- This Jesus: God’s design for Salvation. (Luke 2:29-33)
- This Jesus: God’s line of Separation. (Luke 2:34)
- This Jesus: God’s sign of Opposition. (Luke 2:34-35)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
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In our service this morning.
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You remember when Darren got up to lead worship, he said, "Jesus lived a sinless life." That's why Jesus was circumcised.
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That's why he was baptized.
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That's why he lived 33 years on the earth.
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Jesus Christ had to live a perfect life because he wants to put that on your account.
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Do you see?
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Jesus did live a sinless life.
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None of us have.
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And God demands perfection.
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So what do we do?
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Well, Jesus Christ lived a sinless life, and the Bible tells us that when we receive him by faith, he gives us his life.
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And when God sees us, what he sees is perfection, not because of what we have done, but because we have received by faith what Jesus Christ has done.
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Does that make sense?
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Well, moving on through the text, verse 22.
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"And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.
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As it is written in the law of the Lord, every male who first opens a womb shall be called holy to the Lord." What is this purification? Again, this is from the Old Testament law.
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Forty days after the birth of a male child, you would go for the purification.
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And that firstborn male child was presented to the Lord.
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That's from Exodus chapter 13 and verse 2 that Luke is quoting from here.
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And then verse 24 says, "And to offer a sacrifice according to what is said," here it is again, "in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons." And what this sacrifice shows us is that Mary and Joseph were poor.
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If you look back in Leviticus 12, if you had the means, you were to offer a lamb and a bird, but God made provision for people who didn't have the money to afford a lamb or didn't have the means to acquire one.
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He says, you can present two birds.
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Now, most of us, I would assume, are familiar on some level with the Christmas story, Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, we talked about them, the angel showing up and the magi, we'll talk about them probably next year.
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But we're going to look at a man here in Scripture this morning that probably most of us are not familiar with and his name is Simeon. And verses 25 through 28 sort of give us an on-ramp for this baby dedication speech that he gives. So I want us to look at that. Verse 25, "Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. And this man was righteous and devout. He was obviously a believer and righteous and devout. These are words that describe his attitude and his actions. It says he was waiting for the consolation of Israel and the Holy Spirit was upon him. This is saying a lot here. What is the consolation of Israel?
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What that means is Simeon was waiting for the Messiah to come.
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You know, all through the Old Testament, clear from Genesis 315, God has promised Isaiah 53.
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God has promised that his Messiah was going to come and he was going to suffer and he was going to offer himself as a sacrifice.
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And eventually, he was going to reign over everything.
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And God made promise after promise after promise of who this Messiah would be, and what he would look like, and where he'd be born, and what his ministry would be like.
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And Simeon was waiting for that.
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He says, "I know that God has promised a Messiah, and I'm waiting, and I know it's happening." And your Bible says, "The Holy Spirit was upon him." understand the Holy Spirit did not indwell believers until Pentecost. You know, the day that we live in, when somebody receives Jesus Christ by faith, the Bible says the Holy Spirit indwells you, and that's true for all believers.
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It's not like, well, there's some believers that don't have the Holy Spirit, there are some believers that do have the Holy Spirit. That's not true. If You have God's Holy Spirit. He resides in you.
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But it was not so in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit would come upon people to anoint them for a special responsibility.
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And Simeon would fall into that category. The Holy Spirit was upon him because of verse 26. This was Simeon's big claim to fame.
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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 we don't know how long Simeon's been waiting, but we do know that it was a long time. How do we know that? We're going to see here in a second when Simeon sees Jesus, he says, "Now I'm ready to go. I don't imagine Simeon was like, you know, 17. Like, I can die now. I imagine he was an old man. And long before the movie came out, this was actually the first bucket list. Did you know that? But this wasn't a bucket list that Simeon came up with. This was one that was given to him. God's like, "Simeon, here's your bucket list. You're not going to kick the bucket until you see the Christ. So could you imagine what that must have been like for Simeon? Could you imagine every day, this could be the day, this could be the day, this could be the day. And what was he looking for? I don't know. What was Simeon looking for? I imagine there were probably days that he just looked up to the sky thinking that the Messiah was going to bust through the clouds or maybe Simeon understood this the scriptures about the you know the Virgin conceiving and giving but maybe he knew that it was going to be a baby that would be the revelation of the Messiah I don't know but I do know that he was holding on to this promise that that Simeon knew that God keeps his word.
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Verse 27, "And he came in the spirit into the temple.
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"And when the parents brought in the child Jesus "to do for him according to the custom of the law, "he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said." I wanna pause here for a second.
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Obviously the Holy Spirit led Simeon to the temple and led Simeon right to Jesus and to his parents.
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You know, the scripture doesn't say, but we can sort of fill in the blanks here.
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Obviously the Spirit led him up there.
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I believe the Holy Spirit led Simeon right to them.
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I don't know how that conversation went.
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Excuse me, ma'am.
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Could that be the Messiah?
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Maybe that was it.
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Because you know what Mary and Joseph would have said, "Dude, you're totally gonna believe this." They probably didn't call him dude.
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"You're totally gonna believe this." An angel showed up and told me that, even though I'd never been with a man, I was going to give birth to this child and that he was going to take King David's throne.
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And Samuel was like, "Yeah, yeah, this is him.
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This is the Christ.
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This God let me see the Christ, just like he promised.
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I gotta be honest with you though, one of the things that I kind of scratched my head over was the fact that here's Simeon, who apparently didn't know Mary and Joseph, just kind of showed up and took the baby up in his arms.
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I think just living in the culture we live in, that sounds kind of weird, doesn't it?
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Like some stranger walks up and takes your baby.
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Well, it was a different culture then, and it was a different time.
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And I'm sure Mary and Joseph wouldn't have been opposed to a kind elderly gentleman coming up and wanting to talk to them about their baby.
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I'm sure the conversation got rolling.
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So let's look at this crazy baby dedication.
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Joyful proclamation, okay?
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So do you have the scene?
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You know, here's Mary and Joseph, And, you know, I see them in the courts of the temple and these large courts and there were thousands of people walking around these courts and this guy shows up and he knows, he knows this is the Messiah.
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And he takes the baby and he praises God.
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Let's look at what he says, three things.
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This Jesus, God's designed for salvation.
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This Jesus, God's designed for salvation.
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Let's look at verses 29 through 33.
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He says, "Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word." Wouldn't that have been just like so crazy?
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Like you have a baby and somebody shows up and holds your baby and is like, "I can so die now." That's what he was saying, was I can go now.
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I can depart in peace because you've kept your word.
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Look at verse 30, and here it is.
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"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 your glory to your people, Israel." And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him.
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So this Jesus, God's design for salvation, it's right here in the text.
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Jot these down. Three truths about salvation. It's right here in the text.
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Three truths about salvation. Number one, salvation is about a person.
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capital P. Salvation is about a person.
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Salvation is not about a religion. Okay, well, I go to a Christian church occasionally, so that's how I know that I'm safe. Salvation is not about a religion, it's not about a church. Notice Simeon verse 30, when he saw Jesus, he says, "My eyes have seen," what? "Salvation." I see your salvation as I look at this person. What I see is salvation. Salvation is in a person. You know, guest reception as I meet with newer folks, one of the questions I like to ask is, "How did you hear about us?" And some people say, "Well, you know, I was working with this guy that told me about this church, or I heard about you on the radio through, you know, walking the Word." But do you know in heaven? That's not going to be much of a conversation as far as like, "How did you get here?" Hey, what, how did you get into heaven? Jesus Christ? Really? And then you ask the next guy, "How did you get into heaven?" Taylor, what's the answer going to be? Jesus Christ? You're going to pull a billion people in heaven, and do you know what the answer is going to be with every one? Jesus Christ. How did you get here? Because I believed that Jesus Christ died for my sin and that he rose to give me eternal life. That's how I'm here. So understand first of all, salvation is about a person. And you know we say that here and we can agree with that here, but you know what? Sometimes we walk out the door and we lose that. I'd ask you to keep Aaron's uncle in prayer as he has suffered a massive stroke and he's down at UPMC and I was down there on Friday and it was just me in the room with Tom and the nurse was coming in and she was telling me about his condition and then I said well you know kind of a nephew-in-law and a pastor so I came down and I get I asked my favorite where do you go to church?" And she said, "Well, I'm Catholic, but I believe that as long as you believe in a higher power, that's really what matters." And I think sometimes we come to church and we hear the message, and yes, it's about Jesus, yes it's about Jesus, but somehow we lose the clarity that we don't really want to hold on to that. But salvation is about a person. It's not believing that there's a higher power. You just saw here this morning when my brother moved the podium over, he's a higher power, but believing in him is not going to get me to heaven.
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It's about, as Simeon said, this one, the Messiah. Second truth about salvation, jot this down, it's a work of God. Salvation is a work of God. Here again, Simeon says, "For my eyes have seen your salvation," verse 31, "that you have prepared. He's talking to God that you have prepared. It is a work of God. It is not a work of yourself. There again, some people hear that and miss it. I understand what you're saying, "Okay, okay Pastor Jeff, it's about Jesus. Therefore, if I try really hard and if I, you know, what do I need to do to... I just believe as long as you try to be a good person and... it's a work of God. You can't do anything.
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Your part is believing in what God's already done. But salvation is a work of God. That's why Simeon said, "You've prepared this, God. You've prepared this.
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God's doing the work. And number three, you see it right there in the text, it's available to all. It's available to all. He says, "God, you prepared in the presence of all peoples." Now being a mostly Gentile audience, we would miss the impact of this when it's presented to a primarily Jewish audience. But even some of the most devout Jews weren't really sure that the Gentiles were included in God's plan with the Messiah, right? Remember last year we preached through the book of Jonah? What was that book about? Somebody that was sold on "God's salvation is not for all peoples. That's why you asked me to preach in Innova, I'm heading the other way. Well, Simeon here says that God has prepared this salvation in the presence of all peoples. Well, maybe he just meant like all the tribes of Israel. Well, look at verse 32 again. "A light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people, Israel. But you need to see that the salvation that God offers through Jesus Christ is available to everyone. Why am I emphasizing these things? These are the three things about salvation that people miss. It's in a person. It's a work of God and here's the third one, it's not available to all.
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Somebody's gonna walk out of here this morning going, "Yeah, I understand what he's saying, but he doesn't know the things that I've done." "Pastor Jeff, you just don't know the things that I've done. I have a rough past, man. I've done some horrible things and done so many things I'm not proud of." Well, my response to that is simply this, which is greater, God's grace or my sin? Let me ask you another question, what sin have you committed? Tell me your sin so heinous that God said, "You know, the brutal death of my son isn't even powerful enough to cover that sin." You know, let's hear it. What sin have you committed that's so that the grace of the infinite merciful God of the universe just is unable to cover it.
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So this is the plan. Notice there's no plan B and there are no exclusions.
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You know, last month, being an election year, we voted, and I'm sure many people in this room voted.
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But by show of hands, how many people called the polling place and said, "You know what?
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Tuesday's not really good for me.
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Saturday night about seven is good for me.
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That's when I'm going to come and vote." Anybody like call and make that arrangement and make that happen?
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Like you can't do that.
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You can't do that.
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Or how about this?
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After church, you get in your car and you, you're like, I need to stop and get gas.
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You pull into the gas station, and you're like, three and a half bucks, I think is still pretty expensive for gas.
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So you walk in and you say, I'm only paying a dollar a gallon today.
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Anybody do that?
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Anybody do that?
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No?
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Then you take your family out to lunch and you take them to Red Lobster.
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And you're like, you know what?
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I just want a bacon cheeseburger.
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Like we don't have those here, but that's what I want, make it happen.
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You're like, "Well, Jeff, all these things are silly.
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"Obviously you can't just vote whenever you want.
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"Obviously you just can't name the price of gas "that you want.
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"You just can't walk into any restaurant "and order whatever you want.
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"Why do we think it's so silly "that we can't have all of these things on our terms?
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"But we don't think it's silly when we start demanding "that we come to God on our terms.
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"Doesn't that seem silly?
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"God, I'm coming to you on my terms.
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"God, I know what you said about Jesus, but I'm with this higher power thing.
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I believe as long as we have a higher power, that's my thing.
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So God, you're just gonna have to accept that.
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Hello, he is God and I am not.
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And I would add, he is God and you are not.
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Or, you know, God, I appreciate what you did through Jesus, and now I'm going to work really hard and hope that I've earned enough merit, and I've said enough prayers, and I've done enough this, and you'll let me into heaven.
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Who do we think we are coming to God on our terms?
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When God has said, here's the terms, it's Jesus Christ, the perfect God-man who lived a sinless life and died a vicarious death and rose victorious to give us life.
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God says, here's my terms.
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Whosoever believes in him will have eternal life.
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God says, that's my terms.
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We come to God on his terms.
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So here we see one man's proclamation about Jesus. I'd just like to add before we move on, what you believe about Jesus Christ is the most important thing about you. Do you know that? I don't care where you work, I don't care who your family is, I don't care how much money you have or what kind of car you drive. The most important thing about you is what you believe about Jesus Christ. That isn't something that I made up. In fact, you remember Matthew chapter 16, Jesus was with his disciples and he said, "Who do people say that I am? What's Obviously, Jesus was getting a lot of attention.
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When you show up into a town and heal all the diseases, people tend to talk about you.
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He's like, "Well, who do people say that I am?" They're like, "Well, some people think you're like "Elijah back from the dead, or like John the Baptist, "or like one of the prophets from the Old Testament, "like resurrected, and like Jesus, you wouldn't believe it.
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"They got all kind of like weird ideas about who you are." But do you remember what Jesus asked next?
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He said, "But who do you say that I am?" And you see, that's the heart of the matter.
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Because at the end of the day, folks, it doesn't matter what CNN says about Jesus Christ, and it doesn't matter what Time Magazine says about Christ.
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When you stand before God, the issue is, what have you said about Christ?
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Who do you say that He is?
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You remember Peter's answer, he goes, "I believe that you're the Christ, "the Son of the living God." And Jesus affirmed his answer.
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He said, "Flesh and blood didn't reveal that to you.
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"That was a work of the Holy Spirit." Again, salvation is a work of the Holy Spirit.
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My question for you is, who do you say that he is?
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According to Simeon, he's God's plan of salvation.
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So secondly, this Jesus, God's line of separation.
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This is where the baby dedication really takes an unexpected turn.
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Look at verse 34, as Mary and Joseph marveled.
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I mean, you can totally imagine that, right?
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The stranger shows up and says, "Hey, your baby's the savior of the universe." You'd probably marvel at that.
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It says, "And Simeon blessed them "and said to Mary his mother." I get this scene, you know, Simeon makes his proclamation and you kind of see him leaning in and looking Mary in the eye.
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This is really personal.
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I gotta tell you something.
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What's he going to say? "This is the cutest baby I've ever seen." He takes after his father, which he did.
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Look at what Simeon says, "Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel." And actually, this is the first negative note in the book of Luke concerning the birth of Jesus Christ.
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Until now you've had peace, you've had hope, you've had joy, you've had a very calm and positive, affirming testimony.
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Here's a negative note. This child is appointed for the rise, I'm sorry, for the fall and rising of many in Israel. It was a shock in verse 32 to talk about Gentiles being saved. Here's a bigger shock. There are gonna be some Jews who were lost. Radical concept to many Jews. Because Jesus Christ is not only the plan of salvation, Jesus Christ is also the line of separation. Jesus Christ is the line of separation. That's what Simeon was saying here. This baby of yours, Mary? He's a line of demarcation, and he's going to separate two very clear and distinct camps. Understand, Simeon was saying, "Mary, when it comes to your son, there aren't going to be shades of gray. There's going to be black, and there's going to be white. There's going to be those who are for him and those are against him." What did Jesus say? "Whoever does not gather with me scatters." That's what Simeon was talking about here. But note that Jesus has always divided people. Jesus has always divided people. You're like, "Yeah, I'm gonna need some proof of that." Get ready. Isaiah 8 14, talking about the coming Messiah, "And of a fence and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem." John 7 12, at the Feast of Booths, says, "There was much muttering about Jesus among the people, while some said, 'He is a good man,' others said, 'No, he is leading the people astray.'" John 7 43, "So there was a division among the people over him." John 9 16, Jesus had just healed a blind man and some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God for he does not keep the Sabbath," but others said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?" And there was a division among them. John 10 19, after Jesus talked about being the Good Shepherd, John comments, "There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. Jesus Christ divides people. Like, "Yeah, he sure did, didn't he?" No, he sure does. Listen to what Jesus said. You can jot these references down and look them up later, but this is in Matthew chapter 10. Listen to these words from Jesus. He said, "Do you not think that I've come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household." Don't raise your hand, but there are some people in this room, you have division in your family over Jesus Christ. There are some family members that don't want to talk to you because you're the religious nut. You're just a little too serious about Jesus. You're the Bible thumper. You're the holy roller, or worse terms that I wouldn't say up here. But there are people in this room that you're like, "Yeah, totally. I have family members that just flat-out hate me for no other reason than I go to church. I've talked to people that used this church that stopped because their family hated them so much just for coming and worshiping Jesus Christ. Causes division. It's not going to end.
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Actually, Jesus is going to divide people in the future. Matthew chapter 25, Jesus talks about his second coming and judgment. Jesus said he will separate people as a shepherd separates sheep from goats. But you have to see that Jesus Christ separates. Maybe you're sitting here this morning and saying, "You know what? I struggle so much. I have a brother who doesn't know the Lord, or I have an aunt who doesn't know the Lord. My mom doesn't know the Lord, and it's just so hard, it's just so hard. It is. It is. Simeon didn't offer words of comfort. He just simply said people are going to be divided over this child.
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One of the solutions, sadly, that the church has tried to do is to just be ecumenical. That'll stop the division. There are churches that want to stop the division over Christ. I was talking to the pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel in Philadelphia yesterday. He just called to catch up and I said, "What are you up to?" And he said that they actually had a prayer vigil for the families in in Connecticut from the tragedy last week, and a couple weeks ago rather, and he said that a couple of the pastors were just very, almost proud of it.
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They were sort of doing this little pastoral huddle before, like, what are we gonna talk about?
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What are we gonna do?
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And he said this one pastor was just like, "I'm just gonna offer up this really ecumenical prayer, just really ecumenical prayer.
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And he was like so proud of that.
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And this other pastor, you know, when he spoke, he's like, "Yeah, we got, you know, we got Muslims here, and we got Hindus, and we got Christians, and we got Jews, and we got..." And Matt was telling me that over and over and over, he just kept talking about, "You know what we need to do right now?
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We need to believe in Christmas.
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We need to believe in Christmas.
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He's like, that was his sermon.
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He said he actually referenced the shepherds.
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And then like Matt said, you can actually hear it.
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He stopped himself before he said the name Jesus.
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He wouldn't even say the name Jesus.
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But his sermon was people at a time like this, we need to believe in Christmas.
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Seriously.
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What gets people like that into ministry?
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Are there people, help me out, are there young people that are like, I just can't wait to get involved in ministry so I can tell people to believe in Christmas.
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Put all your faith in a day on a calendar that comes and goes every year.
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It's sad, it is sad.
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Now here's somebody who's looked at as a representative of God.
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Instead of saying, believe in Jesus Christ, Believe in Christmas.
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Look, it's okay if there's a separation and there might be some people here that are like, "I need to stop going to that church because they talk about Jesus too much." Well, spoiler alert, it's not going to change because do you know who we're going to talk about next week? Take a guess.
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Jesus! And you know what?
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Lord willing, for the world didn't end Friday, did you notice Mr. Nauer?
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I heard that whole Mayan thing was just about the Twinkies actually.
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But you know, Lord willing, if he doesn't come back and we're still here in a week, in a month, in a year, in 10 years, do you know what we're gonna be talking about?
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Jesus.
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As long as God gives me breath to stand up here and open his book, I'm talking about Jesus.
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Why?
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Because he is salvation.
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So what's all the division about? This is the last thing today. What's all the division about? Well look again at verse 34 and 35 with me as we close.
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Simeon says, "Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising and many in Israel." Look at this phrase, "and for a sign that is opposed." We'll get back to that. He says, and this is parenthetically in my Bible, maybe it is in yours, he says, "And a sword will pierce through your own soul also, so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed." Let me just talk about this parenthetical statement for a second. Simeon, again, crazy baby dedication, right?
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Simeon says to Mary, "As a mother, it is going to be so painful for you emotionally and spiritually to raise this child." Why?
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But you remember Jesus when He was 12? Remember He was left behind and the caravan went ahead, and here's 12-year-old Jesus. What was He doing?
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He's teaching the teachers.
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Like, that's my boy.
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And his parents came back, "What were you doing?" "Didn't you know I had to be about my father's business?" So already there was...
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This man was anointed.
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This is the Messiah.
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And raising him isn't going to be like having any other kid.
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Even Jesus' first miracle in Cana, in John chapter 2, Jesus calls his mom "woman." Not in a derogatory way, but it wasn't an affectionate term.
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It was just the separation.
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It was...
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But ultimately, how piercing would it be for a mother?
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John 19.25.
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You remember, Jesus was hanging on the cross, and all his big bad disciples, you remember them, the big bad fishermen, the rugged guys, the tough guys, where were they?
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One was there, but who was with Jesus while he was dying? His mom.
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So Simeon here was saying, "There's going to be a lot of heartache in your own soul over him." Sort of a personal message to Jesus' mother.
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But looking at the rest of this phrase, getting outside of these parentheses here, He says that Jesus is a sign that is opposed.
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Jesus will signify that which people hate.
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Jesus will signify that which people hate.
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The Old Testament promised it, the New Testament fulfilled it.
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Despised, rejected, He came to His own, His own did not receive Him.
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John chapter 1.
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And then this last phrase, "So that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed." That word "thoughts" can also be translated "beliefs." This word in the Greek is actually used eight times in the New Testament, always negatively.
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Always in a negative sense.
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You're like, "Well, what does it mean?" Here's what it means.
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In our vernacular, we would say, "Jesus brings up the filth." See, this is the opposition.
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Jesus Christ is righteous, and coming to Him means that He's going to expose your sin.
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That's what Simeon is talking about here.
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Jesus Christ will represent everything that's opposed, Every sinful, filthy thought and belief is going to be revealed in the face of this one.
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Because coming to Jesus means He's going to expose your sin.
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We don't have the time today to walk through the scripture on this, but look at every interaction Jesus had with people to get them to the point where they realize that they're a sinner who needs grace.
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That's the story that goes on.
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That's why people don't want to talk about Jesus.
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Because you know, you know that you've fallen short.
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You know by nature you're guilty of sin, you're guilty of rebellion.
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And that guilt makes you want to run from God, not run to God.
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But how you respond to Jesus Christ reveals your heart.
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And it boils down to as simple as this.
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Do you love God, or do you love your sin?
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Which one do you love more?
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By nature, I can stand up here and tell you, by nature, what I loved more was my sin.
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When I was involved in sin, I was miserable on one hand, yes, but on the other hand, I was loving it.
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But when I came to Christ, I realized, as many in this room have, Jesus exposes your sin.
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He says, "This isn't the way of God. This isn't the way of my kingdom.
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Repent from your sin, turn from your sin, and receive me." But how you respond to Jesus reveals your heart.
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Do you love God or do you love your sin?
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So we have tomorrow night a Christmas Eve service.
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And then, for some of us shortly thereafter, and for some of us in a couple months, we'll be packing away Christmas decorations.
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And that nativity scene is gonna go back in the box.
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And some of us might be a little sad about that because honestly, baby Jesus is comforting.
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Baby Jesus is familiar.
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And baby Jesus doesn't seem like a threat.
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But Simeon laid it all out for us.
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This baby Jesus is God's salvation.
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This baby Jesus is the line of separation.
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And this baby Jesus is going to be the sign of opposition.
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Will you bow your heads with me, please?
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Luke 2:21-35
Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another.