WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.960 Okay, we're going to carry on looking through, we've started at the beginning of Luke and 00:00:04.960 --> 00:00:07.839 we're looking at the early days of Jesus. 00:00:07.839 --> 00:00:13.560 Through the eyes of Mary, that's really what we're doing. 00:00:13.560 --> 00:00:18.320 In whatever way that the Bible allows us to do that, because we think she is very important 00:00:18.320 --> 00:00:25.440 and we think her involvement in the birth of Jesus is obviously hugely significant. 00:00:25.440 --> 00:00:30.160 And so that's what we're doing in our service today. 00:00:30.160 --> 00:00:36.039 Now about two years, two years around this time, man is just sitting down there, Corey 00:00:36.039 --> 00:00:42.120 arrived and that was the second time he and the family had arrived. 00:00:42.120 --> 00:00:46.640 And you knew that that he was coming and you knew, well those of you who were in St. Columbus 00:00:46.640 --> 00:00:52.719 at the time, knew that we had a succession plan in place, that Corey would be here and 00:00:52.719 --> 00:00:57.359 God willing and everything went together and went according to plan. 00:00:57.359 --> 00:01:02.560 As we prayed about it, that Corey would be the assistant and then he would become the 00:01:02.560 --> 00:01:03.560 minister. 00:01:03.560 --> 00:01:06.640 And over these last two years, that's what we've communicated all the time, that's what 00:01:06.640 --> 00:01:08.239 we've said. 00:01:08.239 --> 00:01:13.480 And that's what has been happening here. 00:01:13.480 --> 00:01:16.560 We've been preparing the way, that's what we've been doing, making a succession plan 00:01:16.560 --> 00:01:19.000 and preparing the way for the future. 00:01:19.000 --> 00:01:20.359 And that's a good thing to do. 00:01:20.359 --> 00:01:21.359 And we all do that. 00:01:21.359 --> 00:01:27.280 We're all planning all the time for the future in different ways. 00:01:27.280 --> 00:01:34.120 And when we make plans, you know, and we've always had to say this about St. Columbus, 00:01:34.120 --> 00:01:41.560 we would say, we look for the Lord wills if that's what becomes because God has allowed 00:01:41.560 --> 00:01:42.560 us to do that. 00:01:42.560 --> 00:01:45.200 And because there's always lots of variables aren't there? 00:01:45.200 --> 00:01:47.960 Not just in something like that. 00:01:47.959 --> 00:01:52.599 But in all the plans we make, as Christians would say, well, full Lord wills, if the... 00:01:52.599 --> 00:01:57.759 We used to quite often say, DV, which is just Latin for days, valentice, if God wills, 00:01:57.759 --> 00:01:59.159 if that's what God's will is. 00:01:59.159 --> 00:02:05.239 And we recognize that there's not just human variables around us that might make our plans 00:02:05.239 --> 00:02:09.359 not work, but also God might have different plans for us sometimes. 00:02:09.359 --> 00:02:11.319 But it is an important part of life, isn't it? 00:02:11.319 --> 00:02:16.199 We all make plans in different ways and different levels. 00:02:16.199 --> 00:02:21.560 And I hope as Christians, we commit our plans to the Lord and we ask Him to guide us. 00:02:21.560 --> 00:02:28.759 Now, but with God, with God, it's entirely different. 00:02:28.759 --> 00:02:32.839 All His plans happen. 00:02:32.839 --> 00:02:37.839 He doesn't ask for anyone else's will to be done in order for His plans to happen. 00:02:37.839 --> 00:02:40.319 He never gets it wrong. 00:02:40.319 --> 00:02:47.680 What He wills and what He prepares us for is what happens. 00:02:47.680 --> 00:02:49.599 That's what makes Him God. 00:02:49.599 --> 00:02:51.799 And that's what makes us not God. 00:02:51.799 --> 00:02:53.400 That's the difference. 00:02:53.400 --> 00:02:55.599 And it's usually significant. 00:02:55.599 --> 00:02:59.039 And He often reveals His plans to us. 00:02:59.039 --> 00:03:01.039 Not everything, there's lots of things He doesn't. 00:03:01.039 --> 00:03:03.719 There's lots of secrets that He hasn't spoken to us about. 00:03:03.719 --> 00:03:07.359 But He does reveal many things to us. 00:03:07.360 --> 00:03:11.880 And I often think of Tim Geller's quote about prayer, which I think is a really helpful 00:03:11.880 --> 00:03:17.400 one, where he says, God will only give you what you would have asked for if you knew 00:03:17.400 --> 00:03:18.880 everything He knows. 00:03:18.880 --> 00:03:21.480 It's such a great quote, isn't it? 00:03:21.480 --> 00:03:26.640 So helpful as it makes us think about who God is that God will only give you what you 00:03:26.640 --> 00:03:30.960 would have asked for if you knew everything He knows with the undercurrent that God knows 00:03:30.960 --> 00:03:37.080 everything and plans everything and is sovereign and is infinite in His knowledge, past, present 00:03:37.080 --> 00:03:42.520 and future, hard, though that is for us to grasp. 00:03:42.520 --> 00:03:50.360 But that's exactly what Luke wants us to grasp here about the coming of Jesus. 00:03:50.360 --> 00:03:56.360 It's exactly what Luke is saying in this passage, particularly I think in this passage, that 00:03:56.360 --> 00:04:01.840 what he wants to say is Jesus was always God's plan A. Always. 00:04:01.840 --> 00:04:08.960 Always is not an afterthought, there has never been a plan B for society, for the world, 00:04:08.960 --> 00:04:09.960 for salvation. 00:04:09.960 --> 00:04:10.960 There's never been. 00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:11.960 There's only one. 00:04:11.960 --> 00:04:16.319 And it's the Lord Jesus Christ and the coming of Jesus. 00:04:16.319 --> 00:04:22.560 And we're going to look at that through the eyes of what Mary experienced here and, or 00:04:22.560 --> 00:04:27.800 what she did here more than what she experienced, well, a bit of both really. 00:04:27.800 --> 00:04:33.079 And we're going to have to delve a little bit into the Old Testament, okay, because 00:04:33.079 --> 00:04:36.600 the Old Testament comes before the New Testament. 00:04:36.600 --> 00:04:41.240 So if there was a plan that God was revealing, it's going to be in the Old Testament as it's 00:04:41.240 --> 00:04:43.319 fulfilled in Jesus in the New Testament. 00:04:43.319 --> 00:04:45.759 I'll try and be very brief. 00:04:45.759 --> 00:04:48.560 And if you don't know anything about the Old Testament, that's fine. 00:04:48.560 --> 00:04:56.319 We'll just try and quickly explain through what happens here that God was revealing His 00:04:56.319 --> 00:05:02.079 plan for a long time before Jesus actually came. 00:05:02.079 --> 00:05:07.800 And we see it particularly through the Old Testament rituals and religious observances 00:05:07.800 --> 00:05:13.719 that Mary and Joseph go through with Jesus as a young baby. 00:05:13.719 --> 00:05:16.920 They're very strange to the modern year, what happens. 00:05:16.920 --> 00:05:23.959 But they were absolutely common for the Jewish people and for those who had faith in their 00:05:23.959 --> 00:05:30.399 God and in the covenant and in His promises and His purposes. 00:05:30.399 --> 00:05:37.719 And the Old Testament really is all about making known to us the purpose and the plan 00:05:37.719 --> 00:05:39.359 of God, that God was prepared. 00:05:39.359 --> 00:05:42.479 The Old Testament is really just God preparing the way for the coming of Jesus. 00:05:42.479 --> 00:05:45.240 That's what it's all about. 00:05:45.240 --> 00:05:55.120 And so we find that this coming, this preparation for the coming of Jesus was soaked into God's 00:05:55.120 --> 00:06:02.120 people and into God's Old Testament religious structures and ceremonies. 00:06:02.120 --> 00:06:06.800 It all pointed forward in different ways to the coming of Jesus. 00:06:06.800 --> 00:06:10.840 Everything, everything in the Old Testament points forward to the coming of Jesus. 00:06:10.839 --> 00:06:17.439 It's remarkable and as we can strip it back and think about it, it is more and more remarkable. 00:06:17.439 --> 00:06:20.439 But very briefly, we just look at a couple of things here. 00:06:20.439 --> 00:06:25.919 First of all, in verse 21, we have the fact that Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day. 00:06:25.919 --> 00:06:27.319 That was the covenant sign. 00:06:27.319 --> 00:06:30.839 It was the covenant sign of belonging to God's people in the Old Testament. 00:06:30.839 --> 00:06:37.319 It's a physical sign of removing uncleanness as it pointed towards removing uncleanness 00:06:37.319 --> 00:06:38.319 in the heart. 00:06:38.319 --> 00:06:41.480 It talks in different places about the circumcision of the heart as well. 00:06:41.480 --> 00:06:46.560 It's about the removal of uncleanness of the heart before God. 00:06:46.560 --> 00:06:51.360 And Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day. 00:06:51.360 --> 00:06:58.159 It was pointing to the need for forgiveness and the need for cleansing before God. 00:06:58.159 --> 00:07:05.399 And then we're told in verse 22 that there was a time for their purification according 00:07:05.399 --> 00:07:08.359 to the law of Moses, again going back to the Old Testament. 00:07:08.359 --> 00:07:13.439 And this was Mary particularly as a mother who'd given birth, but it speaks here of 00:07:13.439 --> 00:07:14.439 the whole family. 00:07:14.439 --> 00:07:17.839 A ceremonial cleansing. 00:07:17.839 --> 00:07:22.319 When the time came, now that time was 33 days. 00:07:22.319 --> 00:07:27.719 So it was 33 days after the circumcision, which was on the eighth day, which was really 00:07:27.719 --> 00:07:29.279 the first day. 00:07:29.279 --> 00:07:31.519 So there was seven days before that. 00:07:31.519 --> 00:07:34.759 So the 33 in the seven make 40 days. 00:07:34.759 --> 00:07:39.719 Now we all know, if we know our Old Testament, that 40 days has a lot of significance in 00:07:39.719 --> 00:07:41.319 the Old Testament. 00:07:41.319 --> 00:07:43.560 There was 40 days of rain before the flood. 00:07:43.560 --> 00:07:46.279 There was 40 years in the wilderness. 00:07:46.279 --> 00:07:54.839 There was all kinds of symbolic truth that was hidden behind this 40, this number 40, 00:07:54.839 --> 00:07:57.519 the reminder of the desert warning. 00:07:57.519 --> 00:08:02.959 Even in the New Testament later on, it becomes significant with Jesus being 40 days tempted 00:08:02.959 --> 00:08:06.319 in the wilderness, yet in the desert. 00:08:06.319 --> 00:08:12.959 So there's this kind of symbolic reality, again, of the 40, speaking about often relating 00:08:12.959 --> 00:08:22.279 to the judgment of God or the reality of sin and the need for God's intervention in their 00:08:22.279 --> 00:08:27.159 lives to rescue and redeem and to save them. 00:08:27.160 --> 00:08:34.440 And interestingly, this kind of ceremonial purification was related to the birth and 00:08:34.440 --> 00:08:42.560 bleeding and the reality of these things with blood and bleeding being associated with life 00:08:42.560 --> 00:08:46.480 draining from someone. 00:08:46.480 --> 00:08:52.560 And interestingly, blood being associated with life, the giving of life and also the 00:08:52.560 --> 00:08:55.440 draining of life when it's taken from us. 00:08:55.440 --> 00:09:03.000 And so again, there's a spiritual symbolism in the cleansing which was not saying anything 00:09:03.000 --> 00:09:14.840 about needing atonement or cleansing from giving birth, but it's much deeper spiritual reality 00:09:14.840 --> 00:09:19.000 of all of us needing that cleansing from sin. 00:09:19.000 --> 00:09:23.080 And there's a way in which the Old Testament is there speaking about that, our spiritual 00:09:23.080 --> 00:09:26.520 estrangement is from birth. 00:09:26.520 --> 00:09:31.639 And that ceremonial washing points to that. 00:09:31.639 --> 00:09:35.960 And then of course, there's the consecration of the child. 00:09:35.960 --> 00:09:41.600 They offer a sacrifice where verse 23, every male who first opens the room shall be called 00:09:41.600 --> 00:09:46.320 holy to the Lord or consecrated to the Lord and to offer a sacrifice according to what 00:09:46.320 --> 00:09:49.080 was said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves and two young pigeons. 00:09:49.080 --> 00:09:56.320 So again, this first child was consecrated to the Lord as a recognition that he's the 00:09:56.320 --> 00:10:05.879 giver of all life and that he was to be recognized as such that all life comes from him. 00:10:05.879 --> 00:10:11.240 And then a sacrifice was ordered to redeem that life back as it were. 00:10:11.240 --> 00:10:13.480 The all life needed to be redeemed. 00:10:13.480 --> 00:10:19.800 So all life needed the shedding of blood for the forgiveness of sins. 00:10:19.800 --> 00:10:26.960 And there was a cost therefore to be paid in redemption in order to have that relationship 00:10:26.960 --> 00:10:28.480 with our heavenly Father. 00:10:28.480 --> 00:10:33.080 So you've got all these Old Testament, I know it's, I just rushed through that quickly. 00:10:33.080 --> 00:10:37.080 But on all these Old Testament rituals, they're pointing forward to something that's going 00:10:37.080 --> 00:10:44.040 to happen in the life of Jesus and we know what it goes on to speak about. 00:10:44.040 --> 00:10:51.080 And everything is pointing forward to redemption, to rescue, to salvation, to hope, to a future, 00:10:51.080 --> 00:10:52.080 to forgiveness. 00:10:52.080 --> 00:10:55.680 All of these rituals pointing, none of them were just rituals for the sake of it. 00:10:55.680 --> 00:10:58.360 They were all pointing forward to Jesus. 00:10:58.360 --> 00:11:04.840 And then we come to them being in the temple and these Old Testament prophets that come 00:11:04.840 --> 00:11:06.200 and prophesy and speak to them. 00:11:06.200 --> 00:11:09.960 There's Old Simeon and there's Anna as well. 00:11:09.960 --> 00:11:15.759 Two Old Testament prophets who, both of them who were told are old and are waiting for the 00:11:15.759 --> 00:11:19.560 coming of the Messiah, the Messiah that's promised in the Old Testament, the coming 00:11:19.560 --> 00:11:20.560 of the Redeemer. 00:11:20.560 --> 00:11:27.120 And interestingly, and I think this is important, both as Luke, Dr. Luke describes it and mentions 00:11:27.120 --> 00:11:28.120 things. 00:11:28.120 --> 00:11:35.400 See, three times we're told here that God spoke to Mary and Joseph through Simeon and 00:11:35.399 --> 00:11:37.480 Anna in the power of the Holy Spirit. 00:11:37.480 --> 00:11:42.919 The Holy Spirit's mentioned three times just in a couple of verses and Luke wants us to 00:11:42.919 --> 00:11:47.120 understand that this message that they get is from God. 00:11:47.120 --> 00:11:54.840 It's the Holy Spirit has inspired them to say that this child, this baby is God the Son, 00:11:54.840 --> 00:11:58.519 is the Redeemer, is the Savior, is people. 00:11:58.519 --> 00:12:03.079 Now, I don't for a minute think, unless it was revealed to them miraculously, I don't 00:12:03.080 --> 00:12:08.879 think for a minute Simeon or Anna truly understood who the Messiah would be and what he would 00:12:08.879 --> 00:12:14.520 come to do because there was many different ideas of what a Messiah for the people of 00:12:14.520 --> 00:12:20.480 Israel would be, mostly related as you know, if you've been here at all around kingship 00:12:20.480 --> 00:12:28.680 and about throwing out the Romans, not a lot to do with someone coming to die in a cross. 00:12:28.679 --> 00:12:35.479 But nonetheless, God revealed to these Old Testament prophets, these Old people a great 00:12:35.479 --> 00:12:37.079 truth about Jesus. 00:12:37.079 --> 00:12:39.120 You know, my eyes have seen your salvation. 00:12:39.120 --> 00:12:42.839 You have prepared in the presence of all your people a light for revelation to the Gentiles 00:12:42.839 --> 00:12:46.279 and glory for your people Israel. 00:12:46.279 --> 00:12:54.359 This famous message which in Latin is called the nuke dimitis, which is just the first 00:12:54.359 --> 00:12:55.359 bit there. 00:12:55.359 --> 00:12:58.159 Allow your servant to depart in peace. 00:12:58.159 --> 00:13:03.959 He asked for permission to depart to go to heaven because he's now seen what he's been 00:13:03.959 --> 00:13:06.639 looking for and waiting for all these years. 00:13:06.639 --> 00:13:11.759 And then in these verses that we read, 29 to 32, they're all taken. 00:13:11.759 --> 00:13:12.759 Where are they taken from? 00:13:12.759 --> 00:13:14.919 They're all taken from Isaiah. 00:13:14.919 --> 00:13:19.120 They're taken from the Old Testament, different bits of the Old Testament. 00:13:19.120 --> 00:13:23.439 So again, we've got this, not just the Old Testament ritual, but the Old Testament prophets 00:13:23.440 --> 00:13:29.000 who's been replayed here by Simeon and by Anna. 00:13:29.000 --> 00:13:37.000 And he recognized, whatever he recognized, he recognized that Christ wasn't just an insignificant 00:13:37.000 --> 00:13:40.080 local deity, a national hero. 00:13:40.080 --> 00:13:41.080 He wasn't that. 00:13:41.080 --> 00:13:47.240 He wasn't a provincial king of a land mass, but he was a light of the world. 00:13:47.240 --> 00:13:49.320 That's what's prophesied here about Jesus Christ. 00:13:49.320 --> 00:13:55.440 He's a light of the world for the Jew and the Arab, for Scots and Australians and everyone 00:13:55.440 --> 00:13:57.720 else in between. 00:13:57.720 --> 00:14:02.440 The redemption for every living person who will come and put their trust in Jesus Christ. 00:14:02.440 --> 00:14:07.800 Now, just a couple of very quick assides here. 00:14:07.800 --> 00:14:14.720 The only hope for Israel and for Gaza and for Palestine, but especially for Israel just 00:14:14.720 --> 00:14:22.360 now as we think about it, is that they repent of rejecting the Messiah. 00:14:22.360 --> 00:14:28.800 And they look to Him rather than looking for some kind of physical home as their redemption 00:14:28.800 --> 00:14:34.840 and seeing the crucified and risen Savior as the temple who was destroyed and who was 00:14:34.840 --> 00:14:38.480 raised again and built again in the third day. 00:14:38.480 --> 00:14:44.879 And that's why we must be praying for Arabs and Jews to come to know Jesus Christ. 00:14:44.879 --> 00:14:48.480 This is the only peace they'll be there. 00:14:48.480 --> 00:14:57.159 There's only a cycle downwards into hatred and evil the way they're going. 00:14:57.159 --> 00:15:01.560 And it's only as they come to Christ for heart cleansing and repentance that they will be 00:15:01.560 --> 00:15:02.680 able to live together. 00:15:02.680 --> 00:15:05.159 That will be the glory for Israel. 00:15:05.159 --> 00:15:06.800 That will be the glory for the people of Israel. 00:15:06.799 --> 00:15:12.079 As they come to recognize Jesus, the one they rejected as their Savior. 00:15:12.079 --> 00:15:13.879 That's one aside. 00:15:13.879 --> 00:15:23.359 The second aside is, and this is a good one for me, God uses old men and women a lot in 00:15:23.359 --> 00:15:25.359 His kingdom. 00:15:25.359 --> 00:15:27.719 We shouldn't forget that. 00:15:27.719 --> 00:15:34.679 And we should remember because Simeon and Anna were old, probably just cast aside. 00:15:34.679 --> 00:15:40.679 But it's so important to respect and to value and to recognize... 00:15:40.679 --> 00:15:45.000 I'm not speaking about me, I'm speaking about others, much older than me. 00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:50.719 The wisdom and grace of the elderly in our midst. 00:15:50.719 --> 00:15:57.039 It's important for you as young people to make connections with and to be friends with 00:15:57.039 --> 00:16:02.679 older people and older Christians to learn from them, to listen to them and to understand 00:16:02.679 --> 00:16:03.679 their wisdom. 00:16:03.679 --> 00:16:10.399 It's very important for older people here to recognize their role, not just in sharing 00:16:10.399 --> 00:16:18.919 truth with one another, but in leading and guiding and helping the young among us. 00:16:18.919 --> 00:16:27.719 The importance for older people have been righteous and been devout and finishing well. 00:16:27.719 --> 00:16:29.359 That's such an important thing. 00:16:29.360 --> 00:16:34.440 It's so easy to not finish well, and yet we're called to finish well. 00:16:34.440 --> 00:16:39.480 And for our youth and our elderly together, which is why we try and do a lot of things 00:16:39.480 --> 00:16:42.480 multi-generationally here. 00:16:42.480 --> 00:16:45.200 There's places and times for doing things within generations. 00:16:45.200 --> 00:16:51.120 But multi-generational family Christian life is really important. 00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:55.240 Now, that is a broad aside from this passage. 00:16:55.240 --> 00:17:01.240 But I think it's a worthwhile application and a right one. 00:17:01.240 --> 00:17:05.400 So we have the Old Testament rituals that we're spoken of here, and we have the Old 00:17:05.400 --> 00:17:10.400 Testament prophets that speak about Jesus and speak about what He's coming to do. 00:17:10.400 --> 00:17:19.200 So I want to just finish with a conclusion about Jesus, Mary and you, or you and me. 00:17:19.200 --> 00:17:24.799 From this passage, the first about Jesus is that Jesus obviously didn't need to be circumcised 00:17:24.799 --> 00:17:31.119 as a sign of dealing with the sin in His heart as a sinner because He wasn't. 00:17:31.119 --> 00:17:32.879 He was perfect. 00:17:32.879 --> 00:17:41.399 But He was allowing this to be done, and Mary did this and was called to do this because 00:17:41.399 --> 00:17:46.960 Jesus was fulfilling everything about the law of God because He was to be the perfect 00:17:46.960 --> 00:17:48.159 substitute. 00:17:48.159 --> 00:17:52.919 He was to be the one who did everything in our place as our representative. 00:17:52.920 --> 00:17:59.200 He didn't need to be baptised, but He was because He was a representative, taking baptism 00:17:59.200 --> 00:18:00.200 in our place. 00:18:00.200 --> 00:18:03.960 He didn't need to be circumcised, but He was doing it because He was a representative 00:18:03.960 --> 00:18:08.740 and He was going to be our Savior and He was going to become sin for us on the cross. 00:18:08.740 --> 00:18:15.400 So it's a symbolic representation really of what Jesus came to do. 00:18:15.400 --> 00:18:23.040 And also in His consecration as the firstborn, He was, which speaks about giving to the Lord 00:18:23.040 --> 00:18:25.759 and then redeeming back. 00:18:25.759 --> 00:18:31.800 It's a pointing forward to Himself as being the firstborn over all humanity, the firstborn 00:18:31.800 --> 00:18:42.500 of the resurrection, the one who again represents humanity and who, with this sacrifice that 00:18:42.500 --> 00:18:48.640 speaks of atonement and redemption, was pointing forward to His own atonement on our behalf 00:18:48.640 --> 00:18:51.759 and His resurrection for us. 00:18:51.759 --> 00:19:01.759 So there's incredible depth and parallelism and symbolism and clarity in God preparing 00:19:01.759 --> 00:19:06.880 the way in the Old Testament and all these rituals and everything that happened to Jesus 00:19:06.880 --> 00:19:09.480 and to His life and death and resurrection. 00:19:09.480 --> 00:19:17.640 So there's much mystery, I recognize that, there's much teaching and depth of understanding. 00:19:17.640 --> 00:19:26.559 But like any, if there's any revelation of divine love, it's going to be mysterious, 00:19:26.559 --> 00:19:27.559 isn't it? 00:19:27.559 --> 00:19:30.279 It's going to be layered. 00:19:30.279 --> 00:19:38.599 It's going to have infinite numbers of revelatory truth for us to grasp. 00:19:38.599 --> 00:19:40.679 And that's what Jesus is about. 00:19:40.679 --> 00:19:46.919 It's about His intense love for us that He would come and do all that. 00:19:46.919 --> 00:19:50.279 We'll see a little bit more about that this evening. 00:19:50.279 --> 00:19:54.759 So there's Jesus and then there's Mary. 00:19:54.759 --> 00:19:59.519 And we've been looking at the story of Jesus birth through the eyes of Mary. 00:19:59.519 --> 00:20:02.839 And she's such a great character. 00:20:02.839 --> 00:20:08.359 We do know that she recognized her need. 00:20:08.359 --> 00:20:09.919 She understood her need. 00:20:09.919 --> 00:20:17.959 She consecrated her son, but there was also sacrifice and a torment that went with that. 00:20:17.959 --> 00:20:26.559 And she was fulfilling her covenantal responsibilities as a sinner who recognized she needed, as we 00:20:26.559 --> 00:20:30.240 saw in her song previously, her need for mercy. 00:20:30.240 --> 00:20:31.719 She believed in God's promises. 00:20:31.719 --> 00:20:36.000 Remember I prayed at the beginning about trust? 00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:39.240 We often break our own trust. 00:20:39.240 --> 00:20:43.440 Other people break their trust to us and us to them. 00:20:43.440 --> 00:20:47.440 But she believed in God's promises with all the challenges that she faced. 00:20:47.440 --> 00:20:49.599 She trusted and she obeyed. 00:20:49.599 --> 00:20:53.920 She recognized she was a sinner saved by grace. 00:20:53.920 --> 00:20:57.920 Really before it all became clear about how God would redeem her. 00:20:57.920 --> 00:21:02.359 And she recognized her need for atonement. 00:21:02.359 --> 00:21:08.799 We're also told about her that she marveled, her and Joseph marveled at the revelation 00:21:08.799 --> 00:21:13.079 of Jesus at what Simeon said in the prophecy in verse 33. 00:21:13.079 --> 00:21:17.359 And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. 00:21:17.359 --> 00:21:25.679 So Holy Spirit who revealed this prophecy to Simeon gave her and gave us. 00:21:25.679 --> 00:21:30.039 Because remember we are kind of like shoulder to shoulder with Mary. 00:21:30.039 --> 00:21:35.720 Because we hear these things too and we see them and we are giving this insight. 00:21:35.720 --> 00:21:38.399 Incredible insight into the child Jesus. 00:21:38.399 --> 00:21:42.960 This was no ordinary child, Jesus no ordinary child. 00:21:42.960 --> 00:21:47.920 He was unique once for all, Savior for all of humanity. 00:21:47.920 --> 00:21:51.399 All of sinned, all need a Savior. 00:21:51.399 --> 00:21:58.399 There couldn't be a greater claim than even some of these words that we find Simeon giving 00:21:58.399 --> 00:21:59.399 to her. 00:21:59.400 --> 00:22:03.759 Mind blowing privilege she received as she heard this. 00:22:03.759 --> 00:22:08.200 She marveled at the revelation of Jesus which is great. 00:22:08.200 --> 00:22:13.240 We'll also see a thing from this passage that, and we've seen it before when we looked at 00:22:13.240 --> 00:22:14.640 Mary that she was a nobody. 00:22:14.640 --> 00:22:18.640 She was a nobody who was given great honor. 00:22:18.640 --> 00:22:19.640 She was poor. 00:22:19.640 --> 00:22:22.080 Verse 24 gives a little hint about that. 00:22:22.080 --> 00:22:26.680 It says that she offered a sacrifice, a pair of turtle doves and two young pigeons. 00:22:26.680 --> 00:22:32.080 Now if you go back again to the Old Testament to Leviticus 12 verse 8 it tells us that if 00:22:32.080 --> 00:22:39.120 you were too poor to offer a lamb you would offer turtle doves and a pigeon. 00:22:39.120 --> 00:22:41.840 She had nothing in this world. 00:22:41.840 --> 00:22:47.320 Her and Joseph had nothing in this world's understanding. 00:22:47.320 --> 00:22:49.759 There were nobodies in this world. 00:22:49.759 --> 00:22:50.759 Absolutely. 00:22:50.759 --> 00:22:53.480 Backwater people. 00:22:53.480 --> 00:23:02.519 And yet even the great thing is that in God's salvation God recognizes using material poverty 00:23:02.519 --> 00:23:09.319 as a picture of His provision for all of us in our spiritual poverty. 00:23:09.319 --> 00:23:14.799 He doesn't look on our gifts or our talents or our position in the world or our fame or 00:23:14.799 --> 00:23:17.839 our wealth or our independence. 00:23:17.839 --> 00:23:23.799 He sees us all as poor and needy and he says, but look I provide for you. 00:23:23.799 --> 00:23:30.399 In the Old Testament it was in the physical sacrifices it was with a pigeon or a turtle. 00:23:30.399 --> 00:23:34.199 But in Christ it is Christ. 00:23:34.199 --> 00:23:38.959 For the greatest and for the least, for the most well known, for the richest, for the 00:23:38.959 --> 00:23:45.319 most poverty stricken but all must come poverty stricken in heart to Jesus in order to be 00:23:45.319 --> 00:23:47.439 saved. 00:23:47.440 --> 00:23:52.360 Back then, and this is for me the most significant thing about this passage for Mary is that 00:23:52.360 --> 00:23:58.360 she would know deep suffering. 00:23:58.360 --> 00:24:03.400 It's surely one of the most powerful prophecies in the whole Scripture. 00:24:03.400 --> 00:24:06.440 And a sword will pierce through your own soul too. 00:24:06.440 --> 00:24:13.259 He speaks about Jesus being for the falling and rising of many, but then he speaks directly 00:24:13.259 --> 00:24:19.359 to Mary and says, you know, you're highly blessed. 00:24:19.359 --> 00:24:23.720 People of all centuries will remember who you are, but a sword will pierce your own 00:24:23.720 --> 00:24:25.599 soul. 00:24:25.599 --> 00:24:33.680 And there's this paradox, there's this reality, oh no, you know, we don't want this reality. 00:24:33.680 --> 00:24:35.160 Christ heals, doesn't he? 00:24:35.160 --> 00:24:36.480 Christ forgives. 00:24:36.480 --> 00:24:37.480 Christ blesses. 00:24:37.480 --> 00:24:38.480 Absolutely. 00:24:38.480 --> 00:24:41.920 And that's entirely right. 00:24:41.920 --> 00:24:52.200 Now this prophecy also speaks about Christ dividing and people rejecting Him because 00:24:52.200 --> 00:24:53.200 we're rebels. 00:24:53.200 --> 00:24:55.960 And that even happened in Mary's own family. 00:24:55.960 --> 00:25:00.279 We're told in John's Gospel that Jesus' brothers didn't even believe in Him. 00:25:00.279 --> 00:25:06.840 So there was sibling division over Jesus which must have been hurtful for Mary and may have 00:25:06.839 --> 00:25:15.879 been in part an answer to this or a way in which this prophecy was outworked in her life. 00:25:15.879 --> 00:25:22.959 But surely as she stood before the cross and had heard ringing in her ears the cry of the 00:25:22.959 --> 00:25:27.839 people saying, crucify Him, crucify Him. 00:25:27.839 --> 00:25:30.679 Surely. 00:25:30.680 --> 00:25:39.560 She stood there, seeing her son crucified, her son, her firstborn on the cross. 00:25:39.560 --> 00:25:42.720 Was that the outworking that she expected of the Savior? 00:25:42.720 --> 00:25:46.039 Was that the kind of redeemer she thought He would be? 00:25:46.039 --> 00:25:50.880 Her son crying, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 00:25:50.880 --> 00:25:59.039 Surely that must have been the answer or the revelation or the outworking of this prophecy. 00:25:59.039 --> 00:26:04.799 And she stood as a mother at the foot of the cross in confusion and pain and desperate 00:26:04.799 --> 00:26:08.440 hurt for her beloved son. 00:26:08.440 --> 00:26:16.200 And knowing that her son would divide, would redeem the rising of many but also for others. 00:26:16.200 --> 00:26:19.000 She knew deep suffering. 00:26:19.000 --> 00:26:24.519 So bringing it all together and we apply the truth about Mary and Jesus and the story to 00:26:24.519 --> 00:26:25.519 ourselves. 00:26:25.519 --> 00:26:27.519 What can we learn from this passage? 00:26:27.519 --> 00:26:30.039 Three things quickly. 00:26:30.039 --> 00:26:31.799 First of all, we all belong to God. 00:26:31.799 --> 00:26:34.759 He's the author of all our lives. 00:26:34.759 --> 00:26:36.680 And we all need His redemption. 00:26:36.680 --> 00:26:39.200 That's what Simeon says here. 00:26:39.200 --> 00:26:41.160 He reminds us, doesn't he? 00:26:41.160 --> 00:26:43.440 He's a light of revelation to the Gentiles. 00:26:43.440 --> 00:26:47.480 It's just everyone who wasn't Jews and isn't Jews and glory for your people Israel. 00:26:47.480 --> 00:26:51.400 So this is about redemption, this story. 00:26:51.400 --> 00:26:52.400 It's about atonement. 00:26:52.400 --> 00:26:56.039 And that's what Jesus has always come to do. 00:26:56.039 --> 00:26:59.799 He sacrifices himself for us, shed his blood. 00:26:59.799 --> 00:27:02.279 No greater love than anyone in this. 00:27:02.279 --> 00:27:04.519 They lay down their life for their friends. 00:27:04.519 --> 00:27:11.319 The deepest, most costly, free act of love that's ever been known. 00:27:11.319 --> 00:27:17.559 And we're called to have our hearts exposed before Him. 00:27:17.559 --> 00:27:18.559 Because we need to, don't we? 00:27:18.559 --> 00:27:19.559 Why is it? 00:27:19.559 --> 00:27:26.000 Why is it that so many people are uncomfortable when we talk about God in their company? 00:27:26.000 --> 00:27:28.359 Are resistant to that? 00:27:28.359 --> 00:27:29.680 Or change the subject? 00:27:29.680 --> 00:27:30.680 Or walk away? 00:27:30.680 --> 00:27:33.200 Why would that be the case? 00:27:33.200 --> 00:27:38.359 It's because there's a natural resistance within us, all of it, that we need to deal 00:27:38.359 --> 00:27:45.960 with and have that estrangement dealt with through Jesus Christ so that we can be clean, 00:27:45.960 --> 00:27:50.359 we can face Him, our sins are forgiven and we can cry out, Abba, Father. 00:27:50.359 --> 00:27:56.199 We're going to terms with our Creator and our Father as the source and the giver of all 00:27:56.199 --> 00:28:02.839 life who will defeat us, it will defeat death on our part so that the sting is removed and 00:28:02.839 --> 00:28:05.759 death becomes an entry into His nearer presence. 00:28:05.759 --> 00:28:06.759 So we belong to God. 00:28:06.759 --> 00:28:08.879 I think we can take that from that. 00:28:08.879 --> 00:28:17.799 As Christians, we're called to live in His light as children because that's what Mary 00:28:17.799 --> 00:28:18.799 did. 00:28:18.799 --> 00:28:22.000 Mary did a lot less light than we have. 00:28:22.000 --> 00:28:27.879 We've got the complete Scripture in 2,000 years of church history and of history and 00:28:27.879 --> 00:28:31.039 of many, many millions of people coming to faith in Jesus. 00:28:31.039 --> 00:28:35.039 But we're called to live as Christians in the light of His revelation. 00:28:35.039 --> 00:28:36.680 That's what exactly what Mary did. 00:28:36.680 --> 00:28:40.919 Mary was obedient to the law of God as she saw it and she saw her need of forgiveness 00:28:40.919 --> 00:28:46.599 as she fulfilled the rituals which pointed forward to the coming of Jesus, who her own 00:28:46.599 --> 00:28:50.079 son became and was the Redeemer. 00:28:50.079 --> 00:28:55.319 And it's the power of the Holy Spirit that we're called to depend on to live this way, 00:28:55.319 --> 00:28:59.559 just as Simeon was dependent on the Holy Spirit to reveal truth to him. 00:28:59.559 --> 00:29:07.959 So we are to allow the Holy Spirit which has spoken up very powerfully here and consistently 00:29:07.959 --> 00:29:09.119 has been the one who reveals. 00:29:09.119 --> 00:29:13.519 So we're looking to the Spirit of God and our Christian lives were praying to Him. 00:29:13.519 --> 00:29:17.400 And we know that the New Testament sees lots of things about what the Spirit does. 00:29:17.400 --> 00:29:22.079 He comes to comfort, He comes to guide, He comes to give us gifts, He comes to teach, 00:29:22.079 --> 00:29:30.319 He comes to be our companion and to live in us as believers so that we can understand 00:29:30.319 --> 00:29:36.079 how to love God, love one another and love the lost. 00:29:36.079 --> 00:29:42.639 You and me, we belong to God, we're called to live in His light and the Christian life. 00:29:42.640 --> 00:29:45.480 Therefore, it is a paradox. 00:29:45.480 --> 00:29:52.680 It's a life of amazement and also of suffering, like Mary's was. 00:29:52.680 --> 00:29:58.000 That's what we're to remember today as Christians and to consider that life, and if you're not 00:29:58.000 --> 00:30:06.520 a Christian to recognise that as well, that there is this paradoxical temporary reality 00:30:06.520 --> 00:30:08.280 until we meet with Jesus face to face. 00:30:08.279 --> 00:30:14.440 It's a life of amazement, she was awestruck, but also a life of suffering. 00:30:14.440 --> 00:30:20.839 And that's what we should know as Christians that we ought to be awestruck by Jesus. 00:30:20.839 --> 00:30:24.279 It's kind of hard, I think sometimes, isn't it? 00:30:24.279 --> 00:30:28.639 Because we know so much about Him and we've grown up with it, many of us and we know things. 00:30:28.639 --> 00:30:30.639 But we're called to be awestruck. 00:30:30.640 --> 00:30:39.040 But we also to recognise that there is suffering because Jesus came and people either follow 00:30:39.040 --> 00:30:44.240 Him or reject Him and there's an opposition, there's a spiritual opposition, there's an 00:30:44.240 --> 00:30:47.160 unseen battle going on. 00:30:47.160 --> 00:30:50.280 And we don't know what is the future. 00:30:50.280 --> 00:30:55.280 We plan, as I said at the beginning, and we hope when we prepare. 00:30:55.280 --> 00:30:58.400 But we actually don't know what our lot is going to be. 00:30:58.400 --> 00:31:00.840 We don't know what lies ahead. 00:31:00.840 --> 00:31:03.000 But we will suffer. 00:31:03.000 --> 00:31:04.759 We know that. 00:31:04.759 --> 00:31:06.480 Christ suffered, all His people suffer. 00:31:06.480 --> 00:31:08.240 We suffer for belonging to Christ. 00:31:08.240 --> 00:31:14.640 We suffer because we are dealing with our own sinful hearts and we're seeking forgiveness 00:31:14.640 --> 00:31:16.040 and we're being transformed. 00:31:16.040 --> 00:31:19.320 We suffer because there's opposition to the gospel. 00:31:19.320 --> 00:31:22.360 But we are not alone. 00:31:22.359 --> 00:31:28.679 And we're called to trust and we're called to recognise that it's a battle that we are 00:31:28.679 --> 00:31:31.079 in, in this life. 00:31:31.079 --> 00:31:36.519 But there's joy and there's peace in the battle, not from it. 00:31:36.519 --> 00:31:38.599 And we're called to recognise that. 00:31:38.599 --> 00:31:44.079 We're called to trust in the way that Mary did and more so. 00:31:44.079 --> 00:31:51.839 And seek God's glory to be revealed, to know His peace and to remember that one day every 00:31:51.839 --> 00:31:55.399 tear is wiped away. 00:31:55.399 --> 00:32:01.000 That is the God who plans, who purposes, who has said that will be the case. 00:32:01.000 --> 00:32:04.240 One day, every tear will be wiped away. 00:32:04.240 --> 00:32:10.720 He will wipe away every tear, like the loving Father that He is, loving Mother, the loving 00:32:10.720 --> 00:32:18.639 parent wipes away the tears of their children. 00:32:18.640 --> 00:32:26.720 We can make no guarantees for our children, but He can make guarantees for us. 00:32:26.720 --> 00:32:32.880 And that's the greatest thing about the gospel as we put our trust in our Heavenly Father, 00:32:32.880 --> 00:32:38.680 revealed in the person of Jesus who showed His incredible love, not just in His birth, 00:32:38.680 --> 00:32:43.320 but in His life and death as we'll hopefully see a bit more about tonight at the carol service. 00:32:43.320 --> 00:32:44.320 Let's pray. 00:32:44.319 --> 00:32:48.960 Father God, help us to know You and understand You better. 00:32:48.960 --> 00:32:52.559 We recognise that there's many things in the Old Testament when we read it, we're struggling 00:32:52.559 --> 00:33:00.599 with, really difficult to understand, difficult to make sense of, culturally odd and historically 00:33:00.599 --> 00:33:06.039 strange to us, so different from our modern culture and our practices. 00:33:06.039 --> 00:33:10.679 And yet, we recognise You worked in history, You worked with peoples, You worked with cultures, 00:33:10.680 --> 00:33:19.160 You worked to make clear Your own purposes through the nation of Israel, through whom 00:33:19.160 --> 00:33:21.720 the promises were given from Abram. 00:33:21.720 --> 00:33:27.880 And we pray and ask that we would take time to delve into some of these realities which 00:33:27.880 --> 00:33:34.200 always speak about Jesus, remarkably, always speak about humanity, always speak about our 00:33:34.200 --> 00:33:35.200 need. 00:33:35.200 --> 00:33:37.799 Lord Jesus, help us to see that. 00:33:37.799 --> 00:33:42.960 And we do pray that we would understand that no matter how often we look at Jesus, it's 00:33:42.960 --> 00:33:50.240 like that, an infinite, an infinitely cut diamond that doesn't matter which way you 00:33:50.240 --> 00:33:55.799 move it, it reflects some new reality and some new beauty. 00:33:55.799 --> 00:33:59.919 And may we find that in Jesus, may we not get bored with You, Lord, forgive us when we 00:33:59.919 --> 00:34:06.919 are bored with You and we're more excited with selfish desires and stuff that take us 00:34:06.920 --> 00:34:08.519 away from You. 00:34:08.519 --> 00:34:17.320 And help us to be awestruck and realistic about being awestruck and also the reality 00:34:17.320 --> 00:34:19.960 of suffering in Christ's name. 00:34:19.960 --> 00:34:25.519 May we never suffer for being idiots, or being fools, or being big mouths, or being 00:34:25.519 --> 00:34:29.079 self-righteous, or being proud. 00:34:29.079 --> 00:34:36.039 But if we suffer for following Jesus humbly and loving people against all the odds, then 00:34:36.039 --> 00:34:39.519 Lord, may we take that every day of the week. 00:34:39.519 --> 00:34:43.679 So help us, we ask, and pray, and guide us, protect us, and keep us in Jesus' name. 00:34:43.679 --> 00:35:09.359 Amen.