Congregation our scripture reading for this afternoon service is found in the gospel according to Luke chapter 2 Luke 2 and we like to read verses 21 through 40 This is page 1582 if you have a Bible like mine Luke 2 Verses 21 through 40, our text is coming from verse 36 through, verses 36 through 38. But let's read beginning at 20, verse 21. 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, and that's roughly bringing us to about the 40th day of Jesus's life then, so he was about 40 days old when this happens that we're about to read. 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. 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 and it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, Lord, now you 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, a sword will pierce through your own soul also that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. Now there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher. She was of a 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 serve God with fastings and prayers night and day. And coming in that instant, she gave thanks to the Lord and spoke of him to all who looked for redemption in Jerusalem. So when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own city Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him. Let me just read again verse 38. And coming in that instant, she gave thanks to the Lord and spoke of him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem. Thus far, the reading of God's holy, precious word. Dear congregation, what are you looking for? I don't mean right now, I notice many of you are looking for something. But what are you looking for in life? We're all looking for something and what we're looking for makes up the content of our hopes, the content of our wishes, of our dreams. So what are you looking for? This is what it sounds like in your head. Don't worry, I can't read your mind. The Lord can. But it sounds like this in your mind, because it sounds like this in my mind. Sounds like this phrase. If only blank, if only this, and you go ahead and you fill in that blank, if only I had this, or if only this happened, then freedom in my life. I feel trapped. But if I have this, freedom. Or joy. If I had this, I'm just looking forward to this happening in my life. Or if I find this, then joy. Then life begins. That's what it sounds like in your head. And so what are you looking for? Children, picture it this way. We're all like pirates. Yes, all people are like pirates. Okay, so you can picture the pirate. He's got the peg leg, patch over his eye, the big hat, parrot on his shoulder, and I'm saying we're all like pirates, and we all have a shovel in our hand, and we're all digging holes looking for something. We're looking for treasure. That's why we're all like pirates. We're looking for buried treasure, things that will make me find happiness or life, satisfaction. And so we Walk around energetically, hunting, looking for something, searching. We have our shovel in hand, we're digging over here, and we maybe don't find what we're looking for, so then the next year, we're over here, new resolutions, right? It's new year, new resolutions, new, I'm gonna find happiness over here. Didn't work, need a new map. Someone have a new map I can find, because there's an X on that map, and it will lead me to happiness. And so I listen to this podcast, happiness is gonna be over here. All people are like pirates seeking treasure. So what are you looking for? Notice commercials anticipate we're looking for something. That's why commercials work. They know we're looking. They know we're not quite satisfied yet. Right, so commercials work because they're tapping into the need. They know there's a need. There's a need, we just got to figure out how to connect this product service to that need. And so you see the commercial of the car and the sun's shining. The sun is shining. The sun is shining if you have that car. And you look in the back seat and the kids are behaving. Can you believe it? You get this car, your kids behave. Commercials bank on us not being quite satisfied. What are you looking for? There are many things that we think will free us from troubles. For many, it's money. Not a bad thing. In fact, it's a necessary tool in the world in which we live. But many think if I'm shoveling hand, got my treasure map, X marks the spot, digging, clunk, open the treasure, and on the treasure it's got dollar signs, I crack that open, happy days, jackpot, life sent. A lot of us are looking for that kind of treasure. If only I had more money. Maybe it's muscles. Of course, caring about the bodies which the Lord has given to us is important. I mean, he's given me this body. I should take care of it. It's important. And yet, making our physical health our God is deadly. Spiritually, certainly, sometimes physically. Recently, I was reading an article that talked about how many young men are putting their lives at risk because they're trying to bulk up, they're trying to build, trying to find muscles, and they're putting things in their body that are harmful. Not intentionally trying to hurt themselves, but not fully aware of what's going into the body. But who really cares? Who cares to do the research? Who cares? I want muscles, because if I have muscles, life will be better. Maybe it's friends. All of the things we do to impress our friends. What are you looking for? Approval? Acceptance? If only those people, if I was only in the in crowd, life would be good. I would stop wanting other things. Yeah, right. Our hearts will continue looking. What are you looking for? Well, with that question in mind, look with me at Anna. It'll help you to have your Bibles open, Luke 2. And maybe when we did our scripture reading, you looked at Anna with eyes of pity. Ah, poor, poor Anna. She seems to have nothing. And we'll talk about her loss in a moment, but what you need to realize is that the spirit is holding out Anna here and he's saying, look at Anna and you see a happy person. Look at Anna and you see someone who spent her life searching for the most valuable treasure and then finding him. Look at Anna and look for what she looked for. That's really the point this afternoon. So we need to ask the question, well, what did she look for? And the answer is very plain there. Notice verse 38, she was looking for redemption along with the others whom she then witnessed to in Jerusalem. She was looking for him, the redeeming Lord. And friend, if you look for the redeeming Lord where he says he'll be found, then you will find him. That's his guarantee to us through this text and through other portions of scripture. If you look for the redeeming Lord where he says he'll be found, you will find him. And in finding him, your shovel hits the treasure chest and it says Christ, and maybe timidly, for the first time, you open, can I open that treasure chest, Christ? You crack the lid, treasure chest, Christ, and there's riches. Lots and lots of riches. And as you start to wade through the gospel riches of the Lord Jesus Christ, you start to dig deeper and you realize there's no bottom to this treasure chest. Someone throw me a rope, I'm going in. I want to discover the infinite, unsearchable riches of Christ. There's more, Christian. There's more riches to be found in Christ today. That's the message of this text. And so our title is, Looking for Redemption. And we have three points. The first three words, really, looking for redemption. First word, seeking. Seeking. Verse 36, we find Anna. And notice Luke is trying to draw attention to her. And the reason is, she was just an ordinary person. Now there was one Anna. No one that Luke was writing to would have known her. And so she's a nobody. She's not a famous person. And so children, what this means is if you were walking the streets, the dusty streets of Jerusalem in these days, Anna would walk by and you wouldn't even notice. She's just like you and I, totally ordinary. No one stops, I mean, unless they know you, but we're not rich, we're not famous. People don't, oh wow, you're here, amazing. No one did that for Anna. She was a nobody. She was ordinary. But she had, notice, a special calling. You see verse 36, there was one Anna, a prophetess. Now, she doesn't hold an official position of leadership. This idea of prophetess was she's receiving fresh revelation from the Lord and then witnessing. She has the privilege of witnessing of the Lord. And that's what we're gonna see in this text. One of the beautiful things that's gonna happen in Anna's life in this text is she gets to witness of the Lord. She speaks of Christ. And so she's an ordinary woman. She's a prophetess. She has this special privilege of being able to witness the Lord. And there's one other thing, as you're filling out a little description of who this Anna is, notice she's old. You see Luke speaking that way in verse 36. There was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher, and she was of a great age. She was old. He continues and says, and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity. And this woman was a widow of about 84 years. She's old. But how do we read these numbers, how do we add them up? There's actually two possibilities here, just to help you understand what those possibilities are. Most women in this time period, they would have been married at the age of between 12 and 15. And so if we take that number 15 and say, okay, Anna was married at age 15, the text loop tells us she's married seven years. So 22, 15, seven, 22. And then some people are gonna say, well, the numbers add up in this way. She's 22, and then now for 84 years, she's been a widow. So she's over 100. That's a possibility. The other possibility, the more popular reading that commentators take, is that she's married at 15 or so, widowed at 22, and now she's 84 years old. We don't really know, but the point is simply this, she's a senior saint. She's older, she's lived life, 84 or over 100. And as we look at her long life of this ordinary woman, there is something that stands out. It's the thing that people, if they were talking about Anna, this might be one of the things that they would mention. Ah, yes, Anna. Her life is marked by loss. Do you see that? She was probably known in the community for that. I mean, just think about it. That happy day when she was married. looking forward to a long life with her husband, and she was given seven short years. Just think about that, widow at age 22 or so. And in those days, it's not only that this would have been a deep relational loss. She's just lost her husband, the closest human being to her. She's lost her husband. It's not only a deep relational loss and the grief that comes with that. But in this time period, this was a terrible financial insecurity to be a widow in Jerusalem in the first century. You were in a vulnerable position. The husband would have done most of the providing. And so Anna, as we get to know her, her life is marked by loss. And friend, this afternoon, I wonder if that's a connection point for you. Maybe it feels especially pertinent to you after going through the Christmas season. Where everyone around you, it seems like, they're focused on what they're getting, and the joys and the blessings they're receiving. And yet, maybe secretly even, in your heart, the thing that's dominating your way of seeing life right now is what's missing. Or who's missing? Maybe your life is marked by loss. That's Anna. a young widow when she lost her husband, and yet now here in our text, she's old. But here's the thing we need to realize. As I said, it's tempting for us to have eyes of pity to look on Anna, and yet we would actually miss the Spirit's point if we were looking at her with eyes of pity. The Spirit is saying, look at Anna and ask the question, how can I find what she has? because here's what happened in Anna's life. Her loss didn't remain a loss in the sense that her loss ended up making space for her Lord. Do you see that? Yes, she lost her husband, but in the midst of the pain, and maybe this took years, but in the midst of her pain, the Lord so ordered it in her life to make space for him. And so when we find Anna at age 84 or older, notice her life is not dominated by loss. Yes, the scars are still there. They probably have never been taken away. The scar of loss is just, you know, seared onto her heart, that hot iron of losing a husband, losing a loved one, just stamped on her heart. How can you remove that scar? In this life, you can't. That name is there. And yet, when we come to her text, we find a woman who's full. She's full. That's what characterizes her life. She's characterized by what she has. Look at verse 37, it shows us what she has. And just notice the structure of this verse. What I mean is, it begins with her loss. This woman was a widow. Oh yes, she's the woman who lost her husband. That's her loss. But then look at her gain. Look at her full life, who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. Stamped over that half the verse is gain, full life. Friend, if your losses turned out to be your gains, God's people often experience that, and as a pastor, you get to hear those stories, where people will come and say things like, pastor, I don't know if I'm crazy, but as I look back on maybe that 10 year spell or whatever it was, that trial, I look back in the rear view mirror, and it was horrible. I would never wish anyone to go through it, but I can't help but look back with a sense of gratitude, or even, I don't know, but even joy. Because going through that, I found something, I found Him. Can you relate to that? Seasons of loss becoming seasons of greatest gain. In other words, has your suffering led you to seek God? Friend, do you want your losses, real losses? The Bible doesn't minimize loss. It speaks very realistically about pain and suffering. It doesn't minimize it at all. God is not the type of God that says, let's just pretend life is hunky-dory. No, read the Psalms. Half of them are laments. But if you want your losses to become your gains, seek God in the midst of your loss. Notice what characterizes Anna is that she's serving God. You see that? Verse 37, this woman was a widow, about 84 years, who did not depart from the temple, but served God. That's her life now. Servant of the Most High God. Now children, it's quite interesting that Luke goes out of his way to give us all these names that relate to Anna. You see that? Maybe you heard us read those names. In other stories, Luke will spend more time on a story, and sometimes he just gives us their name, like Anna. Other times, he doesn't even tell us their name. There's this story, Jesus does something amazing for this person, nameless, we don't even know who they are. And here, Luke goes out of his way to not just give us her name, but to give us her dad's name and the name of her tribe. Why is this? Well, the best thing I can come up with, and other commentators confirm this, is that as Luke looked at Anna's name and her father's name and the name of her tribe, he saw something of a summary of her life. And so let me take you through her names. Well, Anna, if there's Annas here, you probably know what your name means. Grace, right? Grace, Anna means grace. Fanuel, there might be a Fanuel here. Less common of a name. Fanuel, it actually comes from the word penile. Maybe you know that, that sounds familiar. Peniel, oh yes, Jacob in the Old Testament is wrestling with God at Peniel. And Jacob calls the place Peniel because there I saw the face of God. That's what Peniel or Phanuel means, face of God. And Asher is the word, the Hebrew word for happy or blessed. And so when you put Anna's name together and the name of her tribe, you get her life in a nutshell. God's grace, Anna, grace, God's grace led her to seek God's face, Phanuel, so she was blessed, truly happy. That's Anna. She knew the grace of God, she knew the face of God, and so she was truly blessed. Anna would have, she would have known Psalm 84. Martin Luther said that Galatians is my Katie. And his wife's name was Katie. So he's saying, I love Galatians. That's my book. Galatians is my Katie. It's my go-to. And for Anna, maybe it's Psalm 84. Don't you think? Psalm 84, how lovely is your tabernacle, O Lord, our host. I mean, you're walking up to the temple and you hear this older lady singing that. How lovely are your tabernacles, O Lord of hosts. My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Blessed, happy are those who dwell in your house. They will still be praising you. Ah, yes, there goes Anna again. Blessed Anna. Happy Anna, full Anna, on her way up to the temple. And the Spirit is saying, friend, take notice of this blessed life. And to do that, let's go to our second point. Let's dig a little deeper here. Our second point is the word hungering. Seeking, secondly, hungering. Notice, there's a hungering for God that marks Anna's life. Again, if you look at verse 37, maybe you skipped over these words. It says, but, midway through the verse, but serve God with fastings and prayers night and day. And the word we're zeroing in on here is fasting. Maybe it's not so common among us. And so what is this fasting? In its most basic sense, of course, it's to withhold one from food. Now, food is a good thing. God is a good creator and he created food and he didn't create just bland tasting ingredients. Imagine you lived in a world with no spice. What a sad world. Imagine you lived in a world with no color. Imagine if your plate was always just brown, like you would eat that slop. The Lord is a good creator. He gives us colors to put on our plates. He gives us spice to put on our food. Dutch people, we can add spice. Can you believe it? Let's flavorize our food. It's meant to be enjoyed. And the Lord in 1 Timothy 4 says we can enjoy these things with thanksgiving. With thanksgiving. And so, That's what we've been doing, haven't we? Fasting, no pastor. Feasting, that's Christmas. Feasting, that's what we've been doing. And that's good. Receive good gifts with thanksgiving. And yet, fasting from food can play a beautiful place in the believer's life. Just like feasting can. Now, let's be clear, what is this fasting? In fasting, Anna's not trying to impress her God by saying, well, if I just fast long enough and hard enough and do it the right way, that's kind of like me figuring out how to pull this cosmic slot machine arm. So I'm, through my fasting, convincing God he should hear my prayers. That's not how Anna's fasting or any of the biblical saints are fasting. No, fasting for Anna and for the saints of scripture is a way of saying to the Lord, I need you, Lord, more than bread. I do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from your mouth. And so I need you more than bread. And fasting is a tool then that comes in, maybe you say, well, I'm not, Oh, I'm not, I'm not really hungering for the Lord. Well, that's where fasting comes in because it's a way of saying, Lord, I want to want you more. My problem right now is I don't, I don't want you very much. And I'm sad about that. And for that reason, I'm going to fast because I want to want you more. I want to crave you more. It sounds something like this, Lord, I realize that I've been going through a season where I've been stuffed full of many things, good things, and yet I'm afraid that as I'm stuffed full of good things, it can crowd out you. Do you feel that? After the Christmas season? It sounds like Psalm 63, probably another one of Anna's Psalms, Psalm 63. Oh God, you are my God. Early will I seek you. My soul thirsts for you. God, you are my water. You are my wine. You give me true joy. My soul is parched. And as I withhold food for myself, I start to feel these cravings for food and it's a reminder to me, God, you are more important than even the basic necessities of life. Psalm 63, I've looked for you in the sanctuary to see your power and your glory because your loving kindness is better than life. His steadfast love, his loving kindness is better than life. Therefore, I will praise you. Thus I will bless you while I live. I will lift up my hands in your name. My soul should be satisfied with marrow and fatness. That's Psalm 63 way of saying with a feast. Lord, you are the feast of my soul. You are my food, spiritually. What are you hungry for? Friend, are you starving your soul by feeding on sin? Maybe say, well, how can I cultivate this hunger? Of course, it's the work of the Spirit, and the Spirit uses means, and one of the means is fasting. And again, fasting, it seems maybe foreign to us, and yet there's one practical thing we can easily grasp. It's a basic principle about fasting, and it's this, I will be filled with something. We can grasp that, right? I will be filled with something. And so do I have space for God? And so a believer fasts so that they might feast, feast on God. That's what's driving this fasting. And it doesn't need to be food. In fact, maybe the main thing for us that's getting in the place of God, probably it's not food. Now, food can be helpful because skipping lunch is hard, and when my stomach starts to grumble, that's just, that's an invitation to pray. Oh yes, Lord, you are more satisfying than food. So don't, you know, maybe it's helpful to set aside food. But let me put it this way. If I was to take a poll among us of what is the number one thing you think is hindering your prayer life? What's the number one thing? that's crowding out God. We would be very surprised if collectively food was answer number one, but we wouldn't be surprised if collectively our phone was answer number one. Would you be surprised? Now, you can look at your phone and ask yourself this question. Has this helped or hindered my prayer life this week? Remember those days, those olden days when we used to stand in line and we had two options. One option was to love my neighbor and I would talk to my neighbor, or one option, the other option was to love my Lord and speak to him. Now, I mean maybe I'm doing good things, but I am turned in on myself, like as I look at my phone. Are we loving ourself, maybe? I use my phone every day, it's a helpful tool. I'm using it right now to keep time, don't worry. It's a helpful tool. But is it crowding out God's space in your life? Do you dare ask that question? That's a scary question. But we all have a choice, we all will have a choice this week, or most of us will have a choice this week. One of the evenings, maybe five of the evenings, we'll have a choice. God's face or my phone? Who won last week? The principle of fasting is I set aside that which is good for that which is better, God. That was Anna. She hungered for God, and so she talked with God. That's what's combined together, verse 37. She hungered, she fasted, and she prayed. This is what she wanted. This is why she fasted, so she might feast on God. She wanted fellowship. Psalm 27, probably her psalm. One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord. That's what she's after. And that's how she lived. The text says she did not depart from the temple. And that's Luke's way of speaking like us when we say, wow, that person's always at church. Or that person's always at hockey, right? They're always there. Not that they're literally always there, but they're always there. And that's Anna, she's always at the temple. She loved to be there. Because she was hungry for God. So as we look at this older lady, don't have pity. I mean, she is showing a spiritual strength that makes most of us look pitiful. Am I not right? Don't be deceived by little old Anna, she's a warrior. She sought the face of God and she saw the face of God. She knew her God. And older ones, I think there's encouragement here for you as well as we look at Anna. Maybe as you come to corporate worship, especially in the winter, it's harder and you feel weaker and you feel that I go but I get less. I get less than I used to. I can't remember. I mean, I hear the preaching. I seem to feed on the word in the moment and then I leave and it's gone. Well, here's what you need to know from the life of Anna. Though you may feel weaker and feel like you get less, your presence, of course, if it's possible in God's providence to be here, but your presence in being here actually gives more. I mean, younger ones, look at the senior saints among us and what a witness they are to us. How many sermons have they heard on Anna? I mean, they know this story, and yet they're here. Why? Because if things are well with them, then they're here for the same reason Anna's here, out of service to God. They love their God, and they want to worship their God. And so through the aches and pains, through the I'm getting less that when I go, they're witnessing to us. See them, and let us learn from them. What a strength Anna displayed. while we've hungered, seeking the Lord, hungering after the Lord, and then finally, let's look at finding, finding this Lord, this Redeemer. Those who seek will find. And so how would Anna advertise her lifestyle? So she's walking up to the temple and you say, Anna, what's it with it with you always being at the temple? Like, I don't quite get it. Why are you always there? And she would probably advertise in a similar way in which the Lord calls us to worship. Do you notice how the Lord calls us to worship? Every service, the elder is not calling us to worship. The Lord is through the elder calling us to worship, not by saying, where have you been? Why haven't you worshiped me more? but by enticing us, by saying words like Psalm 34 verse eight, oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. That's how the Lord advertises himself. And that's how Anna would say, here's what you need to know about the Lord. I'm just like you, my heart is sinful, it's easily satisfied with other things, but I've tasted, I've seen him, he's good. And so Psalm 92 is probably another one of her Psalms. It is good to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praises to your name, O most high, to declare your loving kindness in the morning, your faithfulness every night. And so Anne is standing there saying, I'm drawn to him, I've seen him, I've tasted him, you should too. Come, come and worship God with me. Seek him and you will find him. Psalm 36, verse 7, how precious is your loving kindness, O God. Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of your wings. Do you see the logic of that text? Children of men are running to put their trust under the shadow of the Lord's wings. Why? Because they think he's stingy, nothing to offer. How precious is your loving kindness, O God, treasure. Valuable riches, I see them. Therefore the children of men put their trust into the shadow of your wings. They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of your house. You give them drink from the river of your pleasures, for with you is the fountain of life, and in your light we see light. That's how the Lord does his advertising. Come and see who I am. Come and discover me in the Lord Jesus Christ. and hungry, thirsty, pirate-like sinner, oh, you will find riches that will satisfy. Look at verse 38. Coming in that instance, this is the instant that Simeon is there speaking his great prophecy about what Christ will do. Coming in that instant, she gave thanks to the Lord and spoke of him. Here we find Anna, and she's overhearing Simeon make this grape. promise about this child this little baby this 40 day year old 40 day old baby in the temple and Simeon is reminding everyone in his prophecy. This baby is the hope of the world He's the light that's gonna shine in the darkness. He's the glory the boast of Israel and So everything is bound up in this baby and I hears it and she comes in that instant and gives. Thanks She believes it She gives thanks to the Lord because she recognizes that all the Old Testament promises will be fulfilled in this child. Here is the man-child, the seed of the woman that we've been waiting for since Genesis 3.15. Here is the seed of Abraham in whom the nations will be blessed. Here's the son of David who's gonna reign on his throne for all eternity. He's gonna bring in his blessed kingdom. This baby standing in front of me, being held in front of me, is the redeemer. Just as Malachi prophesied, the Lord himself has come to his temple. He's here. And so what a meeting for Anna. The one who sought God's face now stares into God's face in the flesh. Or to say it another way, Anna had lost her husband, but her whole life she was spending her time at the house of her new husband, the Lord. And now her husband has come home. This one who is Emmanuel, God with us, who will bring back the fullness of God's presence to sinners like Anna. And congregation, the point is this, just as certain as Anna sought and found the Redeemer, if you seek him, you will find him. And so what are you looking for? After the Lord has been holding himself out to you, pleading with you, saying, I'm right here. Seek me and you will find me. What are you searching for? If you're not seeking him, it's because you don't think he will really satisfy. Isn't that right? And yet he does satisfy and he does guarantee that this promise, if you seek him, you will find him. I mean, it's found on the lips of this Jesus when he grows up just later in this gospel, Luke 11, verse 9. Let me read that for you. And this is the Lord, God in the flesh, the Redeemer, the maker, our judge. In Luke 9, 11, verse 9, he says, I say to you, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be open to you for everyone who asks, receives. Not me, pastor. I've tried. Well, this is Jesus's word. Everyone who asks, receives. He who seeks, finds. To him who knocks, it will be opened. And so friend, the Redeemer is standing here to assure us in advance, or while, if maybe we're right now, maybe we've been knocking at his door, and you're like, does he answer? He is here to assure us in big, bold letters over his door, I always answer those who seek me. He doesn't tell us he opens the door right away, but he does tell us there is this full guarantee and I am eager to receive sinners. And friend, as you see yourself there knocking on the door, maybe you've been seeking him, realize who planted that desire in your heart. We don't seek after God. If your heart's like mine by nature, we don't seek after God. If I'm seeking him, Maybe I haven't come into the full light of assurance of this is my Savior, but if I'm seeking him, well, Satan hasn't planted that in my heart. That's the Spirit who planted this, and yet he's here saying, friend, whatever anyone says, whatever your doubts say, whatever any other voice says to you, let my word ring clear in your heart. Seek me, and you will find me. I am the Savior who welcomes sinners. All you need is my word. That's your full warrant, your full invitation to come and find me. And so bring my word back to me. And oh, how he loves to answer these promises. Notice that's Anna. She sees him. And that's where Luke wants our eyes to end then. As she sees him, she then goes and she proclaims him. Coming in that instant, she gave thanks to the Lord. She spoke of Him to all who looked for redemption in Jerusalem. Her heart was hungry, but now it's been filled with Him, and she has extra to share. That's what happens in the Christian's life. You come to this Christ, you're hungry for this Christ, you find Him, and now I become a beggar who's found bread, and you need Him too. So let me tell you about Him. And look at who she goes to. She goes to those in bondage, she goes to those who are looking for redemption. Those looking for redemption are those who are imprisoned in their hopelessness, in their guilt, in their shame, in the struggles of life. They're looking for a redeemer, a liberator, and she goes to them and she says, I found him, here he is, come to him and discover his redemption as well. Friend, what are you looking for? The Lord says to you, seek me and you will find me. Amen. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, you are glorious, holy God, and yet humble. saving Lord. You have come to seek and to save those who are lost. You have not come for the self-righteous who think they're healthy and well. You've come for the sick. And Lord, that's all of us by nature. How our hearts need your life, your healing, your forgiveness, your spirit, your righteousness to clothe us. And Lord Jesus, how eager you are to be found. We thank you for speaking to us through your word, through the life of Anna. We pray that we would learn from her and from the Annas among us Lord, help us to seek your face. Allure us, draw us, so we would be hungry for you. And that in finding you, that we would share you with others. Lord, forgive our many sins in worship, and we thank you for the assurance of pardon that's found through your finished work, Lord Jesus. It's in your name we pray, amen.