[0:00] The following message is given by Walt Alexander, lead pastor of Trinity Grace Church in Athens, Tennessee.! For more information about Trinity Grace, please visit us at TrinityGraceAthens.com.
[0:12] When he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
[0:40] And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. As it is written in the law of the Lord, every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord.
[0:55] And to offer, so they went up to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtle doves and two young pigeons.
[1:07] Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. And this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel.
[1:19] 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.
[1:33] And he came in 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.
[1:57] For my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.
[2:16] Verse 33, And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phenel of the tribe of Asher.
[2:54] She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until she was 84. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day.
[3:11] And coming up at that very hour, she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.
[3:28] May God bless the hearing and the preaching of his word. You know, one of the most retold stories around Christmas time is the Christmas truce of 1914 in the midst of the First World War.
[3:48] World War I began in the summer of 1914. It was the first war of its kind, engaging so many nations that it could be rightly called a world war.
[3:58] As Christmas approached, Pope Benedict XV called for a Christmas truce, a ceasefire to celebrate the Lord Jesus Christ.
[4:10] Both sides rejected the idea. Nevertheless, at various points along the front lines, soldiers made their own truce.
[4:21] No one knows where it began or how it spread, but it's widely believed that more than 100,000 troops stepped across their trenches to celebrate Christmas with the enemy.
[4:33] One soldier recounts what happened on Christmas Eve. He said, first the Germans would sing one of their carols, and then we would sing one of our carols. Until we started to sing, O come all ye faithful, the Germans immediately joined us in singing the same song with its Latin, words.
[4:53] And I thought, well, this is a most extraordinary thing. Two nations both singing the same carol in the midst of a war. On Christmas morning, some Germans began shouting out, Merry Christmas!
[5:07] In English. Across to the other side of the trench, others held up signs, said, You no shoot, we no shoot. Still others shouted, You come halfway, I'll come halfway.
[5:23] They made a truce. On the Western Front, British, Belgian, and French soldiers put down their rifles and joined the Germans in no man's land, in between the trenches where many had died.
[5:37] They exchanged food and cigarettes, buttons and hats. They spent the day together. One British soldier recounts getting a haircut from his German barber before the war.
[5:50] Several mention an impromptu kickabout with makeshift soccer balls. It was magical. It was a Christmas miracle. You guys aren't impressed, but it was impressive. But whatever the cause or however widespread it was, it was only a truce.
[6:07] It was not peace. After the festivities died out and after the soldiers realized they must soon get back to the war, one soldier says, I remember the silence.
[6:21] A different type of silent night. The eerie sound of silence. He continues, It was a short peace in a terrible war.
[6:36] In many ways, each Christmas can feel like a truce. A short peace just one day in the midst of a terrible war.
[6:49] It's so wonderful. I mean, I'm not an anti-Christmas guy. Christmas is so wonderful. It's so wonderful to celebrate the peace of God we now have, the freedom we now experience, the presence of God into which we now freely access.
[7:02] But Christmas doesn't end the war. Christmas comes so fast, passes so quickly, and often leaves us painfully the same, with the same struggles, the same sins, in the same fight, in the same war.
[7:19] Some of us can even begin to dislike Christmas a little bit, because it over-promises and under-delivers. An emotional wave that ends you back in the same place.
[7:30] But that's because we have it all wrong. Christmas did not come to end the fight, but to tell us the fight is worth fighting. Didn't come to call us off our post of watching and praying, but to tell us it's needed more now than ever.
[7:46] This morning we consider another song of the Savior from Luke 2, Simeon's song. As we study this song, we're going to be brought into a world of fasting and praying and watching.
[7:58] From them, we're going to learn how to celebrate Christmas for all that it is and for all that it isn't. Let us set our hope fully on the salvation of God in Christ.
[8:09] That's where we're going. Let us set our hope fully on the salvation of God in Christ. Points are simple. The first one, Simeon's song and ours. Simeon's song and ours.
[8:22] Our passage begins with Mary and Joseph carefully obeying the law of the Lord. Four times in this passage, it talks about them obeying the law of the Lord. It's now 40 days since Jesus was born.
[8:35] Mary and Joseph are taking him up the five-mile track, up from Bethlehem to Jerusalem. After giving birth, Mary is going to Jerusalem to offer a sacrifice of purification.
[8:48] Though Mary is the mother of God's son, Mary is not without sin. And so she must be cleansed and forgiven through the sacrifices commanded in the law in Leviticus 12.
[9:01] And because of her poverty, her destitute state instead of a lamb, she offers two turtle doves and a pair of pigeons.
[9:16] So she's going to offer a sacrifice of purification, but she's also going up to Jerusalem to present her firstborn to the Lord. Remember the story of the Exodus. After the Lord spared all the firstborn of the house of Israel and delivered them from Egypt, he said, every firstborn son is mine now.
[9:38] Exodus 12. And so they're going up to present their son. It's a way of saying, you have redeemed us and all that we have belongs to you. We do the same thing.
[9:49] We give the first of our income to the Lord. We're saying, you own it all and I just give you that. And so they're going to offer a sacrifice.
[10:00] They're going to present their son, but they're also going to dedicate him. In the same way that 1 Samuel records Hannah dedicating her son Samuel to the Lord, they are going to dedicate their first son.
[10:13] But before they can do what they came to do, they encounter a man named Simeon. Look in verse 25. Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
[10:35] Simeon is a common name in that day. Simeon seems to be a common man with a common name, nothing uncommon about him except his character.
[10:45] He's righteous and devout, a genuine believer. Not saying he's perfect before the Lord, but a faithful saint of God.
[10:59] He has a common man with uncommon character and an uncommon preoccupation. We don't know what his occupation is. Some guess a priest. It is not mentioned here, but we do know he has an uncommon preoccupation, and that is waiting on the consolation of Israel.
[11:15] Just like the Lord said in Isaiah 40, comfort my people, comfort my people. Tell them their warfare has ended, and so he's waiting, and he has been waiting, but the Spirit said he will not have to wait much longer.
[11:29] Look at verse 26. It says, After introducing us to Simeon, Luke tells us about this encounter Simeon has with Mary and Joseph and the baby.
[11:47] The text says that Simeon came in the Spirit to the temple. What that means is Simeon, so he was directed and guided, prompted and led by the Spirit into the temple at just this very moment that Mary and Joseph were walking in.
[12:02] You've got to remember the temple was massive. We shouldn't think a little sanctuary in our mind is five, I mean, five football fields long by three football fields wide, 1,500 feet, 900 feet wide, and the Spirit directs Simeon straight to Mary and Joseph and this baby.
[12:26] Mary and Joseph go to the temple to dedicate their son to the Lord, but Simeon steps up and takes up Jesus into his arms.
[12:37] Instead, look in verse 28. I just love, I just want to put myself in this scene. He takes him up. This one he's been praying for for so long.
[12:52] If you're a parent, you know what it's like to hold your child for the very first time, this one you've been praying about, thinking about, feeling, kick about, and then you get to hold him.
[13:08] Here's Simeon waiting, takes him up, and he blesses the Lord. Most undoubtedly, he blesses the Lord for letting his eyes see the King.
[13:19] Historically, we call this Simeon's song, Simeon's nuctimitis, which is the Latin word for now, Latin words for, now you let depart.
[13:35] But this song is not really Simeon's song at all. This is God speaking on behalf of the prophet about Jesus.
[13:47] Mary and Joseph bring Jesus to the Lord to be dedicated, but the Lord seizes the moment to declare all that he will do in Jesus Christ. There are two incredibly important things that we need to see about Jesus in this passage.
[14:00] First is Jesus is the servant of the Lord. Simeon begins his song. You see that talking about himself as the Lord's servant. He says, Lord, now you're letting your servant depart.
[14:11] The word he uses for Lord, it means master, a ruler, despot. despot. It's talking about a master over a house, a master over slaves, someone for whom everyone does his bidding.
[14:27] And so this is the Lord. He refers to himself as a servant, as your servant. And then he says, now let your servant depart in peace. Now it's clear that Simeon knows who Jesus is.
[14:39] Even as a baby, he doesn't need an angel prompting. I guess the spirit did lead him, but he knows who Jesus is. But why does he want to depart?
[14:50] I mean, everybody else, they learn about Jesus Christ, their eyes are open, they run to him. They want to fall and they leave their nets. They leave everything to fall in. But Simeon, after confessing he believed, he says, it's time for me to die.
[15:03] To understand, we have to remember what's promised about Jesus. The Lord promised to send a servant who is filled with the spirit. We have it for you. Isaiah 42, verse 1. Behold, my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, and whom my soul delights, I have put my spirit upon him.
[15:21] He will bring forth justice to the nations. If you notice, as we read this text, there are three references to the spirit of God here. If you notice also in chapter 1, there are four references to the spirit of God there.
[15:33] Luke is telling us that this child is the spirit-filled servant. As Jesus will acknowledge when he starts his ministry, he says, the scripture is fulfilled.
[15:45] The spirit of God is upon me, Isaiah 61, 1. And so, Jesus is the spirit-filled servant who will baptize everyone who follows him in the spirit and pour out the spirit on all people.
[16:01] Not only that, the Lord promised that all people will see this servant and the salvation he brings. Look in Isaiah 52, 10. It says, the Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all nations and all of the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of God.
[16:20] Simeon says, my eyes have seen your salvation. That's a direct reference to that promise, that prophecy. So, Simeon said, it's time for me to depart because the servant has come.
[16:31] It's time for me to depart because my job is over and pointing to him. Several years ago, former President Bush, 41's wife, Barbara, died at the age 92.
[16:46] One of the most remarkable images from that week, I remember it still, four plus years later, was of Secret Service agents standing guard beside her casket.
[17:02] Miss Bush was well-loved by the Secret Service who spent every day protecting her and accompanying her wherever she went. But more than their affection, they were bound by a sense of duty and remained by her side, guarding her body in the same way that they guarded her life.
[17:26] Guarding her casket, there stood the Secret Service flanking her casket as thousands gathered in a Houston church to pay their respects. There they stood until they were finally relieved of their post.
[17:42] Well, Simeon is saying the same thing. He said, I am a servant of the Lord. I have stayed my post. I have watched and waited, but now I am no longer needed.
[17:57] No more pointers are needed because all with eyes to see can see the salvation of God indeed, Jesus Christ. Simeon's example, like so many in this passage, are simply staggering.
[18:12] You don't have to be great to be impressive in God's eyes. You only have to be faithful, single-minded, and devoted to the Lord. And so, Jesus is the promised servant of the Lord.
[18:24] He also brings salvation to all people. Look at verse 31. He says, My eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, a light for glory to your people Israel.
[18:39] So, he's saying this is the salvation that was spared long ago for glory to Israel, the answer to all of their prayers, all of the promises, all of the prophecies.
[18:50] True Israel delights in this king, but also light to the Gentiles, to those in darkness, alienated, strangers, to the promises and the prophets.
[19:02] This is what the Lord promised to do. Again, Isaiah 49. I've got to get these passages. These are some of the most important passages in the Bible. I've got to get them before us. Isaiah 49. He says, The Lord says to the same servant that was promised throughout Isaiah, It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel.
[19:25] I will make you, not just that, I will make you a light for the nations that my salvation may reach the end of the earth. I just love it. It's too light, too small to galvanize the people of Israel, to gather them together, to restore the glory to Israel.
[19:41] For it's too small. My light must go to the end of the earth. It says he promised in Genesis 12 and other places blessed to be a blessing to all people later.
[19:51] In fact, in Acts 13, which was also written by Luke, Luke references this very verse. Paul is preaching in Antioch. The Jews love it. Man, he's tracing everything, tracing everything about how Christ is the center of the whole Bible, center of the Old Testament, all that they loved and known and memorized.
[20:11] So they beg him, come back next week. You know, you're awesome. Come back next week. When he comes back next week, the whole city gather. Jews and Gentiles gather to hear him.
[20:24] But the Jews don't like that one bit. They like Jesus, but they don't like it when the Gentiles are there. They get angry. They essentially say, we're okay with you preaching the gospel to us. We're not okay with you preaching the gospel to us and them.
[20:42] Paul says, don't you remember? He's a light to the nations. He quotes this very verse. Simeon's warning is a warning to us.
[20:55] Christians are some of the funniest people. You look up videos, Stuff Christians Say. And it's so true. We say some of the funniest things. How's your heart?
[21:06] It's a God thing. Oh, really? Like anything, it's not a God thing. Let go and let God. Don't ruin your testimony. Got to watch out.
[21:17] We do a lot of the same things as well. Chug coffee, diffuse essential oils, wear jean skirts. If we're not careful, we can make the same mistake as the Jews in Antioch.
[21:33] We can be unwelcoming to people who aren't like us. People who aren't the same social status, same political party, same way of schooling, same race.
[21:50] But Jesus did not come to gather a people like you. Jesus came to gather a people unlike you as well. It's natural to build relationships with people over things you like.
[22:03] But are all your friends just like you? When was the last time you had a friend over who doesn't school the way you do or vote the way you do or dress the way you do or parent the way you do?
[22:20] Now we're getting into scary territory. Do you have room for them? It's okay to diffuse your oils. But I want to urge us to constantly look for people who aren't like us and seize any opportunity to befriend them.
[22:37] That's what Jesus came to do. Not to make little holy huddles of people gathered around one thing. But to make a huddle with room for everyone because it's gathered around Jesus.
[22:53] Point two, Mary's sword and ours as well. After blessing the baby, Simeon turns and it says to bless Mary but after we get done you won't think it sounds like much of a blessing.
[23:08] He warns her about what it means for Jesus to belong completely to God. Now first though they immediately marvel. I mean after Simeon takes out the baby and blesses God before their eyes they marvel.
[23:22] They should marvel. I mean every mom marvels when someone says nice, something nice about their son. How much more this one that Jesus will be a light to the nations. But then they tell, Simeon tells Mary and Joseph that Jesus will divide the world.
[23:43] Look in verse 34 it says, Simeon blessed him. He said to Mary, behold this child is appointed for the fall and for the rising of many. Jesus will be a light to the nations but not everyone loves the light.
[24:01] in one of the most repeated themes about his ministry what Luke is alluding to is that Jesus will be a cornerstone and a stone of stumbling.
[24:15] Jesus will be a cornerstone, a, that's not a word we use, but it'll be a sanctuary, a temple, a refuge, a savior to many but for others he will be a stumbling block.
[24:31] His teaching will not win all but will cause many to stumble and be lost forever. Paul says the same thing.
[24:42] The aroma of Christ will be an aroma of life to life for some and aroma of death to death for others.
[24:52] Jesus will not unite the world in peace and love. He'll divide the world into sheep and goats, wheat and tares.
[25:03] Jesus will be a fork in the road. The world divided after Jesus into two groups.
[25:16] But Simeon also says the world will not just be divided in response to Jesus, the world will be opposed to him. He will be a sign that is opposed.
[25:27] This is the first mention of the suffering of Jesus Christ in Luke's gospel or explicit mention of it. Not all will love him as we've just said. Some though will despise him, mock him, spit on him, ultimately nail him to a Roman cross.
[25:43] So in this blessing of Simeon to Mary and Joseph, he's preparing them for all that Jesus must face. What he's doing is actually very wonderful.
[25:55] He's telling you what you will face. You know, it's kind of like the dentist. You go to the dentist, hey, be ready, this loud sound. It's going to feel like they're grinding your face away. Well, a similar thing is happening right here.
[26:05] Simeon is telling Mary, it is all according to plan. The opposition is the sign. Remember they said to the shepherd, the sign will be the baby.
[26:18] Well, the sign that Jesus is the king, the true Messiah, will be the opposition. You won't know until you know then when he is opposed.
[26:31] And that's the sign that it's being fulfilled. Yes, he's the servant of the Lord. But Isaiah 52 and 3 says he is the suffering servant of the Lord. The coming of God incarnate was not to show us how we should serve God but to suffer for how we failed to serve Him.
[26:48] That's what is so wonderful about this. The cross was the plan all along. Jesus didn't come to kind of lead world peace and then it derailed and so we had to go to the cross. The cross was the design from the beginning.
[27:00] John Piper says this well. The incarnation which is just a way of talking about the God becoming man. The incarnation is the preparation of nerve endings for the nails.
[27:15] The incarnation is the preparation of a brow for thorns to press through. He needed to have a broad back so there was a place for the width.
[27:27] He needed to have feet so there was a place for the spikes. He needed to have a side so there was a place for the sword to go in. He needed to have cheeks, fleshly cheeks, so that Judas would have a place to kiss and there would be a place for the spit to run down that the soldiers put on him.
[27:48] He needed a brain and a spinal cord with no vinegar and no gall so that the exquisiteness of the pain could be fully felt for you.
[27:58] so he's telling Mary the sign that everything's coming to pass will be not merely the opposition but the very fact that the opposition is God's plan to present a sacrifice for the sins of the world.
[28:26] Just as John said, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He doesn't take it by waving a wand but by laying his life down and being driven through on the cross. He himself bore our sins in his body on the trees so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.
[28:43] And so I want to present to you the gospel of Jesus Christ. The only way that you can be made acceptable to God is to find a sacrifice for your sin. No amount of toning your work, no amount of being a good person or being nice and not being naughty or any of these things can atone for your sins.
[29:00] It'll never be enough because your sins will never be able to be rid of but there is one who's come to atone for your sin, Jesus Christ. That's what it means. God the Son incarnate came so that he might bear all the punishment and all the iniquity for your sins so that you might say with a chorus around the cross by his wounds, mysteriously I am healed.
[29:36] Jesus will divide people but he will also divide hearts. Simeon says a sword will go through your heart, Mary.
[29:47] Jesus will divide people because he will divide hearts. Simeon means Mary, he doesn't mean merely that Mary will deal with the agony of watching her son be crucified. Like many of Jesus' disciples, what it means for Jesus to be the Savior will break her heart open.
[30:07] Later, after Jesus begins teaching and gathering a crowd of followers, his family is not excited. They're alarmed. What is going on with Jesus?
[30:19] He's just teaching all day long, not sleeping, not eating, just teaching, just healing, just helping people. They say he's taken this ministry thing too far.
[30:31] Perhaps you've heard people say, you're just taking this Christianity thing too far. Do you have to apply it at all times? You're taking it too far. So they go after him. In Capernaum, they say he's out of his mind and so let's straighten him out.
[30:46] You know, a little talking to from mom and the brothers when Jesus hears that they are outside, your mother and brothers are out there. He says, who are my mother and brothers? They are whoever does the will of God.
[31:02] There are few people more commendable in Scripture than Mary and yet she tries to stop Jesus from saving the world. kind of like a watch out mama bear moment.
[31:17] This rebuke must have gone deep because later we see Mary around the cross. But if you're a follower of Christ, a sword must go through your heart as well.
[31:33] The hearts, the thoughts from many hearts will be revealed. what is secret will be plain, Jesus says, in other places. J.C. Ryle once said, the child of God is marked by two things, inner peace and inner warfare.
[31:54] Now, following Christ brings peace because you'll be freed from trying to prove yourself and experience the deep satisfaction of being accepted by God.
[32:05] but following Christ must bring war as well. Following Christ will constantly reveal your heart and call you to put away anything that stands in the way of allegiance to Jesus Christ.
[32:18] Jesus says astonishingly in Luke 14, 26, He says, if anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters and yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.
[32:35] Now, that's in one of those books like the heart sayings of Jesus Christ. What does he mean? Well, what he means is your allegiance to those most naturally close to you should look more like hatred than love compared to your allegiance to Jesus Christ.
[32:50] Your allegiance to those naturally close, brother, brothers, sisters, family, friends, should look more like hatred compared to allegiance to Jesus Christ. It begs the question, when was the last time your allegiance to Jesus trumped what everyone else in your life wanted?
[33:09] It begs the question, is there a fight within you? Is there a battle? I'm so thankful when the gospel presented to me in 2001 that someone prepared me for the cross because you know what?
[33:24] When I got saved, it seemed to create more problems than the problems it solved. Suddenly, there was a war in my heart. The wages of the spirit were waging war with the desires of my flesh.
[33:36] I had to fight things I'd never thought about before, like profanity in movies. I suddenly thought about that. Never thought about that once in my life before that.
[33:48] Is there a conflict within you? Is there a battle to not make friends with secret sin, to not go along with the crowd, to not join in with the slander? Is there a battle in there?
[34:00] Is there to not hoard up what should be given away? If there's no fight, Simeon is saying, and our Lord would definitely echo, there's no Christianity. There's no fight.
[34:17] If anyone would come after me, he must take up his cross and follow me daily. It can't be Christianity. So is there a fight?
[34:39] That's the question. Point three, Anna's answer, and ours. Anna's answer, and ours.
[34:58] After Simeon's blessing, our attention is shifted to Anna, the prophetess. Kind of odd, like such a wonderfully tight scene around Simeon, and then there's kind of this other picture in the temple.
[35:19] Look at verse 36, it says, there was a prophetess, Anna. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until 84.
[35:35] She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. Like Simeon, Anna's been waiting for the consolation of Israel, waiting for the redeemer.
[35:51] Luke says, she's old. All the scholars argue, but how old is she really? 84 plus seven or whatever, you know, plus 12, likely, varying age, 14. Whatever it is, she's old.
[36:06] And throughout her many years, she's been devoted to the Lord. Night and day, she's been worshiping at the temple with fasting and prayer. Luke takes pains to underline how steadfast she has been.
[36:23] That's what all the age is all about. How constant she has been in quiet devotion. I want you to keep this image before you. We live in a culture that pushes us to live public lives.
[36:40] We hardly go to eat without the desire to post it on Instagram or something like that, you know. It pushes us to live public lives, to do the things that get likes on social media, to say the things that get an applause, to focus the things that can be measured and maintained for all to see.
[36:56] If it's not seen, then is it real, you know? Is it a real thing? Well, God doesn't see the way we see. He's placed this little picture of Anna alongside Simeon to say, God looks on the heart.
[37:10] The things that impress him are mainly the things done in secret for him. That's why Luke draws our attention to Anna. She's a woman and a widow.
[37:22] Few people more needy and more overlooked in the first century, and yet she's the one Luke includes. She's the one who closes out this breathtaking scene of blessing.
[37:33] As one preacher said it, men celebrate public accomplishments. God celebrates private devotion. What gets God's attention is when you crawl down on the floor for another round of Legos when you can barely keep your eyes open.
[37:55] When you quietly wash all the dishes. You know, sometimes we can wash the dishes, we clang them loud enough to let everyone in the house know we're washing the dishes. Did you see that one soaking for three days? Well, I'm knocking it out right now.
[38:07] Elbow grease loud enough so everyone can hear, but when you wash them quietly so that your sleeping wife doesn't have to. When you rise early to read or decline another party to pray.
[38:24] When you give even though it's hard. When you refuse to lash out to a co-worker who's walking all over you or a family member who's talking all over you.
[38:41] Those little unseen moments of devotion to God are the ones that get all his attention. Notice what happens next.
[38:56] Verse 38, coming up at that very hour, the emphasis of time is clear. She began to give thanks to God and speak of him to all who are waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.
[39:16] Anna comes up. So the previous two verses are describing the way she is. Well, she comes up at just that moment. The Spirit prompts her and tells her to come up at that moment, but she doesn't begin to pray and fast like every other day.
[39:31] You know, every other day she's gone up. I don't know when she's gone up, but she's gone up to pray and fast. But the Spirit said, today you no longer fast. Today you give thanks, Anna.
[39:44] Anna, you've been fasting for a long time, and today you give thanks to the Lord. And what Luke is saying in subtle ways, the Lord has answered her prayer. She too has been steadfast, immovable, waiting on the Lord to come.
[40:00] And then the Lord hears her prayer after decades and reveals that he's come to save. And I love how just casually it's placed at the end. And she began to speak of him to all who were gathered around this massive temple court.
[40:19] Oh, you know, Jane over there, she comes every day too. I've got to tell her. He has come. Isn't that amazing? Christmas does not end the fight.
[40:39] It tells us the fight is worth fighting. It doesn't call us off our post of watching and praying. Just like Jesus said to John's disciples, they said to him, Jesus, what's going on? John's disciples came fasting and praying, but yours come partying.
[40:52] They just ate their way through all of our houses. Jesus says, well, they'll celebrate until the bridegroom's taken away, and then they'll fast and pray too.
[41:03] That's the day we're in, actually. J.C. Ryle said, let us learn a lesson from these good people. If they, with so few helps and so many discouragements, live such a life of faith, how much more ought we with a finished Bible and a full gospel?
[41:24] Let us strive, like them, to walk by faith and look forward. The second advent, just a way of saying, the second return of Christ is yet to come.
[41:37] The complete redemption of this earth from sin and Satan and the curse is yet to take place. Let us declare plainly by our lives and conduct that this second advent are coming, we look and long.
[41:51] We may be sure that the highest style of Christianity, that's kind of a funny phrase, the highest quality of Christianity even now is to wait for redemption and to love the Lord's appearing.
[42:09] So let us set our hope fully on the salvation of God and Jesus. Hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?
[42:23] Scripture say, but if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. May God bless us and help us. Father in heaven, we entrust ourselves completely to you and we offer ourselves completely to you.
[42:39] we set our hope on you. Lord, in so many ways we completely relate with Simeon and Anna as we spend our days watching and praying, longing and hoping.
[43:00] Come, Lord Jesus. We pray. Come again to usher in your kingdom. In Jesus' name.
[43:12] Amen. You've been listening to a message given by Walt Alexander, lead pastor of Trinity Grace Church in Athens, Tennessee. For more information about Trinity Grace, please visit us at TrinityGraceAthens.com.