Introduction:
(Luke 2:22-36)
- Mary and Joseph were expected to Follow the law, which They did. (Luke 2:22-24)
See: Lev 12:4, 6, 8
- Simeon expected to See the Messiah, which He Did! (Luke 2:25-32)
See Isaiah 42:1,6-7 | Isaiah 49:5-6
- I am expected to Believe in Jesus, which I Do. (Luke 2:33-35)
Acts 17:30 - The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent...
1 John 3:23 - And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:00-00:01
Who knows what we're looking at here?
00:02-00:03
Does anybody know what this is?
00:05-00:06
Darla knows, it's a vacuum.
00:07-00:12
This is a vacuum from the 1960s, early 1970s.
00:12-00:17
And my parents had a vacuum like this.
00:17-00:25
And this is the kind of vacuum that every housewife of the atomic age wanted to have.
00:26-00:28
Look at all the gadgets and gizmos.
00:29-00:32
But if you look at her carpet it doesn't look like she's using any of them.
00:34-00:40
And yes, yes kids, our furniture in the 1960s and 70s was really this ugly.
00:43-00:57
But this vacuum had a couple of, well many purposes, but if you put up the next picture, you see at the front there was this little opening and you could connect the vacuum hose so that it would blow air.
01:00-01:03
And I have a story about Bethany's dad.
01:04-01:08
'Cause he used a vacuum like this at least once a year.
01:09-01:13
See, he was, I didn't mean it to come out there.
01:13-01:14
(audience laughing)
01:14-01:16
Actually, he did all the vacuuming.
01:17-01:22
He would put on patriotic music and he really, really loud.
01:22-01:23
He'd vacuum the whole house.
01:24-01:30
But anyway, he was expected every year at Christmas to flock the Christmas tree.
01:31-01:33
And like, what, what?
01:34-01:47
So the way they do it now is you take a natural tree and you spray it with water and then you sprinkle this paper product over it and then when it dries, it looks like the tree is covered in snow.
01:49-01:52
But back in the '60s, we didn't have it so simple.
01:53-01:58
We used these really toxic, chemical-laden paint-type products.
02:00-02:03
And what you would--I'm not quite sure how it worked.
02:03-02:08
If you connected it to the hose or you actually put this substance inside the vacuum.
02:09-02:15
But you would put the hose on and then you would have your tree and you would be spraying it with the hose.
02:15-02:20
So Bethany's mom expected Bill to do this every Christmas.
02:21-02:22
And he didn't like doing it.
02:23-02:27
He was never really happy when he had to do this.
02:28-02:36
And the one Christmas when Bethany was about 10 years old, he's got this all set up and he's trying to flock the tree and nothing's coming out.
02:37-02:48
He's like, "What's going on here?" So he's like, "What's going on?" He turns the hose around and he's looking at it and boom, right in his face.
02:49-02:52
And there's white stuff everywhere and Bethany is laughing.
02:53-02:57
And there were a few choice words that followed this little episode.
02:59-03:03
And Bethany made herself scarce before she got strangled by the hose.
03:04-03:12
But yeah, Bethany's mom's expectation of a flocked Christmas tree was completely dashed.
03:13-03:18
And after that, Bill was no longer expected to flock the Christmas tree.
03:19-03:20
Never happened again.
03:21-03:25
So, yeah, expect, expectation.
03:26-03:29
That's a word loaded with meaning, isn't it?
03:29-03:30
Actually, several meanings.
03:32-03:35
There's a sense of being duty-bound or obligated.
03:35-03:39
You know, we're expected to show up on time for work.
03:39-03:43
You expect me to preach a good sermon this morning.
03:44-03:49
Or like my father-in-law, you're expected to flock the Christmas tree because it's a tradition.
03:51-03:59
There's also the sense of anticipation, of looking forward to something, of desiring a certain thing to happen.
04:00-04:06
You know, the Bible has synonyms or for these meanings of expect or expectation.
04:07-04:11
So when we do what's expected of us, it's called obedience.
04:12-04:16
And when we look forward to something, that's called hope.
04:17-04:28
So as we continue our study this morning of Jesus' birth and how he affected people, even as an infant, we're gonna look at obedience and hope.
04:30-04:38
We're gonna look at how when we do what's expected, we find hope, and in our hope, we find fulfillment.
04:41-04:43
So let's look at Luke chapter two.
04:44-04:45
We're gonna start at verse 22.
04:47-04:55
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.
04:56-05:12
As it is written in the law of the Lord, every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord, and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons.
05:14-05:20
So our first point is that Mary and Joseph were expected to follow the law, which they did.
05:21-05:23
Now, what law is this?
05:24-05:27
Luke gives us a summary, but what law?
05:27-05:31
Well, this is referring to Leviticus 12.
05:32-05:34
And I've parsed this out a little bit.
05:34-05:37
We're going to look at verses 4, 6, and 8.
05:39-05:48
So what the law required was that when a woman gave birth to a son, she was considered unclean for seven days.
05:49-05:51
And then on the eighth day, he must be circumcised.
05:53-05:59
And then, picking up our verses here, "Then she shall continue for 33 days in the blood of her purifying.
06:00-06:06
She shall not touch anything holy, nor come into the sanctuary until the days of her purifying are completed.
06:08-06:20
And when the days of her purifying are completed, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting a lamb a year old for a burnt offering, and a pigeon or a turtle dove for a sin offering.
06:21-06:35
And if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtle doves or two pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for her, and she shall be clean.
06:38-06:45
So we see that Mary and Joseph fulfilled the commandment, even though they were poor.
06:46-06:48
Now that's the obvious point here, right?
06:48-07:00
We've heard this many times, the fact that they offered two turtle doves or two pigeons indicates that Mary and Joseph were very poor.
07:03-07:09
But even though Jesus was born into poverty, His parents were pious, they were observant.
07:12-07:26
And some may look at Leviticus chapter 12 and they would see, oh, this is an oppressive patriarchal system that treated women as second class and unclean just because they had a baby.
07:28-07:37
But you know, both of those observations, They miss something profound happening here.
07:38-07:46
You see, in the Old Testament ceremonial system, keeping oneself and one's belongings clean was essential to worship.
07:47-08:02
And if some food or some clothing or the person or the priest came in contact with something that was unclean, like a dead person or a sick person, It would make the holy person unclean, unholy.
08:03-08:06
And they were excluded then from worship.
08:07-08:15
And the process of ceremonial purification, it would have to start all over again until they were clean enough to go into worship.
08:18-08:21
What's profound in our account this morning is this.
08:23-08:25
Mary nursed the Son of God.
08:26-08:29
She kissed and touched the face of God.
08:29-08:31
She held him in her arms.
08:33-08:36
Even though the law said she could touch nothing holy for 40 days.
08:39-08:44
How do we know he was holy and not just a baby who would someday become holy later on?
08:44-09:07
Well, Luke 2.23 says, "As the firstborn, he was holy to the Lord." And in Luke 1.35, the angel Gabriel told Mary, "The child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God." Now I am aware that Catholic doctrine holds that Mary was never, ever unclean.
09:08-09:12
That in order to be the mother of God, she must have herself been immaculately conceived.
09:13-09:17
That is, she was without original sin from the moment of her conception.
09:18-09:23
But you know there's several problems with that doctrine, not the least of which is not in the Bible.
09:26-09:29
The fact is Mary was a sinner, just like everyone else.
09:31-09:35
That she became pregnant while she was betrothed to Joseph was scandalous.
09:37-09:40
And Deuteronomy 22 doesn't mince any words about it.
09:42-09:45
It was considered, what had happened to Mary was considered an evil thing.
09:47-09:48
She should have been stoned to death.
09:50-09:59
She could have been considered to have done an outrageous thing in Israel by whoring in her father's house, so you shall purge the evil from your midst.
10:01-10:06
The scripture doesn't mince any words about what people may have thought about Mary.
10:09-10:28
But yet the fact that Mary was unclean and yet tenderly connected to the Son of God is a great hope for us. Have you ever felt unclean? Have you ever felt, "I'm a complete mess.
10:29-10:48
I'm unworthy. I'm sinful. I'm vile. I'm detestable. I know I'm wicked." Have you thought that so much so that you think God wants nothing to do with you? So much so that you think you are beyond the reach of God.
10:51-10:56
Mary was unclean, but the Son of God put himself in her arms.
10:58-11:03
This tells us there is no one too unclean, too unholy for Jesus.
11:05-11:15
He touched lepers, he touched the diseased, the sinful, the dead, and instead of becoming unclean himself, the diseased were made well.
11:15-11:19
The dead were raised to life and the sinful were forgiven.
11:20-11:28
No matter what we have done, no matter how often we sin, we are never, ever, ever beyond the reach of Jesus.
11:31-11:35
The second thing to note here is, we don't become holy by what we do.
11:37-11:43
We see that Mary did what was expected of her by making the required offering for her cleansing.
11:45-11:53
But the deeper reality is she was made clean because of who she was connected to, to Jesus.
11:54-12:00
It wasn't because she performed religious rites, but because she embraced the Son of God.
12:03-12:08
We're gonna look next at Simeon, verse 25.
12:09-12:16
Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, And this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel.
12:17-12:19
And the Holy Spirit was upon him.
12:20-12:26
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.
12:27-12:30
And he came into the Spirit, into the temple.
12:32-12:36
So our second point is, Simeon expected to see the Messiah, which he did.
12:40-12:42
Think about Simeon and his circumstance.
12:42-12:44
He's expecting to see the Messiah.
12:45-12:46
You know, the time is right.
12:46-12:53
It's been over 400 years since the prophecy of Daniel that Messiah should be coming about this time.
12:54-13:02
We're looking for him, but circumstances are completely wrong for this.
13:03-13:10
The Messiah was to be the son of David, but there's no Davidic king on the throne.
13:11-13:16
They got Herod, and Herod is an Idiomian.
13:17-13:19
I was gonna make a pun about, well, what do you mean, Rich?
13:21-13:23
I did it anyway, didn't I?
13:24-13:29
So Idiomian, what that means is Herod is a descendant of Esau.
13:30-13:41
And if you remember back in the book of Genesis, What God told Rebekah was that the older would serve the younger.
13:41-13:46
The younger was Jacob, Esau was the older, but Esau was going to serve Jacob.
13:47-13:50
Well, here are circumstances, things are flipped, right?
13:51-13:54
The son of Esau is the king over Israel.
13:56-14:00
So how can we have a son of David coming?
14:02-14:07
And then the Sadducees were in control of the Sanhedrin, the religious council.
14:08-14:11
And they only followed the Torah, which is the first five books of the Bible.
14:12-14:17
They didn't read the histories, they didn't read the Psalms, they didn't read the prophets.
14:19-14:24
They don't have a clue, really, about what Messiah is going to be like.
14:24-14:26
And they're the religious authorities.
14:28-14:31
And then of course all Israel is under the iron boot of Rome.
14:33-14:36
This just doesn't seem like the right conditions for the Messiah.
14:37-14:38
How can Messiah come?
14:38-14:39
How can he arrive?
14:39-14:42
It must have seemed impossible.
14:44-14:46
Do you ever feel like that?
14:46-14:48
That your circumstances are impossible?
14:49-14:53
You feel like you're just piling up hope against hope, prayer against prayer.
14:54-14:59
You pray long and hard for something, and you wonder if circumstances will change.
15:00-15:01
Is God going to act?
15:02-15:13
You know, the Psalms are full of the refrain, "How long, Lord, how long?" I think the saddest of these is in Psalm 74 verse 9.
15:14-15:17
We are given no signs from God.
15:17-15:18
No prophets are left.
15:20-15:22
None of us knows how long this will be.
15:25-15:26
Feel like that?
15:27-15:39
And then there's Proverbs 13, 12 that says, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick." When we find ourselves in such dire circumstances, we become heart sick.
15:40-15:44
And we wonder silently, we wonder aloud, God, are you paying attention?
15:46-15:48
Do you see what is going on?
15:49-15:50
Don't you know what's happening to me?
15:52-15:53
Do you really love me?
15:54-15:55
Do you care?
15:58-16:00
You know, perhaps Simeon felt like that.
16:01-16:01
He's old.
16:02-16:06
He could have been waiting for decades to see Messiah.
16:07-16:08
He's old.
16:08-16:11
How much longer is he gonna live?
16:14-16:14
He's old.
16:14-16:17
He's lived his entire life under the Mosaic Covenant.
16:20-16:26
But Simeon had the Word of God that promised the Messiah, and God cannot lie.
16:28-16:35
Simeon believed the Holy Spirit, who had given him a promise that he would not die until he saw the Messiah.
16:37-16:38
How long did he wait?
16:39-16:39
We don't know.
16:40-16:49
What we do know is that he continued in steadfast expectation, and he obeyed when the Holy Spirit to go to the temple.
16:52-16:53
And what did he expect to see?
16:55-16:57
Sure, he expected to see Messiah.
17:00-17:03
He probably expected Messiah would have to be born.
17:04-17:07
Right, that was the promise of Genesis 3.15.
17:08-17:13
The very first prophecy of the Messiah that he would be the offspring of the woman.
17:15-17:17
But maybe he was expecting to see a full-grown man.
17:19-17:20
Maybe just even a young man.
17:22-17:23
Maybe he expected to see a prince.
17:25-17:27
Or even maybe a warrior king.
17:29-17:30
Let's pick up in verse 27.
17:32-17:42
And when the parents brought the child Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law, and there's Simeon, it's a baby.
17:45-17:46
The Messiah is a baby.
17:47-17:48
The Simeon object?
17:48-17:51
Oh God, there's gotta be a mistake.
17:51-17:55
There's gotta be someone else here in the temple you want me to look for, right?
17:55-17:59
Not this young couple here with the infant.
17:59-18:00
There's somebody else, right?
18:01-18:02
No.
18:04-18:04
Nope.
18:06-18:07
He doesn't keep looking.
18:08-18:10
Perhaps he remembered the word of the Lord.
18:11-18:13
Behold, I am doing a new thing.
18:14-18:25
So in verse 28, he takes him up in his arms and blessed God and said, "Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word.
18:26-18:40
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.
18:43-18:46
Yes, the Messiah he sees is a baby a little more than a month old.
18:48-18:51
Yet consider the certainty of Simeon's proclamation.
18:54-18:58
He didn't see any miracles, healings, he didn't see the dead raised.
18:59-19:01
He didn't even hear Jesus preach or teach.
19:02-19:04
He didn't see his death or resurrection.
19:06-19:09
And yet he considered the work of the Messiah as good as done.
19:11-19:20
The fact that the child had been born was all the assurance Simeon needed, that everything else necessary for salvation was going to be accomplished.
19:21-19:28
Simeon saw not just the baby, but he saw and believed in the finished work, even though he would not live to see it.
19:29-19:29
Why?
19:30-19:33
Because, again, Simeon knew the Word of God.
19:35-19:38
His proclamation is rooted in the prophets.
19:39-19:49
So for example, Isaiah 42, God is speaking, "Here is my servant whom I uphold, "my chosen one in whom I delight.
19:50-19:54
"I will put my spirit on him "and he will bring justice to the nations.
19:55-19:57
"I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness.
19:57-19:59
"I will take hold of your hand.
19:59-20:14
"I will keep you and I will make you "to be a covenant for the people "and a light for the Gentiles, To open the eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison, and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.
20:17-20:30
Then Isaiah 49, "Now the Lord says, 'He who formed me in the womb to be his servant.'" See, it's almost like a dialogue between Jesus and his Father.
20:31-20:54
"Now the Lord says, 'He who formed me in the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself, for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has been my strength." He says, the Lord says, "It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept.
20:55-21:11
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth." You see, based on the promises of God, Simeon knew the Messiah would be the salvation of all people, even the Gentiles.
21:12-21:17
And now he had seen the personal promise to him fulfilled.
21:19-21:21
Was that verse in Proverbs 13.12?
21:22-21:22
What did that say?
21:23-21:24
Hope deferred makes the heart sick?
21:26-21:29
but a longing fulfilled as a tree of life.
21:32-21:33
Was Simeon special?
21:34-21:44
You know, sometimes we read the accounts of people in the Bible, like Mary, like Simeon, David, Moses, and we're like, they're on a pedestal, man.
21:45-21:47
We're not like them at all.
21:47-21:48
I can't, that's not me.
21:49-21:50
Was Simeon special?
21:52-21:55
I think we can say that God dealt with him faithfully and graciously.
21:57-21:59
Was he more spiritual than us?
22:00-22:02
Does he have something we don't?
22:02-22:04
Was he somehow smarter than the average bear?
22:06-22:06
No!
22:08-22:11
He believed the Word of God and he listened to the Holy Spirit.
22:13-22:14
What do we as believers have?
22:16-22:18
The Word of God and the Holy Spirit.
22:19-22:28
So anchor your hope, beloved, in the eternal word of God, who does not lie, who does everything He says He will do.
22:30-22:32
And be still and listen to Him.
22:34-22:45
His Holy Spirit has been given to you to lead you into all understanding, to counsel you, to guide you, to bring you to a place of fulfilled hope.
22:47-22:49
Simeon knew there was more to come.
22:51-22:57
He knew the child would grow and become both suffering servant and righteous ruler of Israel.
22:57-23:00
Simon knew what the law and the prophets had to say about Messiah.
23:02-23:47
So he goes on in verse 34, "And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, 'Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed and a sword will pierce through your own soul also, so that the thoughts from many hearts may be revealed." You see, Jesus was expected to save his people from both Jews and Gentiles. He obeyed all his father's commands and fulfilled all that was spoken of him. Simeon understood that there were some dark clouds though on the horizon. Jesus was born to suffer and die for sinners.
23:48-24:07
He did so out of obedience and love and then he rose again to give eternal life to all who believe. So our last point is this. I'm expected to believe in Jesus which I can't fill that blank in for you.
24:09-24:29
And if you didn't immediately complete that sentence with, "I have, I've got good news for you." You see, Jesus is appointed for the fall and rising of many, the fall of those who don't believe and the rising of those who do.
24:33-24:37
In the garden, God gave Adam and Eve a number of commands.
24:39-24:42
He told them a bunch of things that they could do, that they should do.
24:42-24:44
Look, all these trees.
24:44-24:50
You can eat from all of these trees, all of this fruit, even the tree of life.
24:51-24:53
Be fruitful and multiply.
24:55-24:56
Exercise dominion.
24:56-24:57
Work in the garden.
24:57-25:00
of very good commands, but there was one command.
25:01-25:04
They were to obey.
25:05-25:19
One command, absolutely, "Do not eat from the tree "of the knowledge of good and evil, "for in the day that you eat of it, "or when you eat of it, you shall surely die." One command.
25:21-25:22
And what did Adam and Eve do?
25:24-25:26
They zeroed right in on that tree, didn't they?
25:28-25:37
And a whole human race, because of their sin, has been under the death of sin ever since.
25:40-25:41
But God has fixed this.
25:42-25:45
And now He's given us one command.
25:46-25:50
God now commands all men everywhere to repent and believe.
25:51-25:53
Look at Acts 17.30.
25:55-26:01
The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent.
26:03-26:13
And then 1 John 3.23, "And this is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ." This is important.
26:14-26:15
This is a commandment.
26:15-26:17
It's not a mere invitation.
26:19-26:23
It's not a mere, you know, this would be a really good thing for you if you did this.
26:25-26:30
This isn't about, oh, if you just ask Jesus into your heart.
26:32-26:35
Would you, oh sinner, give your heart to Jesus?
26:36-26:37
Would you give your life to Jesus?
26:39-26:42
Well, if I do, can I get it back later if I change my mind?
26:43-26:43
No.
26:45-26:46
It's a command.
26:49-26:55
You either do what is expected and live, or you don't and you perish.
26:57-27:06
You see, the thoughts of your heart are being revealed right now by what the Word of God is saying to you and how you are responding to it.
27:08-27:09
Just recall last week's message.
27:10-27:11
Who's Jesus for?
27:11-27:12
He's for sinners.
27:13-27:22
If you admit you're a sinner, that's a good thing, because God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
27:24-27:40
We can't make ourselves acceptable to God, but when we obey the command to embrace Jesus, when we repent of our sins, our sins are all forgiven and we become clean and holy, just like him.
27:42-27:53
When we obey the command to repent, and we do what's expected, all our hopes, all our expectations are fulfilled in Jesus.
27:57-28:10
As that well-known psalm says as we sing, "Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow." You see, Jesus, Jesus alone is who we really need.
28:13-28:23
It's that proverb again, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life." You see, the cross for us is a tree of life.
28:24-28:29
Jesus knew all the evil you've ever done, all the evil you will ever do.
28:31-28:36
And He took it upon Himself on the cross and He surely died there for sinners.
28:36-28:38
He died for sinners.
28:38-29:01
And if you recognize yourself as a sinner and you repent and believe, then Proverbs 23, 18 tells us, "There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off." If you have questions about this, if you want to know, "What does it really mean to repent?
29:01-29:07
and believe. How do I do this? Well, talk to Pastor Jeff. Talk to any one of our elders.
29:08-29:13
Come talk to me. Talk to the person who invited you to church this morning.
29:14-29:17
That's exactly what they want to talk to you about.
29:21-29:21
So let's pray.
29:23-29:50
Our gracious Father, you have given us the indescribable gift of Jesus Christ to save us from our sins, to reconcile us to yourself, to give us eternal life, to fulfill our expectations and give us great hope and hope fulfilled in Him.
29:52-29:59
Lord, we thank you for this great gift. In the equally great name of Jesus, Amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read Luke 2:22-35
What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
Have you ever felt so unclean or so unworthy that you thought God could not possibly have anything to do with you? Does the knowledge that Jesus makes everyone He touches clean and holy change your perspective?
Share an example of a time you waited on or cried out to God – did you focus on your circumstances, or on His promises and His Holy Spirit? If you are going through trying circumstances now, how can knowing His Word and listening for the Holy Spirit’s counsel give you hope?
Have you repented and believed in Jesus for salvation?
Consider this statement: “Salvation requires obedience” (See Acts 17:30 and 1 John 3:23). Discuss.
Breakout
Pray for one another.