I haven't been behind one of these in a while. I feel much more comfortable down there on your level, but for the sake of this and other things. The scripture reading we've got tonight is from Luke chapter 2. But in order to introduce what I hope will be, God willing, a series of three messages, as we've agreed to, I wanna set some background before I read this passage. We're hearing in the morning about the catechism. And if you jump to number 82 in the catechism, you get a definition of a faith. And the shorter category is called, what is true faith? No, what is, let me, I've got it here. What is faith in Jesus Christ? And the answer is, faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace whereby we receive and rest on him alone for salvation as he is offered in the gospel. About 80 years before that, the Heidelberg Catechism, which is the grandfather of the, you could say, in the Reformation tradition of catechisms of the Westminster documents, defined true faith as this. It is not only a certain knowledge by which I accept as true all that God has revealed to us in his word, because that knowledge the devils have. The catechism doesn't say that, I'm saying that. They know that the Bible is true. But the catechism goes on to say, but a wholehearted trust, which the Holy Spirit creates in me through the gospel, that not only to others, but to me also, God has given the forgiveness of sins, everlasting righteousness and salvation out of sheer grace solely for the sake of Christ's saving work. That's quite a definition. It expands on its later descendant. But both of those definitions focus on justifying faith, that faith which connects us with Christ who justifies us, and understandably so because the Reformation's primary focus in some ways was to clear off the rubble of what had become of the notion of justification. clarify it, to bring it back to what the scripture says. But biblical faith is more than justifying faith. Biblical faith moves in a direction. It is not static. So when we come to the sort of classic biblical definition of faith in Hebrews, Listen to what it says. I'm sure you're familiar with it, but I'll read it. Faith is a substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Oh, the writer of Hebrews has sneaked hope in here as part of faith. And if we go on in examining what true faith is and how it is linear, it moves, it must produce fruit to prove that it is genuine. We come to a passage which you may be surprised to hear me talk about faith, and that is Paul's magnificent love letter in the middle of his discussion of gifts to the Corinthians, chapter 13. And we know how that ends, don't we? We've heard it at weddings, we're very familiar with it. Now abide these three, faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love. That's what I hope to get to in two weeks. Next week, hope. Today, faith. But it's very striking that even in that chapter, Well, before I say that, let me say this. And that is that without each of these, you don't have a proper foundation for any of them. Faith needs an object. And for one to put their faith in something like you did when you sat on in your chair tonight, you didn't think I was exerting faith, but you were. You assumed it would hold you. And you have the hope that it will continue to hold you until we're through with the service. That seems silly, but you don't love your chair. But in the case of true faith, biblical faith, all three of these are foundational. And my argument is going to be that to have proper love, biblical love, we have to have this foundation of faith, which leads to hope. And on top of that is the supreme gift of all things, which is true love, pure love, love of God and love of neighbor. So we come right back to the great commandment. Everything begins and ends with that, as it were. Because in heaven, we will love God perfectly, and we'll love one another perfectly, and without sin, without any snares. But faith and hope will be no more. We won't need them. They will have been satisfied in what love is. So, even in 1 Corinthians 13, a little before this, we get an expansion on this, and some further support is, which is verse 7. Love bears all things, believes all things, faith. Love hopes all things, hope, and endures all things. It's striking how... Scripture intertwines them, even though it does distinguish them. Because true biblical love, as I'm saying, and true biblical faith and hope are in a person. They are in God. And they are in the final revelation of God for us, the Lord Jesus Christ. Otherwise, all three are really acts of the imagination. Not that they aren't real things. We have idols. People have idols. They have goals that are tangible or non-tangible things. But the sad reality is that for so many people, for those that are lost and do not know the Lord Jesus Christ, what they have their faith in, their hope in, and what they love is tragically fatal. unless they're brought to know what true faith, hope, and love are, and that's in a person, in our Lord Jesus Christ. So, with this background, I want us to consider, as we move towards Luke 2, and we're going to get there, be patient, the writer of the Hebrews in chapter 11, a great chapter of the evidence of faith, true faith, says, without faith, it is impossible to please God. But the one that comes to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those that diligently seek him. And then follows this catalog of those who demonstrated their true faith, witnessed to it by their works, so that their works testified to their faith. That's basically the position of all of Hebrews 11. And at the end of that, however, we read these words, and it's striking. All these, chapter 11 of Hebrews, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us, they should not be made perfect. What was the something better? It was someone better. My argument to you tonight is, as we begin this, a thesis, is that the greatest example of faith, exercised faith, is our Lord Jesus Christ. And we go on with the beginning of Hebrews 12, right after those words I just read, and what does it say? Again, very familiar words. Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses, all these folks that we've just talked about in Hebrews 11 and many more, Let us also lay aside every encumbrance in the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking away unto Jesus. I think that away is not in the text, but that verb really means that, taking your eyes off something else, putting it on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith. Now, your translations will often say our faith. indicating that they're thinking the writer means what we are to believe, or who Christ is and whom we put our faith. But there's no hour there, there's just a definite article. So we could bring it in and say, the author and perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross. Now he's talking about the exercise of Christ's faith in perseverance. showing the fruit of it. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down on the right hand of the throne of God. And then it goes on to commend Christ as our example in faithfully persevering in faith to accomplish his purpose. For consider him who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. And we know our Lord Jesus Christ did not need justifying faith. He was righteous. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit. We heard it this morning. We were talking about it after the sermon and the discussion. Sinless, he was perfectly righteous from the moment of conception, but what he did was he needed and exercised faith, hope, and love throughout his life and his time of humiliation in God, his father, and in the directive that was written for him to be discovered by him as man in the Old Testament, because the blueprint for the life of the Messiah was there. And so I want tonight to do this As we begin this study and starting with faith, I want us to look at the life of the Lord Jesus and think on his being as a righteous man, first as a child, a teenager, and then for a whole decade, and through that whole first 30 years, We know nothing other than the earlier times with his mother than what we have in Luke 2 at the end of that chapter, which we're going to look at in a moment, and what it reveals to us. But this child would have been taken, we can be almost certain, regularly to the synagogue. This child would have heard the readings of the law and the prophets. He would have had an instant interest in those things. You wouldn't have had to persuade him that this was valuable. And in his holy soul, I would imagine, I cannot imagine not praying. I cannot imagine not having communion with the Father, even as a child, because that shows up in the end of this passage, doesn't it, Luke 2? We'll see that in a moment. So there were these influences and these opportunities for him to learn of God's ways, to learn of the true nature of human beings, of sin, of God's dealings with his people. All of that would have been part of his growing up years, even before and by the time he became 12, let alone all those years thereafter. So what I want to do for us in all these sessions is contrast the life of faith, hope, and love of Christ as we see it and can discern it with his mother, Mary. Did Mary have faith? Did she have hope? Did she have love? What was her faith in? Did her faith grow? Was it tried? Did it fail at any point? And her hopes? Good questions. And what I hope we can do and see as we look at the scripture without resorting to the traditions and distortions and fantasies that have come along about our Lord's mother, is how much the scriptures do reveal to us about her and about her son in relation to her. So before we get to our text again, we'll get there, think about these things. You need this for the content of what Mary had heard, how much she remembered, How long those ponderings that we read about twice in the gospel records retained what she had heard? But let's just be reminded. She probably received, the mother of our Lord, more miraculous manifestations and messages than certainly any other woman in scripture. We know that it started with Gabriel announcing to Mary that the Lord was with her. Suddenly, this young woman sees an angel, and he says, the Lord is with you. You have favor with God. You're going to conceive by the Holy Spirit a son to be named Jesus. He will be called the Son of the Most High, the Holy Son of God. God will give him his father David's throne, and he will reign there forever. Incredible. Just out of the blue, out of nowhere. She was expecting, she was engaged to Joseph. This is happening. Her response? Behold, I'm the Lord's maidservant. Let it be to me according to your word. That sounds like faith to me. That sounds like at least, whatever she understood of all that, I guess I'm going to have a baby and it won't be by Joseph. Let it be. Not in the Beatles' sense of let it be, but in the faith prayer, let it be. When she went to see, we don't know what she believed exactly and how much she grasped of this, but we'll see a little more as we go on here. We have Elizabeth's greeting, Zachariah's wife, aged, now pregnant. Blessed are you, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, the mother of my Lord," she calls her. Blessed is she who believed that all of the Lord's word would be fulfilled. Zechariah didn't, so he was struck dumb. Mary did. So Elizabeth is complimenting her faith here. And then Mary sings her song. And if you've followed it at all, you know that the thing that Mary seems to emphasize in her song is the kingly mercy of God. He's going to rule. He's going to deal with our enemies. He's going to show mercy to his people. And after all, he was told by the angel in the first place that he's going to occupy the throne of his father, David, forever. So, like many others, he was expecting a king. We asked, did Joseph tell Mary what Gabriel said to him, the angel Gabriel? Mary came home. If you didn't know it before, she was very much pregnant. This is a problem, and we know the story of Joseph, Matthew 1. And the angel comes to Joseph with a slightly different message. He confirms that conception is by the Holy Spirit. So Joseph, he's not been with another man, and that this boy will be called Jesus. That's another confirmation. But then he says something different. He will save his people from, not the Romans, their sins. He's going to be a savior from sin. So the baby is born in a stable, not in a hotel, not in a palace. We know the story. It's so moving if we really think about it. And I recite these things for us to be reminded and never forget them. And here comes some shepherds. Nobody ever trusted shepherds' reports. They were veritable liars. They couldn't even give a report in court often. The greatest display of angels, maybe ever accepted creation, nobody around to see it but God, is this display of angels. And these shepherds come in and tell Mary what they saw. The glory of this, born for you as a savior, Christ, the anointed, the Lord. Well, Mary kept these things and pondered them. What did she understand? What did this mean? Of course, she would have been asking these questions. And then the Magi come, these Far Eastern mystics, or whatever they were, and they come in to worship this infant and offer gifts to one born a king. You wouldn't worship David, you wouldn't worship Solomon, but they're worshiping him. Where is he who was born king of the Jews? She heard that, she was there. And then we come to Simeon's words in the temple about Jesus. He holds this baby and he says, I have now seen God's salvation, not just Savior. This is the whole thing right here in this little person. There he's hearing this. What else did he say? Some troubling things. He says, this child is set. He's going to be a light to the Gentiles and a glory to the people Israel, but he is set for the fall and rising again of many and a sign to be spoken against in order to reveal many thoughts. And then he says, a sword will pierce your own soul, Mary. What is she to make of this? Then they have the flight to Egypt and the return because if they don't, Herod's venom would have destroyed the child. And that brings us to Luke 2. So let's listen to Luke 2 as I read it for us, this wonderful passage here. We begin with Jesus back in Nazareth with his mother and Joseph, and we read this. Now his parents, this is verse 41, went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of Passover. And when he was 12 years old, they went up according to custom. When the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it. But supposing him to be in the group, they went a day's journey. But then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances. And when they did not find him, They returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. After three days, they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. We could say staggered. And his mother said to him, child, Why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress. He said to them, why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my father's house or about my father's business? They did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. He went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. and his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. So Luke's presentation of this story has caused some mild consternation with commentators as they try to deal with the Greek of especially verses 42 and 43. Beyond the fact that here is this child, he's now 12 years old, one year shy of when a Jewish boy became a man. Some have thought it was 12, others say 13. But at any rate, he's now 12. And the way this verse reads is the parents Ordinarily, his parents went up year by year to Jerusalem to the Feast of the Passover. So that's the sort of heading. This is a parental trip that they make. And by the time Jesus was 12, there would have been certainly some other brother and or sister in the family. Did they bring them? We don't know. They're not mentioned. But they went up and the emphasis is on Joseph and Mary. And then it says, and when he became 12 years old, they going up according to the custom of the feast, and they finishing the days of the feast, and their returning, Jesus, the boy, remained in Jerusalem. And his parents did not know it. So the primary verb in this sentence is Jesus remained. It excerpts him, as it were, from them. As they were going up and they finished the feast, he remained. And they did not know this, so he didn't tell them that he was going to do this. The way the New American Standard translates this, it's now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover, and when he became 12, They went up there according to the custom of the feast, and as they were returning, after spending the full number of days, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents were unaware of it. Folks, this is a deliberate, sinless act on the part of Jesus at 12 years old. It, of course, had to be sinless, and it is clearly deliberate. What is going on? That is the great mystery of this, or it can be to us. Every mother and father just has heart pangs over this when you think about what Mary and Joseph went through when they got up a whole day's journey, which would have been many miles, maybe 15, 20 miles on the way back to Nazareth. And assuming he's in the company because he could be trusted What a situation when the real problem in the family was the parents, not the child. Although he was subject to them, he obeyed them, and would have never been a problem in the sense of disobeying, answering back, as we were hearing this morning. It's the child that didn't answer back. If he did answer back, he would have said it in a very gracious way. Yeah, may I ask a question? or however it might have been stated. But here, here, this is very deliberate. What is he doing? Why did he do this? That's the real question. And I say, and I commend to you to think about this is a manifestation of a test of the faith of the little boy Jesus, the young 12-year-old Jesus. and his mother. Because as Jesus began to absorb, our Savior began to learn what his mission was as he saw the Old Testament. And how could you miss it? It even starts with Abel. There had to be a blood sacrifice. There had to be a sacrifice even before that to cover our first parents. Blood, death, and then a whole mosaic system with slaughtering animals, the tabernacle and later temple were butcher shops. And the noise and the smell and everything else constantly being, needing to be cleaned up just out of hygienic purposes. But think of this verse from Leviticus 1711. It is sort of the classic statement of why sacrifice. And it's this. I, let me find it right here. Trust my memory. The life of the flesh is in the blood. This is Leviticus 17, 11. The life of the flesh is in the blood. And I have given it to you upon the altar, that is the blood, I've given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your sins. For it is the blood that makes atonement by reason of the life. So in other words, in order for sin to be atoned, remember Joseph was told he will save his people from their sins. There had to be the shedding of blood. There was no other way to do it. And there had to be a life given. There was no other way for that to happen except by death and the shedding of blood. So I would argue that Jesus, in growing up and hearing these readings and becoming aware of the whole Mosaic sacrificial system, would have been aware that it took the death of an animal to represent the ultimate remission of sins. And the very fact that they continued, like Hebrews argues, meant that they weren't final. There was no animal that could ever take the place of the sin of a human. But then if a human shed his blood or her blood, they would just be paying for their own sins. How helpless, how hopeless. So what I would say about this moment and what Jesus, our Savior, is doing, he is starting to make the break that had to be made between the filial relationship of his mother and he and his mother and his mission. And that's clearly what he says here, isn't it? I mean, it isn't saying in so many words, I'm beginning to make that break, but that's exactly what happens, because when Joseph and Mary arrive back, horrified at what's happened, but so delighted to see him, and there they walk in, he's sitting there calmly, a 12-year-old with the scribes and Pharisees or whoever else was there, and they're discussing the things of the law. They're talking about the scriptures, no doubt. Who knows about what? It doesn't say and it really doesn't matter. They are statically astonished. I mean, they're not happy. They're happy to see him, but they, how in the world? What is this? Wait a minute, Mary. And Jesus says to her, why were you seeking me? Don't you remember what the angel said? What he said about me, who I would be? Joseph, don't you remember that Jesus has to pay for the sins of his people? How is that gonna happen? And all the things that were said. So I would argue that this test of Mary was. She, and there are going to be other tests, and there's going to be great difficulty, but she had to come to grips with the fact that this child was not just extraordinarily obedient, it had been a joy to raise someone that she loved, but there had to be a separation, and it was going to be very painful. But it was a test of her faith. Where was her faith at this point? In some ways, that's what Jesus is asking. Why were you looking for me? Didn't you know that I had to be about my father's business or in my father's house? Nobody had before said, this is my father's house. Only Jesus could say that. So it's a striking demonstration of our Savior's faith in who he was learning himself to be. before God his father, and why he was here, and why he had to be there. That's why, if you jump ahead, the great tragedy of the last time the Lord Jesus leaves the temple, he weeps over Jerusalem, never goes back into the temple, and the temple was destroyed. And he says, if only you had known the day of your visitation. So I argue and commend this to you to think about that this was the beginning of what necessarily had to happen. And for Mary, it's very painful, no doubt. So we do not have a providence like this. Some of you may have lost children. Some of you have lost loved ones, spouses, others. Death comes, it's very hard, it's painful. But during lifetime, for a good child, daughter, son, to begin to break from you, just horrible to think about. Unless, of course, there's some problem with them or they're sick or whatever. But he wasn't sick. What was there to precipitate this? So I say to us, and seeking to apply this a bit to us, the faith that we should have and should pray to have, an ever-deepening reality, is based on the whole revelation of God, the fullness of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ and his disciples, and what that faith is to do to bring forth the fruits of fearless, godly representation of this person who is the object of our faith, who is the ground of our hope, who should be the object of our supreme love. As we come right back to those two great commandments, to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbor, particularly our Christian neighbor, our brethren and sistren, and the Lord, with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. So as we consider this contrast, and we consider the cost of it, let us not be surprised at the providences God brings into our lives, and take everything to Him in prayer. What are you teaching me, Lord? How am I to learn this? What is it you're doing for me here? Give me the patience, the grace. We could come back to wonderful Hebrews 12 too, for the joy set before him. Do you see a joy set before you? Not here, maybe, we hope we have other joys, certainly no doubt will. The ultimate joy. being delivered from sin, of seeing this Savior, of being in His presence forever, where faith and hope are consummated and all is love. May the Lord enable us to profit from these thoughts and reflect on this type of evidence of faith to encourage and strengthen or to establish our own. Let's pray. Our Father, thank you for your word. Thank you that nothing is wasted, no words, and yet it is a large book, all of scripture. We cannot keep it all in our minds at all times by any means, no one can do that, but we can keep its goal in mind, which is to present you, our God, to us in the flesh, is the full manifestation of who you are and what you are doing for us in this life to make us like our savior himself. That was really, it becomes Jesus' goal too, for his mother. So we thank you that you're determined to conform us to your image. We pray that we would graciously receive it with joy, thankfulness, Persevere through the hard times, difficulties, economically, physically, spiritually in the struggles, because you are with us. Greater is he that is with us than he that is in the world. So our confidence is in you. Strengthen us to that end and we'll give you the praise in Christ's name, amen. The closing hymn is One that you may or may not know, turn your eyes upon Jesus. And we're not talking about looking at a picture of Jesus, obviously. We had that even in the last song that we sang. We look away to Jesus. And we do it in whatever state we're in. So, for example, many of the Psalms start off with David or the psalmist in the pits. Struggling, afflicted, battled, and then he brings himself to remember, ah, I need to put my eyes on God. Of course, God was invisible, but he was remembering who he is, what he's done. Just like Paul says, we with open face beholding as in a glass. the glory of the Lord are being transformed from one degree of glory to another, beholding the image of Christ. So let's stand and sing this number 481, turn your eyes upon Jesus.