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If you have Bibles with you, open them to Luke chapter 2.
Luke chapter 2.
And the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
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.
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.
And he came in the Spirit into the temple.
When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law,
he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,
Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word.
For my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples
a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.
And his father and mother marveled at what was said about him.
And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother,
Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and the rising of many in Israel.
And for a sign that is opposed.
And a sword will pierce through your own soul also.
So that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.
And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phineul, of the tribe of Asher.
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.
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.
Would you pray with me as we approach the study of God's word?
Father, we come to what to some may seem a simple task,
and that is we're going to read some words,
and we're going to talk about them, and we want to understand them.
But that's not the hard part.
The hard part's in our hearts,
and also that's why we need this study.
So would you pour out your spirits
and speak to us now from your word.
Father, you've chosen a fool
to proclaim your glory.
And we know that, Father,
we need your spirit.
So would you come,
meet us,
give me words to say,
and give us ears to hear
what you would have to say.
And we ask,
in the great name of Jesus.
Amen.
I'm excited to be here,
bringing God's word to you.
Will told me we had an hour,
so don't laugh.
You know, this is not one of the most popular
of the Christmas stories,
as we will see when we get into it.
But it's still one of my favorite.
You know, up until now,
you come through Luke 1 and Luke 2,
and you've got all these,
you've got all these warm and warm fuzzies
after seeing, you know,
these two boys born
from very dramatic circumstances.
You know, the shepherds,
and the story of the shepherds,
and the angels,
and all of that.
And, you know,
what a story for the ages.
But that kind of ends
in verse 21.
And this account
of Simeon
often,
most often,
is not included
in the rest,
but it is
highly significant.
Otherwise,
Luke would not have put it
here
in this critical place.
This story
contains,
if you look through
the birth narrative
of Jesus,
there are basically
four songs
that Luke gives us.
You have
the song of Zechariah,
the song of Mary,
you have the song
of the angels,
and now you have
this song of Simeon.
And this,
in the Latin,
this song is called
the nuke dimittis,
which basically means
now you are
dismissing.
And so,
we have Simeon
here,
someone that we know
hardly anything about.
But what we do know
from this particular
account
is that Simeon
was a godly man.
More than likely,
he was a part of
the leadership
of Israel.
And he has been
made,
to him,
has been given
a very, very special
promise.
somehow,
in some way,
the Holy Spirit
has communicated
to him
that he would
not see
death
until
his eyes
had seen
the Messiah.
God's
And so,
now,
in this period
of Simeon's
life,
more than likely,
those hopes,
you know,
those days
of possibility
of this being
fulfilled
are fleeting.
And so,
as an old man,
he comes into
the temple,
and,
I mean,
think about
what transpires
here.
He comes
to the temple
just like
any other
day,
every day,
as he's coming
in to do
his worship.
But this day,
as he's in
the temple,
he hears
a baby
cry.
Not just
any
baby,
but a baby
that sets
his heart
aflame.
And you
can see
him kind
of pushing
his way
through the
crowds,
and he's
trying,
he comes
up to,
and he's
trying to
find the
source.
And he
comes up
to this
young couple
with an
infant son
in their
arms.
And he
takes up
this child
and sings.
He sings
because his
eyes have
at last
gazed
on the
promised
consolation
that has
come to
Israel.
I mean,
what a
moment.
You know,
the significance
of this
moment,
in many
ways,
what Luke
is doing
here,
he's doing
several
things.
This is,
in many
ways,
this is
pointing to
the bridge
from the
old system
to the
new,
where the
old,
the faithful
of Israel,
where Simeon,
in a way,
represents
Israel itself.
Simeon,
in many
ways,
was what
Israel should
have been.
But now,
Simeon says,
now let your
servant depart
in peace.
And the
new has
come,
and the
child
of
Jesus.
And so
the significance
of what
Simeon is
saying here
is all
bound up,
I think,
in those
words where
Luke describes
him as
awaiting the
consolation
of Israel.
And that
consolation,
those words,
come from
Isaiah chapter
40.
In the very
first verses
of Isaiah
40,
where it
says,
comfort,
oh,
comfort my
people,
says your
God.
Speak
tenderly to
Jerusalem,
and cry to
her that her
warfare is
ended,
that her
iniquity is
pardoned,
that she has
received from
the Lord's
hand double
for all her
sins.
And some,
like Simeon,
had been
faithfully,
faithfully
waiting for
this
fulfillment.
And the
word
consolation,
that word
comfort,
they're really
the same
words.
In fact,
it's the
same word
that will be
used of the
Holy Spirit
who comes
to us
as the
comforter.
He comes
as that
consolation.
And so
what Simeon
says in
response to
this,
he says
two things,
in this
song he
says two
things.
And he
says two
things about
what this
child is
going to
bring to
Israel.
And the
first,
he said
really it's
not to
Israel
itself,
he's
coming as
a light
of revelation
to the
Gentiles.
Now,
this,
when he
says this,
when he's
talking about
the light
of revelation,
he's not
talking about
just real
light,
physical
light,
but what
he's talking
about is
the light
of knowledge,
not the
light of
ignorance.
And when
he's,
excuse me,
I'm off,
I'm not
used to
preaching from
paper.
I'm used to
something not
quite so
high tech.
But the
light of
revelation,
the world
has been
living in
darkness
and the
ignorance of
who God
is and
all that
he is,
and they've
been groping
about in
darkness,
trying to
figure it
all out.
And I
don't know
if you've
ever been
in a place
of real
darkness.
Have you
ever been
in a room
or a place
where it
was so
dark you
couldn't see
your hand
right in
front of
your face?
And have
you ever
been there
for a
long time?
It's
oppressive.
But this
is the way
our world
is.
When we
lived in
Hungary,
Gail and
I went
down into
the city
one day
to one
of the
main city
squares,
like we
love to
do,
but on
that particular
day,
there was
a whole
big group
of Hare
Krishnas
having a
festival of
some kind
and a lot
of booths
and a lot
of places
they were
selling things
and demonstrating
things and
you'd see all
these idols
and all
these trinkets
and all
this stuff
and as you
walk through
this,
the darkness
of all
this superstition
was grievous
and just
oppressive.
but I
mean,
I've seen
it not
just there,
I had
a good
friend
and this
friend
normally
was very
rational,
very logical,
always
tried to
make good
solid
decisions
because,
I mean,
that's what
you do,
you just
think well
and you
make good
decisions,
but yet
every time
he said
something like
he hoped
would happen,
he could
not help
himself but
to knock
on wood.
And if
he didn't
have wood,
he would
knock himself
in the head,
which as I
thought about
it was
appropriate.
But somehow
we thought
that this
inanimate
material
had some
kind of
control
over his
destiny.
And that's
darkness.
And it
reminds me
of Isaiah
again in
chapter 44.
This is,
in some ways,
as Isaiah
writes these
verses that
you'll see
here,
it's really
kind of
comical.
Because he
describes a
guy who
goes and
cuts a piece
of wood,
and half of
the piece
of wood,
he burns
in the fire
and cooks
his dinner,
the other
half he
takes and
he carves
an idol,
and he
bows down
to it.
And Isaiah
writes,
starting in
verse 16,
he says,
half of it
he burns
in the fire,
over half
he eats
meat,
he roasts
it and
he's satisfied,
he warms
himself,
and the
rest of it
he makes
into a
god,
his idol,
and falls
down to
it,
and worships,
and prays
to it,
deliver me.
And then a
little bit
farther down
he says,
no one
considers,
nor is
there knowledge
or discernment
to say,
half of it
I burned
in the fire,
over half
of it I
made into
an abomination,
and then at
the end
he describes
it as a
deluded
heart has
led him
astray,
and he
cannot
deliver
himself.
That's the
darkness.
But to
those who
live in
darkness,
the light
of the
reality
of God
comes
in Jesus.
Jesus
himself
makes God
known.
And so
all of those
who live in
darkness,
Jesus
reintroduced,
shines the
light
of the
one
that we
were made
to know.
That we
were made
to know
intimately.
And we
can know
him only
through
this
child
who was
born
to us.
But that
consolation
which he
said is
not just
in the
light of
the revelation
of the
Gentiles,
it's also
when he
says glory
for Israel.
Now as I
read this
I ask,
alright,
why does he
say glory?
Well it
goes back
again to
this whole
need of
consolation.
Because at
this point
in Israel's
history,
Israel has,
they are
existing under
the strong
repressive
control
of Rome.
In fact,
they are a
people really
enslaved.
They are
not this
great people
of God
who everybody
else should
be coming
to.
They were
the scorn
of the
world.
They were
oppressed.
They were
suppressed.
They were
depressed.
And all
they wanted
was their
freedom.
They wanted
again their
dignity.
They wanted
to be
these people
that God
promised them
that they
would be.
But yet
they lived
under this
force.
And they
were derision.
Not a
people
glorious.
She was
at the
mercy of
her enemies
and were
outcasts.
But what
God promises
in this
Messiah
is that
to this
people
who are
in oppression
light,
the glory
has
come.
Israel
and this
child
is going
to be
the means
of
Israel
being
that
people
that God
has promised
to them
they would
be.
And this
we see
in Revelation
because if you
read on past
in Revelation
21 into
22 you'll
see even
there that
all of the
nations of
the world
are going
to come
to Israel.
Israel.
They're going
to come
into the
new
Jerusalem.
And this
Messiah is
going to
take away
their shame
going to
take away
their
oppression
and they
will no
longer be
scorned.
They will
be the
glorious
people that
God created
them to be.
But this
works not
just on
a corporate
scale.
What Simeon
sings of
here is
also true
on a
personal
scale.
And I
think this
is so
much of
why I love
this passage.
Because we
all live
in a
prison and
that prison
is shame.
we are
not the
people that
we want
to be.
We are
not the
people that
we ought
to be.
We in
many ways
are the
very people
we don't
want to
be.
And so
we live
in hiding.
We live
covering up
ourselves.
We live
in fear
of being
exposed.
Now
something you
need to
know about
me.
You hired
me.
So you
need to
know I'm
an imposter.
You know
in so many
ways I'm
an imposter.
I can
present a
pretty good
image on
the outside.
I clean
up pretty
well.
But on
the inside
parts of
it that
you'll
never see.
There is a
sense where
I live
in great
fear.
Fear that
you're going
to really
know who
you've
got.
I live
in hiding
because I
don't think
you're going
to like
what's really
here.
Because I
don't like
what's really
here.
Some people
call that
self-contempt.
And I think
it's a disease
that we
all share.
You know
some may
think it's
a psychological
malady.
I think it's
the normal
state of
existence
for mankind
because
we
know
instinctively
down in
our hearts
that's not
who we're
made to be.
We are
made for
something else.
And we
live in
this reality
glory.
That we're
not
that.
We were
made to be
beautiful
in the image
of God.
We were
made for
glory.
And we
also know
that we
don't have
it.
Now we're
we've just
moved into
a new
house
which we
really like
and we're
excited to be
here.
but one
of the
things about
living here
in this
house is
there's a
lot of
things that
have to
be done
and that
terrifies me
because for
example there
were we had
some light
fixtures that
we needed to
replace in
our bathroom
and I said
what's the
big deal
about light
fixtures?
Well it's
three wires
wire nuts
put them
together
screw it
to the
wall
and
boom it
should work
you know these
nice eight
lights up here
over this big
bathroom mirror
and I put
them up
and only two
of them work
and I have
no idea
why
but see now
electricians got
to come to
the house
gonna come
first of the
week
and you know
what the
first thing
he's gonna
say
who did
that?
And of
course the
temptation's
gonna be
he says
well it
was one
of those
deacons
that came
over to
the house
I might
add I'm
really appreciative
of the deacons
that came
over to the
house
and have
done a lot
of things
that I was
too embarrassed
to try to
do
but that
kind of
stuff
exposes
me
exposes
my
incompetence
so I
just I
hate
doing that
kind of
stuff
because
you know
it's not
just that
man
you know
you look
back
not just
on those
things that
I do
but I
look back
on my
past
and those
years
and unfortunately
that Facebook
continues to
remind me
about
I shudder
over the
shame
and sometimes
I get
paralyzed
by the fear
of being
known
and I
want to
be
beautiful
and I
try to
make
myself
that
way
and I
just
can't
but the
promise here
is the
Messiah is
bringing
comfort
and he's
making
all
things
new
including
me
you know
and too
often I
think
when we
think of
the gospel
our ideas
of what the
gospel does
are truncated
they're too
small
we think
that yes
he comes
he's going
to forgive
us for the
guilt of
our sins
and I'm
not going
to feel
guilty
anymore
but that's
not all
he does
he doesn't
just come
to release
me of
my
shame
I mean
my sins
he's come
to set
me free
from my
ugliness
he's coming
to bring
glory
in John
17
there is
an incredible
passage
that just
floors me
every time
I read
it
starting
in verse
22
John
writes
the glory
that you
have given
to me
I have
given
to them
who's
them
it's
us
Jesus
has
taken
his
glory
he's
given
it's
given it
to us
that they
may be
one
even as
we are
I
in them
you
and me
that they
may become
perfectly
one
so that the
world may
know that
you sent
me and
love
them
even as
you love
me
father
I
desire
that they
also
whom you
have
given me
may be
with me
where I
am
to see
my
glory
do you
see what he
wants for
us
what is
Jesus
working
towards
here
what
does he
come
to do
he's
come to
take
what is
ugly
by our
own
fault
and turn
us
into
beauty
I
mean
I am
beautiful
use your
imagination
because
I'm in
Christ
I am
clothed
with the
garments
of the
bride
I am
beautiful
and there's
nothing
that can
do anything
to undo
that
all of us
who are in
Christ
we are
no longer
worthy of
derision
we are
worthy
of glory
because
the
comforter
the
consolation
of Israel
has come
tell you
what
that'll
set you
to sing
as
Simeon
did
but he
goes on
I wish
he had
stopped
right there
because
he goes
on
and
this
is
where
it
gets
a little
dicey
and
because
Luke
writes
and
Simeon
blessed
them
and then
said to
Mary
his
mother
behold
this
child
is
appointed
for the
rise
and fall
of many
in Israel
and for
a sign
that is
opposed
and a
sword
will
pierce
through
your
own
soul
also
so that
thoughts
from many
hearts
may be
revealed
the
sweet
innocent
child
is
armed
and
dangerous
and
what
he's
going
to
do
he's
going
to
upset
everything
on a
corporate
scale
absolutely
because
the
Messiah
is
going
to
come
and
turn
everything
upside
down
and
this
is
a
theme
that's
going
to
run
all
the
way
through
the
gospel
of
Luke
that
Jesus
is
turning
society's
values
on
their
head
and
every
place
he
comes
he
disrupts
things
Jesus
never
leaves
things
as
they
were
no
one
is
ever
complacent
in the
presence
of
Jesus
they
either
love
him
or
he
is
opposed
and
he's
still
doing
that
but
see
he
does
this
personally
too
on
a
personal
level
the
most
I
think
the
most
disruptive
thing
you
can
do
in
life
is
to
come
to
Jesus
he
comes
to
bring
beauty
and
glory
to
our
ugliness
and
our
brokenness
but
to
do
that
he
has
to
disrupt
things
terribly
and
he
will
you
know
sometimes
when I
think
about
it
I
wish
that
Jesus
would
just
leave
me
let
me
be
he
says
why
can't
I
just
be
happy
why
can't
I
just
be
comfortable
why
can't
we
just
have
a
nice
little
joy
ride
through
life
would
it
hurt
well
but
that's
not
what
he
does
you
know
several
years
ago
he
precipitated
one of
the
darkest
moments
in
my
life
and
he
did
it
through
one
of
my
children
and
I'm
not
going
into
all
the
details
but
he
shook
my
world
so
seriously
so
hard
that
I
thought
I
was
going
to
lose
my
balance
and
I
remember
on
this
event
being
so
hurt
and
angry
at
what
he
did
in
my
life
that
I
basically
just
crossed
my
arms
and
looked
at
him
and
says
I'm
not
playing
with
you
anymore
because
you
hurt
me
unfortunately
I was
a pastor
then
and I
had to
keep
preaching
how do
you preach
the good
news
of someone
you don't
like
but see
what he
was doing
he was
not trying
to destroy
my faith
he was
trying to
destroy
a false
foundation
so that
my faith
real faith
substantive
faith
would actually
grow
and so
he was not
trying to
destroy me
he was
trying to
build me
up
he was
working
for
real
joy
in life
not this
false
stuff
that I
pursued
but he
had to
get that
out of
the way
he was
not trying
to destroy
my life
and my
faith
he was
just
replacing
it
with
something
real
and he's
relentless
in this
pursuit
of my
heart
he is
relentless
it is
terribly
disruptive
you know
all I
want
sometimes
is
would you
please
just
leave
me
alone
let me
just be
comfortable
let me
just have
some rest
here
let me
just have
some quiet
and he
says no
I want
more for
you than
that
I want
you to
taste
glory
I want
you to
taste the
sweetness
of the
kingdom
him
he's
moving
us
to
glory
the
savior
has
come
with
a
sword
in
his
hand
to
put
our
enemies
to
death
in
those
enemies
a lot
of
them
are
in
our
hearts
now
the
question
is
how
or
why
would
I
trust
him
to
do
that
in
me
it's
because
this
child
who
comes
with
a
sword
pointed
it
to
himself
he
didn't
come
wielding
the
sword
on
me
he
came
and
wielded
it
on
himself
he
didn't
put
me
to
death
he
put
himself
to
death
he
died
for
my
shame
he
died
for
my
guilt
he
gave
himself
so
that
I
could
know
life
and joy
and peace
he
and if
that's
the way
he
works
we
can
trust
him
and so
we can
say
to
him
Lord
Jesus
come
I
want to
know
glory
I
want to
know
light
I
want to
know
life
come
do
your
work
and I
can
trust
you
to
do
that
let's
pray
Lord
Jesus
would you
continue to
show yourself
to us
show us
your love
your goodness
and your
mercy
would
you
come
and
pursue
our
hearts
would
you
bring us
to
glory
would
you
show us
the
vanity
of
trying
to
cover
up
our
own
shame
and
would
you
draw
us
to
the
place
where
we
say
to
you
my
comforter
my
consolation
I
am
yours
now
bring
the
glory
for
which
I
was
made
we
pray
in
Jesus
name
amen
for
more
information
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online
at
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