvation, and that we rejoice, and that our lives are focused on the return of the Lord. He's coming. That should be the focus of our life. Lord, that I may but see Thy salvation. See Jesus coming to complete His work. will be the greatest rejoicing of all. May that be our focus as well. Amen. Let us pray. Father in heaven, we thank Thee for Thy glorious salvation in Jesus Christ. Again, we thank Thee for Him because everything is in Him. We have nothing of ourselves to boast, but in Him we have everything. And we long for the day when we will see him and we'll be able to rejoice in the great work which he has accomplished already, but is working through. Lord, we give thee thanks and praise. So fill our hearts with that joy. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. We turn to Psalm 126, 126A. Stanza to the Lord in greatly blessing us before the world is power displayed, yea, great things God has done for us and filled our hearts with joy and praise. The four stanzas of 126A. ♪ As I in the glorious day ♪ ♪ Was marked upon its final morn ♪ ♪ In ecstasy, reason, or time ♪ ♪ Thy praise, O God, has long been strong ♪ ♪ The Lord, in great devotion, has ♪ ♪ Renewed the world as by His ways ♪ ♪ In great things Thou hast done for us ♪ ♪ Fill our hearts with joy and praise. ♪ ♪ Lord, refresh us by thy grace. ♪ ♪ Be mild and quick in our thoughts. ♪ ♪ Let daily streams of life flow. ♪ ♪ Let pride upon them shine ♪ ♪ Let us love the very person seen ♪ ♪ May it be present in all he brings ♪ ♪ But he shall come again with joy ♪ ♪ God is like a golden sheep ♪ ♪ Glory, oh, somehow in younger have we gone ♪ ♪ And the scholarly saints we know who in this praise we find ♪ ♪ By all his creatures let his name be honored in the Lord ♪ ♪ Let all that breathe in praise unite to glorify the Lord ♪ The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face to shine upon thee. The Lord be gracious unto thee, lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. Amen.