We're going to be looking at Luke chapter 2. And actually, this is a continuation of last year's Christmas Eve service, which in Luke chapter 2, there's many Psalms actually that are quoted here. Luke chapter 2, we're going to be reading and going back from verses 19 to 35. And before we get started, I'd like to talk about the author just for a second. This is Dr. Luke. Dr. Luke wrote two volumes in the New Testament. He wrote the book of Luke, and he wrote the book of Acts, which we're currently studying in our Adult Sunday School class. The detail in the book of Luke is the most detailed representation of the infancy narrative of Jesus Christ, especially in the first two chapters. And you're getting a perspective from a medical doctor who wrote this, and this was also the man who was a scribe for the Apostle Paul. As dear Apostle Paul was on his missionary journey and his eyes were fading and his health was failing, it was Dr. Luke that did a lot of the translation. So as we read this, let's remember Dr. Luke and what a wonderful job he did recording this so that we could read this all these years later. We pick up in chapter 2 of the book of Luke, verse 19, But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, and it was told unto them. And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called Jesus, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb. 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 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 mothers 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. Last year when we spoke, we were reading some of this passage, we focused more on what was happening in the temple, which we'll talk about, and definitely on Simeon. But going back a little bit, we see when you hear the infancy narrative of Jesus Christ, you think of a manger scene. You think of Magi, you think of wise men coming from the East, and you think of there was no room for the inn. And all of these pictures that you can find also in the book of Matthew and the book of Mark. And basically, the most popular renditions of this kind of end right where the shepherds are watching over their flocks by night, and the heavenly host of angels are singing, glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and goodwill towards all men, and you see little baby Jesus in a manger. And that's kind of where it ends. You see the gifts coming from the wise men and all this comes together. Well, this is where the story picks up and it goes into the next level, into the next phase. And it's very important. We see back here in verse 19, Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. And this is the mother of Jesus, an incredible young woman who bears the Son of God in power by the Holy Spirit. And she pondered them in her heart because Jesus is her Savior. And then if you go to the end of the chapter 2 of the book of Luke, this is when Jesus now is 12 years old and he's found in the temple and he was actually left behind when Mary and Joseph were going to the feast. She comes back and she sees him in the temple. He's teaching, literally, the doctors and all the professional theologians of the day. And Mary comes back and says, Jesus, what are you doing? We missed you. We're sorrowful. And he said, is it not that I'm about my father's business? And once again, Mary says, and she pondered all these things in her heart. She had her Savior in her heart. Look at the attitude here. Look at the mood that was set. It says in verse 20, "...and the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, and it was told unto them." That is the mood, that is the tenor of what is set here with the coming of this little baby. You see, the shepherds were praising the Lord. You see that the wise men were sent by Herod, and this was Herod the Great. Herod the Great was a murderer. He was the one trying to find Jesus, and he was killing the little Israelite babies. And he sent wise men to go try and find Jesus, and all of a sudden they were sent to find Jesus to return the information back so that Herod could kill Jesus. And what happens with the wise men? Now, I know the story is that there are we three kings of Orian are that there's three. But if you study and if you read some of the greatest theologians, and especially in the last hundred years, there was probably more like a hundred wise men that came from the east. It wasn't three. It was a lot more than that. And they were sent to find Jesus. And it turns out, they see this little baby. The shepherds are glorifying and praising God. Mary's glorifying and praising God. The wise men are glorifying and praising God. And this is what the tenor is. There is great happiness that the Messiah has come. We see here Mary and Joseph is to present Jesus for dedication to the Lord's service and everything that Christ did when he was here in his ministry, he followed the law to the letter. We spent a lot more time on that last year and I don't want to spend too much time or we could be here for a while, but Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day as the Jewish law prescribed. Genesis chapter 17, 12 says, And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man, child, and your generations. He that is born in the house or bought with money of any stranger which is not of thy seed." And so this was a law that was prescribed all the way back in the Old Testament. And because of being ceremonial unclean seven days after childbirth, the need for purification was required by the law. You will only find this in the book of Luke. Once again, this was written by a doctor. And now you can see some of the medical aspects of this. In Leviticus 12, verses 2 to 4, we read, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a woman hath conceived seed, and born a man child, then she shall be unclean seven days according to the days of the separation for her infirmity shall she be unclean. And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised, and she shall then continue in the blood of her purifying three and thirty days. She shall touch no hallowed thing nor come in the sanctuary until the days of her purifying be fulfilled. And this is how we explain, this verse explains verse 21. And we see the end of the eight days. Now's where it gets real interesting. This is where it gets incredibly fascinating. And the story just gets traction and it picks up. First of all, the mother was to offer a lamb. But if the mother or the father were poor, they were permitted to offer up a dove or a pigeon. So this actually describes, really, the nature of who Jesus really was. Go all the way back to Isaiah 53. Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, as a root out of a dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see him, there's no beauty we should desire him. His mother and father were poor. In every part of Jesus' life growing up, he came from poverty. Nazareth was poor. His parents were poor. They offered up turtle doves and pigeons for sacrifice. And this proves here that they did not have much money. Mary and Joseph would then go to the temple, and they were to offer the firstborn males were to be offered up to the service of the Lord. And it was no different with Jesus, because he fulfilled the law perfectly. So what happens here? All of a sudden, we see how Mary and Joseph We get through the infancy narrative, and all of a sudden now, Mary and Joseph are to take the little baby to the temple. And it says here in verse 20 and 24, And behold, that is a very important word. Whenever you see that, and behold, your ears are supposed to perk up and say, what's going on here? Behold, that means pay attention. Look at what's happening here. There was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel. Please keep that in the front of your mind. The consolation of Israel. Here's Simeon. I personally believe he was an elderly man. It looks like he was alone. He received a prophecy and a promise very much different than the prophets of old in the Old Testament. The job of a prophet was to give the Word of God, to articulate it, and to tell those around who God had told the prophet He was supposed to carry the Word of God and make it very plain what was going to happen. And here Simeon is given an incredible prophecy. the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him in verse 26 by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. That means between the time the angel of the Lord came to Simeon, and by the time Jesus Christ would enter into that temple, not a hair on that man's head could be touched. There was no way anything in this world could take that man's life. He was not to die, he was not to have anything happen to him until he saw the Christ child. He is told that the Christ child is coming, and he's told it'll happen soon, and it would be in his lifetime. He would not see death until he sees the baby Jesus, and he's given this unique promise. You will not die until you hold that little baby Jesus in your arms. And if you knew the Old Testament, if you knew about the Messiah who was supposed to come that was predicted all the way back in the book of Leviticus, in the book of Psalms, in the book of Genesis 3.15, in the book of Isaiah, all the way through the Old Testament, there are endless messianic prophecies saying that Jesus would come as a little baby. This man knew, and he knew exactly who he would be holding in his arms. It would be the Messiah. The angel said it would happen very soon in your lifetime. Can you imagine if that happened to you or me and we were told that we were going to see the Messiah? What would we think about that? How would we react? Would we be excited about that? Many people didn't even know who He was when He got here. Can you imagine what kind of torment Simeon would have had to endure with this prophecy that he carried with him? We're not told in Scriptures But what happened to him? What happened in that period of time? Did he go into the temple every day, tearing through all the chairs and looking at all the families coming? Is it him yet? Is it him yet? Is it him yet? No. I think Simeon would go in, he would do his sacrifice, he would pay his tithe, he would listen to worship, and he knew that the angel told him, you will know when you're ready. When the Lord says, when I'm ready for you, you will know exactly who that baby is. Simeon was a devout Christian, and he listened. If he went into the temple and he talked about it, imagine the ridicule he may have faced. Marketplace goers, tourists, locals, and even those who attended the sanctuary. What would they be saying? There goes that foolish old man again, in and out of the temple, claiming to see Jesus, claiming to see the Messiah. Many didn't even believe the Messiah was even going to come. Perhaps many would have thought Simeon seeing Jesus was actually foolish. But Israel had been waiting for a king to come. So the question here this evening, are you waiting for the Messiah? Is that in your heart? Is it comforting to you? Now, what is December 25th tomorrow? That's Christmas. And we go into the end of March and beginning of April, we see the Easter holidays. Christ already came the first time. Are we all in agreement with that? Right? He said he was coming. Well, guess what? He said he's coming a second time. Do you believe that? And are you ready for that? And he says he'll come as a thief in the night. Are you ready for that? Simeon was. How do you get ready for it? Right here. This has every last part of what to expect when Christ comes back. He said he came back first time. He said he's going to come here the first time. And he did. He didn't lie. He's coming a second time. So, what would have happened with Simeon? What would he have been doing in the meantime? He'd have been praying. He'd have been trusting the Lord. Simeon was not counting on eschatology or any soothsayers or psychics. He was counting on the angel to provide that day when Jesus would come out of nowhere. My favorite name for Jesus Christ, there are names. We have a picture that Lisa bought, and we have it in our living room. And it's a whole paragraph of names of Jesus in the Bible. And if you sit there, you kind of ask yourself, well, what kind of names did Jesus have all throughout Scriptures? If you think hard enough, you'll think of some names. He's referred to as the Rose of Sharon, the Root of Jesse, the Balm of Gilead, the Suffering Servant of Israel and Jehovah, He's referred to as King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Son of Man, the Son of David. There's so many names. My favorite name of them all is the Consolation of Israel. The consolation of His people. That means the comfort. Isn't it nice to know that there is a world universal leader that has given a comforter to his people? How many world leaders have given comforters to their people? Think of Pharaoh. Go all the way back to Pharaoh. Go back to Cyrus. You go down through the ages. What about Nero? He had killed many Christians. Go down through the ages, you get all the way into later on, you see Mussolini, there was Hitler, there was Stalin, there was Winston Churchill. How many world leaders have offered a comforter? I don't remember eight years of Barack Obama, him ever offering a comforter. I do know that he accepted the title of Messiah when he was called that, which I found was a real problem. But who offers a comforter? His name, Jesus, is consolation of Israel. The comfort of Israel. And there's also a Bible verse, and I don't have it. I used to have it memorized a long time ago, but it's been a while. The Holy Spirit is referred to as the spirit of consolation, and I believe that's in the book of John. The people of Israel were tormented for years, and they had looked for the consolation of Israel. They looked for healing. They looked for a consolation. They looked, and many were not ready. There was a handful of people that were. Simeon was ready, and he was ready more than most. And here comes the big event. All of a sudden, the day comes. The angel said, you will not see death until the baby Jesus comes. And all of a sudden, Joseph and Mary are walking up the steps in the temple. And out of all the families and all the babies that have walked in and out of the temple for all this time, one baby shows up, and Simeon knows immediately, this is the Christ. He clenches the child into his arms and he breaks into a song. It's called the Nunc Dimittis in the Latin. What could Mary and Joseph possibly have thought? What does he say? What does that song say? It says here that he took Jesus up in his arms and blessed God and said, Lord, now let us thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. That was his song. And there are many songs in the Bible. What was he saying? He was saying, I've seen the salvation of the Lord. I don't need to be here anymore. He wanted to see Jesus so bad, and he finally got to see Him. He said, I don't need anything in this world. That's everything to me. Is Jesus Christ everything to you? Are you looking forward to death? Are you looking forward to seeing Him? Have you learned how to die? Because, as I've said many times in our Sunday School class, Jim Elliott said, you've never learned to live until you learn how to die. And through Jesus Christ, that is where we learn. We learn about the comfort that the Lord has waiting for us in heaven, which is wonderful. What a blessing. Simeon knew this, and he was ready. So now we've talked about Simeon. If you're Mary and Joseph, what do you do when you walk into the temple? Well, let me put it this way. Let's just say, you know, let's just say you had a new little baby boy, whether it was a son or a grandson or whatever, and you walked into your church and this old man comes out of nowhere and grabs the baby and rips him out of your arms and starts singing a song, holds him up, saying, look what I got. If you're Mary, you're thinking, Many people would say, hey, we're the police. What are they doing to my child? You know? That's not what happened. Even Mary and Joseph knew what was going on. He said, this is a light to lighten the Gentiles. Every word that he said, Joseph and Mary knew this from the Old Testament. And Simeon blessed them, verse 34, 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. Yea, a sword shall pierce through thine own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. In verse 33 it says, that Simeon called this little baby, the Messiah, the consolation of Israel, called this little baby Salvation. For he shall save the people from their sins. Simeon has seen enough. He has seen the Messiah, the consolation of Israel, and he has seen the salvation. He says, Now let us thou thy servant depart in peace. Simeon didn't need anything else. He was ready. So the question here, are we ready? Are we convinced that Jesus Christ is who he said he was? Or are we like a lot of people in this world today that believe that there are a lot of ways to heaven? There are a lot of different ways other than Jesus Christ. Or is there any other way to heaven other than the one that holds the keys? Remember Peter and Peter's confession. And I'll never forget this, because this ties in with this perfectly. You go further on in the book of Luke, I think it's Luke chapter 16. Jesus goes up to Caesarea Philippi in his ministry and he says to the disciples, whom do you say that I, the Son of Man, am? Who do you think I am? And one of the disciples, I think it was John, said, well, some people, the scuttlebutt out there, they're saying you're Elijah, they're saying you're Moses, you're John the Baptist. And he goes, who do you say that I the son of man am? And Peter looked right at Christ and said, thou art the Christ of the living God. And Jesus said, blessed be thou, Simon. He goes, thou art now called Peter, his name was Simon. Upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And he gave Peter the keys to heaven. Who has the power to do that? Only Jesus Christ does. John 14, 6. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by Me. He has seen. The Pharisees and the Sadducees with desire of Christ to see a sign from heaven. They did not believe Christ. When the consolation of Israel was right there before them, they required a sign and Christ answered them later. In Matthew 16, verse 4, a wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign be given unto it but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them and departed. Christ had said six words in John 10, 30, and that's the one where they started to pursue Him, to kill Him. I and my Father are one. The difference between this little baby and all the other little babies that had entered into the world is this one was the Son of God, was God incarnate, come into this world to save the people from their sins. Do we have to be reminded every day in our lives by some miracle or sign to know that Christ is who He is, who He said He is? Hebrews 11, verses 1 through 3 says, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. And we see here as we move forward in verses 31 to 33, which thou hast seen before the face of all people, the gospel message was prepared, and all of a sudden Simeon makes this startling admission, and he says, What does he say here? And Simeon blessed them and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be spoken against." This child is going to die. When you celebrate Christmas, you're celebrating the death of Jesus Christ. And that's what he came to do. See, if you remember the triumphal entry, which is recorded in all the Gospels, all of a sudden Jesus comes in on this little donkey and everybody is yelling, Hosanna! Hosanna! And they wanted him to rise up, overthrow the Roman government, and take his kingship right then and there. And he goes right off on the little donkey, and he keeps on going. And then what happens? He goes right to the cross and he's killed. Many of them are questioning, could this be the Messiah? In 1 Peter 2.8, Peter says, "...and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word being disobedient." It takes great faith to believe in Jesus Christ. And I think that that's the greatest faith you can have. What is faith? What is faith? There is a physical faith and there is a saving faith. Saving faith is very important. A physical faith is when you walk in and you get on an airplane and the airplane takes off and you have no idea who's flying it. You're trusting that that pilot will take that great big massive piece of metal up into the air and land it without hurting anybody. That's a physical faith. You're sick and you go into the hospital and they say you need surgery and you've got to go in. Do you sit there and do you do a background check on the surgeon and all the doctors and you look at all their credentials? No, you have a physical faith that they're going to be able to work on you and fix you. That's a physical faith. Well, if we can have physical faith every day of our lives, just driving in a car today, you have to have a lot of faith. Getting out on the off-ramps of 695, you have to have an immense amount of faith. We have two that have their learner's permit here tonight, and they're working at it, and they're finding out how nerve-wracking it can be. We need a physical faith every day when we're working. But a saving faith is simply believing that there is a Lord and Savior that looks over you, and even though you can't see Him, I promise you I would not stand here and do this and lie to you. I promise you he can see you and he's there watching over you. It says that he even reigns upon the just and the unjust. That means those that hate him and literally call themselves atheists and they despise the name of God, he even reigns on their yards, allows them to have their trees growing, allows them to eat, take care of their families, and he even looks after them. What a great faith to know that we have a God that cares. He was set for the rising of Israel, that He would be raised up. And here we see that Jesus has a very important mission on His hands. Are we watching for the Messiah? Are all our activities, our passions and desires predicated on the coming Messiah? And do we long for His return? We all need to consider that in this world, that we will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. We have been told by Christ himself. We live in a world today that seeks science, medicine, technology, technological advances and every spiritual healing self-gimmick to make mankind feel secure. But why don't we turn the TV on? Why don't we see in colleges today and in the educational arenas people teaching about Jesus Christ? Why? Sadly, today, people do not believe that they need a Savior. Acts 16.31, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved in all thy house. Christ is coming. He's coming back one day, and I can't wait. So as we celebrate Christmas, just remember what it's about. It's about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee and praise Thee, Lord, for this narrative that's been given. We thank Thee for a man named Simeon, who just loved and couldn't wait to see the Messiah. When he saw Thee, he held Thee up, and he was so happy, and it comforted him, and all the cares in the world that he had on his heart were just whisked away by knowing that his Savior was there, and knowing the words that were in the Old Testament. He shall see if the travail of the soul shall be satisfied. By His knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many. He shall bear their iniquities. I just thank Thee and praise Thee, Lord, that Thou art here, Thou art watching over us. And I pray for everyone here this evening that Thou would comfort them and watch over them. And all these things we ask in Thy name we pray. Amen.