Spiritually Appraised

And I will purpose to return
to the Gospel of Luke in chapter 21 next week. It’s a funny week,
the week after Christmas. We don’t quite know what to do
with ourselves, do we? Because everything kind of builds
to a crescendo, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and then comes
the week between Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve, New Year’s
Day. We have projects that we attend
to. We certainly have gifts to take back after Christmas sales,
of course. And so it’s only fitting that
I would have to struggle with what would be appropriate for
an after Christmas message, an after Christmas message. And
yet, as I began to think of that whole theme, what is appropriate
as an after Christmas message, it’s the same thing that we battled
prior to Christmas, keeping the focus on the Lord Jesus Christ. And I would even say that it
is more difficult in the weeks that follow after Christmas to
keep the focus on the Lord Jesus Christ. And so I hope that the
message that we look to this morning will do just that and
will refocus our hearts and our minds on the Lord Jesus in a
new and powerful way so that we can carry forth into the new
year with an active and vivid focus on the Lord. But the challenge
is there after the manger, then what? After the angels and the
star and the shepherds and the magi and all of those things
that we have in our mind when we mention the word Christmas,
all of those things, what then? The things that follow immediately
after are rarely in focus. If perhaps you preach through
one of these books, as we have, then you come across these passages
that these passages, though they are so immediately connected
with the Lord’s birth, are so rarely considered. So I wanted
to go back to Luke two, I want to go back to those days immediately
following. the manger and the birth of the
Christ child. I want to go back to Luke and
want to go back to Luke chapter 2. And we want to take it up
beginning in verse 21. Would you look there? Where Luke records. And when
eight days had passed and eight days immediately following the
birth Before his circumcision, his name was then called Jesus
and the name given by the angel. Pardon me, the name given by
the angel before he was conceived in the womb. And when the days
for their purification, according to the law of Moses, were completed,
they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. As it is written in the law of
the Lord, every firstborn male that opens the womb shall be
called holy to the Lord. and to offer a sacrifice, according
to what was said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtle doves
or two young pigeons. And there was a man in Jerusalem
whose name was Simeon. And this man was righteous and
devout, looking 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, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to
carry out for him the custom of the law, then he took him
into his arms and blessed God and said, Now, Lord, you are
releasing your bond servant to depart in peace, according to
your word. For my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light
of revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people
Israel. And his father and mother were
amazed at the things which were being said about him. And Simeon
blessed them and said to Mary, his mother, Behold, this child
is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel and for
a sign to be opposed and a sword will pierce even your own soul
to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed. These are the days just immediately
following Christ’s birth. And we know well about the shepherds
and their coming to worship Christ. And we know well about the Magi
and we know well about all of the events attending. But we
don’t well know because we don’t focus much on the days that followed. On the days that followed. It
is recorded that Jesus was taken and circumcised. He was named
at that time according to the law because he was born under
the law. Paul goes into great detail to
talk about this in the book of Galatians, that Christ was fully
under the law as a man. According to their purification,
the days for their purification refers to Mary and Joseph’s need
of purification, not of Christ’s. It was the mother who was considered
unclean following birth, and there was a period of time where
she was to abstain from holy things. They came, according
to the law, to present the firstborn, that is Christ, to the Lord and
likewise commensurate with that to offer a sacrifice, one of
praise and one of sin offering on behalf of Mary and Joseph. And while those things seem like
they might occupy our attention this morning, I want to just.
Set those aside for a moment. Rather, for a time, we’ll come
back, maybe look at those another time, and I want to focus on
the latter part of that section, that of their interaction with
Simeon. What is in focus here? At the
end of Luke 2 is the formal presentation. And really, the reception of
Christ. The reception of Christ and just
the sound of it, doesn’t it? Doesn’t that have a nice ring
to it? Most of you who have come to faith consider yourselves
as having received Christ. A common way to refer to those
things. The sentence itself elicits images
of warmth and friendly excitement, like an honored dignitary entering
into a room. But that isn’t necessarily even
the case, is it? Not every reception that people
receive is warm. Not every reception that Christ
received is warm and friendly. Not everyone gave Him the honor
and worship that was His due. One can just as easily imagine
a cool reception. And unfortunately, Jesus had
that too. Perhaps you even remember those
who heard the Gospel at the same time that you did. Who sat next
to you. Maybe heard a sermon or read
along with you in a tract or heard someone else explain the
Gospel to them. Right next to you. How is it
they responded completely differently than you? And we know well the
theology behind it, but what I’m talking about is what does
that look like? What does that poor reception
of Christ look like? How can some receive the Savior
so reverently? While others have the audacity
to thumb their noses. As being irrelevant. I want you
to consider, first of all, Simeon. I want you to just look at the
man. Consider the man for a moment. Consider, first of all, Simeon.
Look down at verse 25, where Luke simply records, there was
a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. Now, I want you to
pause for a moment just and look at him and ponder the man’s resume. Because this is no priest. He
isn’t presented to us as a priest. Simeon is no Pharisee or scribe. He is not an elder in the church
in Jerusalem. He is, in essence, what some
might call in our modern day, a layman, a term I don’t particularly
care for. Others might say that he is just
a worshiper. As if that is a second class
citizen, he is a regular attender. There he occupies an elevated
status, right? Or or even the highest status
of all laymen. He is a member. But he’s not
part of the religious elite. Luke certainly doesn’t introduce
him that way. In fact, it was interesting to
me as I read up on Simeon this past week. That some have tried
over the years to make him more than what even Luke presents
him to be. You all know that there were
some false gospel accounts. We’ve talked about this in the
Institute in great detail, the gospel of Thomas and so on and
so forth. They were false gospels. They
were never received by any church council. And these false accounts
often try to make Simeon out to be some fancy religious official. Some have said that This is a
certain man named Rabbi Shimeon, who was popular in the day. Others
refer to him as the great teacher, Shimeon. Still other commentators
said that he was the president of the council. I mean, you got
to have a title, right? He was a man of eminence and
learning, said another. And you know what? All of that,
all of it is fabricated. All we know of Simeon is what
is right here in the biblical text. And there is no indication
of any of that, that Simeon was anything more than just a man. That is exactly what he is presented
to us as being. He is not a man of the cloth. How is it then that this man,
garners our attention, why did Luke focus on him? One commentator offered a very
excellent suggestion when he said in times of spiritual spiritual
degeneration, when an official clergy no longer cultivates anything
but the form of religion. In other words, if you think
of the scribes and the Pharisees, where everything had become formal
and nothing was from the heart, nothing was of passion. When an official clergy no longer
cultivates anything but the form of religion, its spirit retires
among the obscure members of the religious community. and
creates for itself unofficial organs, often from the lowest
classes. Simeon is a representative of
this spontaneous priesthood. Simeon was a godly man. He didn’t
have a title. He didn’t need a title because
it was him and God. In other words, What this commentator
says is that when the leadership in the religious system failed,
God’s people step up. Another said it this way. There
was no Jew who did not regard his own nation as the chosen
people. But the Jews saw quite clearly
that by human means, their nation could never attain to the supreme
world greatness, which they believe their destiny involved. By far,
the greater number of them believe that because the Jews were the
chosen people, they were bound to someday become masters of
the world and lords of all the nations. To bring in that day,
some believe that some great celestial champion would descend
upon the earth. That was their idea of the Messiah.
Some believe that there would rise another king of David’s
line and that all the old glories would revive. Some believe that
God himself would break directly into history by supernatural
means. But in contrast to all that. There were some. there were some few people who
were known as the quiet in the land. They had no dreams of violence
and power, of armies with banners. They believed in a life of constant
prayer and quiet watchfulness until God should come. All their
lives they waited quietly and patiently upon God. Simeon was
like that. In prayer, in worship, in humble
and faithful expectation, he was waiting for the day when
God would comfort his people. In his own day, Simeon was nothing
to most men, he was an obscure, unknown, unpopular man. A man
with no official title, But as obscure as he was in his own
day, we know a great deal about this man. Luke says of him, first
of all, that he was righteous and devout. Here’s his resume. Here’s what God sees in the man. This is what God wanted penned
for all time. The term righteous. These terms,
both righteous and devout, are among the highest of Christian
virtues. Fearing God, devout, watchfulness
with regards to evil. An intense Christian is what
we think of someone when we talk about someone being righteous,
someone who is passionate about what they believe. And here,
Simeon was said to be righteous and devout, not only a worshiper
of God, but one who was godly in all of his activities. That first word points to the
relationship that he had with people. Righteous. Everybody
would see him as a just man, a righteous man. The second word
points to his relationship with God, doesn’t it? He was intensely
worshipful. that were devout, meaning literally
to take well hold of something cautious. He was very careful
about his religious duties, not casual and indifferent and cold
and callous, like some of the religious formalists of his day.
As one said of him, he was circumspect or cautious. He took hold of
religious things carefully and applied to morals and religion
He emphasized the element of circumspection, a cautious, careful
observance of divine law. And thus, he had a settled, peculiarly
settled, expressive Old Testament kind of piety. This was a righteous
man. This was a godly man. He didn’t
need a title. This is one that could go before
God’s presence on his own. And then walk out and live it. But
it goes beyond there, we know a lot more about Simeon, look
at the passage. The passage says that he was
also an expectant man, he was looking for the consolation of
Israel, he was living that way as well. He was living an expectant
life and he was looking up, as we so often say, looking for
God to do something, not just pondering and frittering away
and worrisome and profligate lifestyle. This is a man who
lived expectantly. It also says that he was a spiritual
man. Look back at the passage three
quick times. Verse 25, it says the Holy Spirit
was upon him. In verse 26, it says it had been
revealed to him by the Holy Spirit. And in verse 27, he came in the
Spirit in the temple. Three times in this brief account,
it is stated that the Holy Spirit himself had a profound influence
on the life of this man. So we actually know a great deal.
about this obscure man. He was a man of God. And a man
of God’s own choosing. That through the agency and the
direction of the Holy Spirit, he was to be a focus of this
gospel writer. And for a time, Simeon would
come to occupy this prominent place that as the nativity star
faded with the dawn, And as the small crowds of worshippers,
the magi, the shepherds dispersed as this little family set about
the business of life itself. Simeon enters in as a prominent
figure. What Simeon does. Is receive
Christ as Christ ought to be received, he received him exactly
for who he was. He saw Christ for who He was
and He appraised Him appropriately. And I just want to step back
from that this morning and give you three little observations.
Simeon’s testimony, if you will, about the Christ child. Simeon’s
appraisal, first of all, was that Jesus is the Savior who
was promised by God. It’s Him. Jesus is the Savior
who was promised by God. Look at the passage once again
where Simeon says, that’s it. I’m done. I can go to glory.
That’s essentially what he says beginning in verse 29. Now, Lord,
you are releasing your bond servant to depart in peace. He’s talking
about himself. He didn’t see himself as one
of the high and mighty. He didn’t see himself as one
of the religious elite. He saw himself as a bond servant.
And he said, now that you have shown me the Christ child, you
can take me to glory. Now, Lord, you are releasing
your bond servant to depart in peace according to your word.
What word? He’ll tell us. For my eyes have
seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence
of all peoples, a light of revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory
of your people, Israel.” I want you to note a couple of clues
that were given in verse 25 and 26. It says there was a man in
Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout,
looking for the consolation of Israel. He wasn’t looking For
just any comfort, he was looking for the Messiah, as it will become
abundantly clear. That was the consolation to Israel,
even as we meditated upon on Christmas Eve, right? There was
one comfort to Israel, and that one comfort was the Messiah. It says of Simeon there at the
end of verse 25, 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. We don’t know necessarily that
Simeon was an aged man. We assume that because of the
passage that follows, Anna being aged, we assume that Simeon here,
speaking of the fact that now that the Lord has come, he can
go, that God can take him, he can depart in peace. It’s reasonable
to assume that, but we don’t know that for sure. But Simeon was waiting, waiting
on God, waiting for God to present the Messiah, the comfort of Israel. He was looking for the consolation
of Israel, that’s what Simeon was waiting for. Look back at
that little phrase. God had promised the nation comfort
in the form of a Messiah. We saw on Christmas Eve in that
one little passage in Isaiah 40, but it goes well beyond that.
Consider with me, Isaiah 9, listen just carefully, there will be
no more gloom for her who was in anguish. That’s the kind of
comfort. That’s the kind of comfort we
desire, no more gloom, not just a little less gloom, right? A
lot of people would be satisfied with that, just a little less
gloom. Give me a pill that will take the edge off and I’m good.
Give me a little bit of happiness here on earth, a few things,
a bigger place. I’m all right. No, no more gloom. There will be no more gloom for
her who is in anguish. In earlier times, he treated
the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt. But
later on, he shall make it glorious by the way of the sea. On the
other side of the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who
walk in darkness will see a great light. Those who live in a dark
land, the light will shine on them. You shall multiply the
nation. You shall increase their gladness.
They will be glad in your presence as with the gladness of harvest
as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. This was the Messiah
that is being announced. If there’s any. Doubt, look at
verse or do I have you in Isaiah, where did I leave you, Park?
Go to Isaiah chapter nine, I’ll wait. Isaiah chapter nine is what we’re
considering. We looked at the first six verses. I want you
to look at Isaiah chapter nine, look at verse seven. There will
be no increase of his government or of peace, which is the subject
at hand. On the throne of David over his
kingdom to establish it and uphold it with justice and righteousness
from then on and forevermore, the zeal of the Lord will accomplish
this. This is none other than it can
refer to nobody other than the Messiah, the Messiah. Turn over
to chapter 11. This is why I was so concerned
where you were wandering, where I had left you, because I want
to walk you through some passages in Isaiah’s great book here. Chapter 11, verse one. where
it records that a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse
and a branch from its roots will bear fruit. The spirit of the
Lord will rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of
the Lord. He will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will
not judge by what his eyes see nor make a decision by what his
ears hear. But with righteousness, he will
judge the poor, will decide with fairness for the afflicted of
the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
with the breath of his lips. He will slay the wicked and also
righteousness will be the belt about his loins and faithfulness,
the belt about his way waste. The wolf will dwell with the
land, the leopard will lie down with the young goat, the calf
and the young lion and the fatling together, and the little boy
will lead them. And also the cow and the bear
will graze. Their young will lie down together.
This is a land of peace. This is a land that is comforted. The lion will eat straw like
the ox. The nursing child will play by
the hole of the cobra. The weaned child will put his
hand over the viper’s den. They will not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain, for the Lord will be full of the
knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Then in
that day, the nations will resort to the root of Jesse, who will
stand as a signal for the peoples and his resting place will be
glorious. This is the Messiah. There’s
no other. The passage we looked at on Christmas
Eve, Isaiah chapter 40. By the time you get there, I’ll
be gone. So go to 49. In Isaiah chapter 40, as we saw,
oh, comfort my people. Says your God, speak kindly to
Jerusalem, call out to her that her warfare has ended, that her
iniquity has been removed, that she has received of the Lord’s
hand double for all her sins. This was a very intensely, ultimately
practical comfort. It was the Messiah himself come
to relieve the greatest of all ills that have sinned. In Isaiah chapter 49, look at
verse 8. Thus says the Lord in a favorable time, I have answered
you and in the day of salvation, I helped you and I will give
you keep you and give you for a covenant of the people to restore
the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritages, saying
to those who are bound, go forth to those who are in darkness,
show yourselves along the roads. They will feed and their pasture
will be on all bare heights. They will not hunger or thirst,
nor will the scorching heat or sun strike them down for he who
has compassion on them will lead them and will guide them to springs
of water. The passage goes on to say in
verse 13, oh, mountains, pardon me, be break forth into joyful
shouting, oh, mountains, for the Lord has comforted his people
and will have compassion on the afflicted. Isaiah chapter 51
verses one through six. Isaiah chapter 51, 12 through
16, Isaiah chapter 60 verses 1 through 3, which passage we’ve
considered in the past arise, shine for your light has come. The glory of the Lord has risen
upon you. For behold, darkness will cover
the earth, deep darkness, all the peoples, but the Lord will
rise on you and his glory shall appear upon you. Nations will
come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising.
All throughout Isaiah’s gospel is this comfort of the Messiah. There is no other. Isaiah 66,
13. The last one I’ll consider is
one whom his mother comforts. So will I comfort you and you
will be comforted in Jerusalem. They were waiting not for just
some salve, some band-aid, some temporary relief. What they wanted,
what they needed, what they desired was the Messiah himself. And
that is exactly what Simeon recognized. This is it. Back, if you would,
to Luke’s Gospel. Because of this comfort. A common Jewish formula in prayer,
particularly at the advent of the Messiah, he was called the
consoler. That was a title that was so
often used as one of the names of the Messiah. God had promised
Simeon. God not only made promises to
the nation of Israel, but through divine providence, he reached
down to Simeon and he promised Simeon that he would see this
consolation before he died. He would see the Messiah. Simeon
refers to him as the Lord’s Christ, the Lord’s anointed, the Messiah. through some kind of direct revelation. We have absolutely nothing to
go on. It was almost absurd the direction
that so many different commentators went with signs and visions. We don’t know what means the
Lord used at all. All we know is that by some direct
revelation by the Holy Spirit, Simeon was led in on by God Himself. This great sign that the Messiah
was coming. As one said, the thought of pardon
me, the thought is of a slave who is instructed by his master
to keep watch through the long dark night on a high place to
wait for the rising of a special star and then to announce it.
That was the task. That was given to Simeon. Finally,
after wearisome hours of waiting, he at last sees the star rising
in all its brightness. He announces it and then is discharged
from keeping watch any longer. And that’s why Simeon says, I’m
done. I can depart. God had given him a job and now
the job was finished. Simeon saw Christ and immediately
recognized him for who he was. As J.C. Ryle said it, he speaks
like one for whom the grave had lost all its terrors and the
world had lost all its charms. He speaks as one who knows where
he is going when he departs this life and cares not how soon he
goes. The change with him will be a
change for the better, and he desires that his change may come. He says, Lord, I am ready. Even the word. That the that
Simeon uses for Lord here is unusual and profound, rather,
he uses the word despotism, where we get our word despot from,
but it’s not necessarily negative in the original. Here, Simeon
uses it to acknowledge God’s absolute sovereignty over him.
And He says, Lord, take me. You have promised that I would
see the Messiah. I see Him. I recognize Him for
who He is. Simeon finally closes out that
section. He points to this great blessing
of the Messiah with this little phrase, your salvation. This
is exactly what you promised. The Messiah is who He is. And
he was absolutely adequate. He is absolutely what the people
need and need most. He is your salvation. This is God’s provision. This
child. This is God’s doing. Simeon saw in the little Christ
child. Still helpless, still desperately
needful of his mother. saw of that little child the
very means of deliverance that God had promised for centuries.
Isaiah 46 spoke of it. I bring near my righteousness. It is not far off. And my salvation
will not delay. God had promised salvation not
only to Israel, but to the Gentiles as well through their testimony.
And he told Simeon that he would see it And Simeon took one look. One look. And God let him know
and Simeon responded and said, this is it. But there’s another part of the
testimony that Simeon provides. Jesus is not only the Savior
who was promised by God, but he is the Savior who is for all. So much. of Judaism have become
so fanatical and arrogant that they held the Gentiles afar off,
that the Christ, the Messiah, was to be an exclusively Jewish
Messiah. He was going to rescue their
nation. He was going to rally their people
and build them up and make them superior to all other nations.
That’s never what God planned. That’s never what God promised.
What you have here, if you look back at the passage, verse 30,
my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the
presence of all people. A light of revelation to the
Gentiles and the glory of your people, Israel. As one said of
this little section, the collective idea, all people is divided into
its two essential elements, the Gentiles and Israel. To the first, this child brings
light to the second glory. To the heathen, in fact, who
were sunk in ignorance, they are represented as enveloped
in a thick mist covered with darkness. The covering was taken
away completely by Messiah. The light whereby the covering
which keeps them in darkness is done away and they themselves
are brought into open day, broad daylight. The humiliated Jews are delivered
by him from their reproach and obtain the glory which was promised
them, springing up from them. Jesus appears as their crown
in the eyes of all mankind. That was God’s design. God’s
design was a Messiah that was going to touch all the nations,
not just the nation of Israel. He was a Messiah, he was a savior
for all. Again, in Isaiah, you have these
recurring themes playing themselves out. Isaiah 25, seven on this
mountain, he will swallow up the covering, which is over all
peoples. This sinful cloud, this darkness,
this gloom. Isaiah 42, six, I am the Lord,
I have called you in righteousness. I will also hold you by the hand
and watch over you and I will appoint over you or point you
as a covenant to the people as a light to the nations. That
was Israel’s job. They were supposed to be proclaimers
of this Messiah, not those who claimed the exclusive right to
him. Later on in that same book, Isaiah 49.6, he says, Is it too
small a thing to you that you should be my servant to raise
up tribes of Jacob to restore the preserved ones of Israel?
I will also make you a light to the nations so that my salvation
shall reach to the ends of the earth. It was never just the
salvation of Israel. It was never just some political
uprising. Isaiah 52 10. I’ll end with that
one. The Lord has bared his holy arm
in the sight of all the nations that all the ends of the earth
may see the salvation of our God. It was for everyone, not
just the Jews. That little word Gentile, which
was to Jews a dirty word to be a Gentile was to be a dog. It
was a term of derision. It had become almost a swear
word. The Gentile, Gentile rather,
was from the root word meaning to be accustomed. And because
of that, it meant a people bound together by habits and customs.
That’s all it meant. From a biblical use, the term
was used of a people who simply were not Israel. And therefore,
they occupied a different position in God’s plan of salvation. But
God never cut them out of it. God never had an exclusive design
to save Israel only. Matthew 12, 18, behold, my servant
whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased,
I will put my spirit upon him and he shall proclaim justice
to the Gentiles. Matthew 12, 21, same chapter,
his name in his name, the Gentiles will hope. And that’s not just wishful thinking.
That is the very comfort and salvation about which Simeon
is speaking. The very thing you and I have
come to enjoy Matthew 24, this gospel of the kingdom should
be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations. Acts 10, you know well the split
that occurred there. The Holy Spirit was poured out
on the Gentiles also, and it created a big stir. So much so
that Paul ultimately said that he was turning his ministry in
the direction of the Gentiles. So much so that in Ephesians
3, 6, Paul writes this, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs
and fellow members of the body and fellow partakers of the promise
in Christ Jesus through the gospel. The very design of God. One pastor said, of that very
thought that Christ was indeed a light to enlighten the Gentiles.
Without him, they were sunk in gross darkness and superstition.
They knew not the way of life. They worshiped the works of their
own hands. The wisest philosophers were
utterly ignorant in spiritual things, professing themselves
to be wise. They became fools. The gospel
of Christ was like sunrise to Greece and to Rome and to the
whole heathen world. It was Christ. He was for all. But Simeon had a third testimony.
Of this Christ child, he saw him for who he was exactly for
who he was. Jesus was not only the Savior
who had been promised by God, he is not only the Savior who
is for all. He is the Savior for whom there
can be no indifference. He is the Savior for whom there
can be no indifference. You cannot sit on the fence with
regard to the Lord Jesus Christ. Can’t do it. Look back at the
passage, verse 33. It says that his father and mother
were amazed at what Simeon had already said. Well, hang on.
They were amazed at the things which were being said about him.
And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, Behold, this
child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel. and for a sign to be opposed.
And a sword will pierce even your own soul, but to the end
that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.” Simeon all
of a sudden breaks out on this young and happy couple. I’ve
got a little bit of hard news for you. Not everybody is going
to be thrilled about this son of yours. Not everybody is going
to receive him as I have. Not everybody is going to treat
him as the Messiah that God has provided and worship him as we
ought. Not everybody. Isaiah had prophesied
about this as well, right? Isaiah 8, 14, Then he shall become
a sanctuary, but to both the houses of Israel, a stone to
strike and a rock to stumble over. That passage, that thought,
that theme is repeated throughout the Scriptures. Throughout the
New Testament, he would be a snare and a trap for the inhabitants
of Jerusalem. Romans 923, Paul seized upon
it. Speaking of the Jews, that they
did not pursue it by faith, but as it though as though it were
by works, they stumbled over the stumbling stone, they stumbled
over Christ, they stumbled over faith in Christ alone. Paul says it again in Acts 123,
we preach Christ crucified to the Jews, a stumbling block.
They couldn’t buy the Messiah. They couldn’t understand this
Messiah in whom they had to place faith in this man that had been
crucified in their eyes. Nothing more than a man. Peter seizes upon it, Peter declares
it not only in the book of Acts, but also in his first epistle.
He was he is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders,
but which became the chief cornerstone. And in his first epistle, he
said this precious value, this Messiah is for you then who believe. But for those who disbelieve.
This stone, which the builders rejected, became the very cornerstone
And a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. Exactly what
Simeon said he would be. Simeon saw exactly who he was. Simeon knew exactly what God
had provided. From the very birth of Christ.
Said one, the sword began to pierce the soul of Mary. And
what tongue can describe the weight of the mysterious anguish
which she felt as she watched the hatred and persecution which
followed Jesus and saw him die on the cross amid the execrations
of all classes of those whom he came to save? This wasn’t
the first glimpse of this that Mary had seen. But Mary clearly
has to be caught off guard here for a moment. Here she is coming
to dedicate her son and now to know that this is part and parcel
of what he would inherit. The Jesus would be the dividing
line. Jesus would be the great apex
and that you couldn’t sit on the apex, you cannot hover there.
That you will forever be on one side or the other. One Puritan
said Christ was to be a sign spoken against. He was to be
a mark for all the fiery darts of the wicked one. He was to
be despised and rejected of men. Men who agreed in nothing else
had agreed in hating Christ. There would be those. But as
one said, by means of their attitude to Christ, men would be constantly
revealing Their thoughts of the thoughts of their hearts, they
would show whether they were for him or against him. Neutrality
would be forever impossible. Did you get that? If you walked
in this morning, uncertain about Jesus, if you walked in this
morning, not really sure what you want to do with him. Maybe
you’re a young person in a home. And maybe for a time you’ve been
able to ride the fence and come to church with your parents and
sit there and be neutral and kind of coast. Maybe you’re an
adult and maybe you’ve been in neutral for a long time. Maybe
you’ve been coasting and thinking that you could get a get by with
kind of giving a passive assent to Jesus, but not really committing
your life and dedicating your entire being to him. It’s impossible. It’s impossible. Paul said to
the Corinthians. That there is an aroma from death
to death, there is an aroma from life to life. And that Christ
is one of the other to you. There is no neutrality on the
issue of Christ and Simeon saw it as soon as he saw him. Christ’s Was the Messiah Christ was the
one on whom the entire world would divide. As one said, for the first time
in the gospel history, the coming struggle of suffering and all
that was related to it is referred to Jesus would be like a stone
over which someone would trip and fall and perish. but also
by which others would be enabled to arise and be saved. What is he to you? We saw how
Simeon received him. We saw that Simeon saw him exactly
for who he was, promised, promised for all and that there would
be no indifference. And Simeon didn’t hesitate for
a moment. Let’s examine our own hearts
with regards to Christ. Lord God, we know there are many,
many in our midst that just dawdle and procrastinate with regards
to who Christ is and what he expects. The faith that he calls
them to the repentance. Lord, we thank you that Jesus
is not one to be trifled with, he is not one with whom we can
be indifferent. He is the promised Savior of
all. And we must come to Him and receive Him as such, if at
all. God grant us clarity of mind
on what we do with Christ. It’s in Jesus’ name that we pray,
Amen. you you