SPEAKER_00: Our sermon text this morning comes from Luke chapter 2, verses 22 to 32.
SPEAKER_00: We'll be reading this morning.
SPEAKER_00: You'll find the text printed in your bulletin as well.
SPEAKER_00: Let me first also remind you these cards, these Advent cards, the reason that we printed these up is to pass them on, to invite friends and family and neighbors.
SPEAKER_00: You know, there's an awful lot of people that really don't know the true meaning of Christmas.
SPEAKER_00: You know that.
SPEAKER_00: This is a card to just give and invite them to come, to participate in the services with us, that they might find Christ this Christmas.
SPEAKER_00: This morning we're beginning a new sermon series, Advent series.
SPEAKER_00: We're looking at the Advent songs of Jesus through the eyes of Luke.
SPEAKER_00: The songs that Luke records about the Advent, the coming of the Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Hear God's holy word.
SPEAKER_00: 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, as it is written in the law of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: A pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons.
SPEAKER_00: Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: And he came in the Spirit into the temple, 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, Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: This is the reading of God's holy, infallible, inerrant word.
SPEAKER_00: May the Spirit teach us this morning as we pray to Him.
SPEAKER_00: Spirit of God, open our eyes.
SPEAKER_00: Open our eyes to the truth, Lord, that we might not only understand your truth, but we might desire to live by your truth, to believe your truth.
SPEAKER_00: Spirit, we pray, do your work in us, among us, this morning.
SPEAKER_00: In Christ's name we pray, amen.
SPEAKER_00: Thinking about Advent, there was a man in the New Testament named Simeon.
SPEAKER_00: He was thinking about Advent.
SPEAKER_00: The scriptures tell us about this man that he had a long wait.
SPEAKER_00: How long we don't know exactly.
SPEAKER_00: It's a speculation.
SPEAKER_00: Was he in his 70s, his eighties, older?
SPEAKER_00: But he was waiting because the Spirit of God had instructed him that Messiah was coming and he would see him.
SPEAKER_00: This morning we're going to talk about that hope, the long wait, the deep hope, and lastly the great divide.
SPEAKER_00: The long wait.
SPEAKER_00: Simeon, we're told a godly man, probably a layman, not a priest, a layman who lived a godly life waiting for Messiah to come, a righteous and devout man, indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: This was a special phenomenon for some in the Old Testament, not all.
SPEAKER_00: He was indwelt by the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: He was led by the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: He prophesied by the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And on this particular day, he met his Savior.
SPEAKER_00: He held him in his arms, his Savior.
SPEAKER_00: He blessed his Savior.
SPEAKER_00: And he left a message for all of us.
SPEAKER_00: So why were Joseph and Mary at the temple that particular day?
SPEAKER_00: Luke tells us.
SPEAKER_00: For two reasons.
SPEAKER_00: For the sacrifice of purification.
SPEAKER_00: It says for their purification.
SPEAKER_00: It says for their purification, which is interesting because it was really the mother's, but there was some kind of corporate solidarity in here.
SPEAKER_00: And after giving birth to her child, her son Jesus, 40 days later, she would come to the temple and present her son to the Lord after childbirth.
SPEAKER_00: The sacrifice was dependent on what they could afford.
SPEAKER_00: Most people, it seems, from church history, our understanding of those times, brought a lamb, unless you were poor.
SPEAKER_00: Then you brought two pigeons, like Mary and Joseph brought.
SPEAKER_00: Two pigeons or two turtle doves.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't have much.
SPEAKER_00: That was the one sacrifice that they brought on that particular day.
SPEAKER_00: Another sacrifice they brought was to redeem their firstborn son.
SPEAKER_00: All firstborn sons were regarded as given to God.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you remember that was in the Old Testament, that was in the book of Leviticus.
SPEAKER_00: To redeem, because that first child, that firstborn son belonged to the Lord to be given to his service.
SPEAKER_00: But for five shekels, he would take five shekels to the temple and give it in the offering, and that would stand as a sign of redemption that your son, although given to the Lord, was not obligated to go into the temple service of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: It's ironic, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: Our Redeemer was redeemed that day, not for his sin.
SPEAKER_00: He had no sin to be redeemed of.
SPEAKER_00: But he was given to the Father in a special way that day.
SPEAKER_00: Redeemed, the price of redemption, consecrated to God.
SPEAKER_00: Then we read verse 25.
SPEAKER_00: And there was a man named Simeon.
SPEAKER_00: He was waiting for the consolation of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to break down that word consolation in a few minutes because that's a really important part of this sermon, this message, what that entails.
SPEAKER_00: How long was he waiting?
SPEAKER_00: Well, again, it's speculation, but I could easily believe it was for decades.
SPEAKER_00: He was probably near the end of his life, waiting and waiting because God had told him that he was going to see, he was going to meet the Redeemer.
SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine living like that?
SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine living with that expectation, that anticipation?
SPEAKER_00: There was so much mystery shrouded in all this.
SPEAKER_00: So much he didn't know about the Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: But what he knew he believed.
SPEAKER_00: What he knew he lived by.
SPEAKER_00: And that's a good reminder for all of us, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: Especially when we have so much more than he had.
SPEAKER_00: We have all the scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: We have the arrival of the king.
SPEAKER_00: We look back and see that.
SPEAKER_00: He was waiting.
SPEAKER_00: It'd been 400 years since they had heard from the Word of God, since Scripture had been given.
SPEAKER_00: That's a long time to wait.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, go back 400 years in our nation.
SPEAKER_00: I know 400 years isn't that long if you're from Europe.
SPEAKER_00: But if you're from the United States, 400 years is a long time.
SPEAKER_00: Since the Word of God had been brought through Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: It was a long time.
SPEAKER_00: And yet it says the Holy Spirit was upon him, revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he saw the Lord's Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Simeon, in fact, waited many years.
SPEAKER_00: The world has waited longer.
SPEAKER_00: The world has waited millennia.
SPEAKER_00: When is this promise, when do we see the first flicker of that flame of this promise of the coming of the Lord?
SPEAKER_00: Those of you that were in Aaron's Genesis class, where was it?
SPEAKER_00: Genesis, the third chapter.
SPEAKER_00: Immediately after we messed everything up, and sin came into this world.
SPEAKER_00: God came to our rescue and he made a promise there in Genesis chapter 3, verse 15.
SPEAKER_00: He made a promise that he was not going to leave us in the darkness.
SPEAKER_00: He was not going to leave us spiritually dead.
SPEAKER_00: His son would come.
SPEAKER_00: From Genesis chapter 3, we have the promise given.
SPEAKER_00: But waiting is hard.
SPEAKER_00: There was the 400 years when the Israelites were in Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
SPEAKER_00: Think about if you were the one that went into Egypt, if you were the one that went from Israel into Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: How many grands is that?
SPEAKER_00: Your son, your grandson, your great-grandson, your great-great-grandson.
SPEAKER_00: It goes on.
SPEAKER_00: That's a long time to be in bondage.
SPEAKER_00: That's a long time to wait.
SPEAKER_00: Let me speak to those of you that are waiting this morning.
SPEAKER_00: What is it that you're waiting for?
SPEAKER_00: We wait for all kinds of things, don't we?
SPEAKER_00: Some of us are waiting for surgeries that have been scheduled.
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's a different kind of wait.
SPEAKER_00: But it's on your mind, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: It's on your mind.
SPEAKER_00: That date on your calendar is on your mind.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you have weddings planned.
SPEAKER_00: That date's on your mind.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you, moms, are waiting to give birth to your child.
SPEAKER_00: Waiting is part of life.
SPEAKER_00: But there is waiting that is easier and there is waiting that is harder.
SPEAKER_00: This was waiting that was hard.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, when are you going to come?
SPEAKER_00: When are you going to come and make things right in this world of injustice?
SPEAKER_00: When are you going to come and turn the tables on the oppression?
SPEAKER_00: When are you going to pay back evil?
SPEAKER_00: When will your vengeance be executed?
SPEAKER_00: Lord, when?
SPEAKER_00: When are you going to redeem me?
SPEAKER_00: When am I going to know my full redemption?
SPEAKER_00: When am I going to know my full deliverance from the things that I still feel bound by in this world?
SPEAKER_00: When you wake up and your body aches.
SPEAKER_00: That's a painful ache, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: That's a hard wait.
SPEAKER_00: Waiting for reconciliation.
SPEAKER_00: Waiting for reunification.
SPEAKER_00: Waiting for reunion.
SPEAKER_00: Waiting to see again the people that we love dearly that we've lost.
SPEAKER_00: This world, this life, is a lot about waiting.
SPEAKER_00: And we can wait well or not.
SPEAKER_00: Consolation.
SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about that secondly.
SPEAKER_00: The consolation, this is a very interesting Greek word.
SPEAKER_00: It comes from the Greek word, the verb parakaleo, which many of you in this church know because we talk about that a lot.
SPEAKER_00: It's a compound word in the Greek.
SPEAKER_00: To call someone to come alongside of you.
SPEAKER_00: To call.
SPEAKER_00: To call out.
SPEAKER_00: So that someone comes alongside of you.
SPEAKER_00: And as the word consolation suggests, when they come, they bring comfort.
SPEAKER_00: That's what this sermon is about, really.
SPEAKER_00: This advent season of hope.
SPEAKER_00: Confident, we're talking about hope this morning.
SPEAKER_00: And as has already been heard from the readings, if you want to understand what the Bible means by hope, confident expectation that what God has promised, He will accomplish.
SPEAKER_00: Confident expectation.
SPEAKER_00: Not like we use the word hope.
SPEAKER_00: I hope it won't rain today.
SPEAKER_00: Well, good luck with that.
SPEAKER_00: I hope that my boss will give me my time off when we want to go on vacation.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, all these, that's not what the Bible means by the word hope.
SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately, we are so accustomed to the unbiblical notion of hope that sometimes it really makes it hard for us to understand and dig in our heels to what biblical hope is.
SPEAKER_00: Biblical hope is based on the word and the promises of God.
SPEAKER_00: Biblical hope is not based on our feelings.
SPEAKER_00: Biblical hope is not based on our emotions.
SPEAKER_00: It's based on the promises of God.
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah said it so well in chapter 52, verse 9, over 700 years before Christ came.
SPEAKER_00: Break forth together in singing, you waste places of Jerusalem, for the Lord has comforted his people.
SPEAKER_00: Now, why does he say that in the past tense when it's 700 years before it happened?
SPEAKER_00: Because it says good is done.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord promised it.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord was going to see to it.
SPEAKER_00: Break forth together in singing.
SPEAKER_00: You waste places.
SPEAKER_00: And so Advent is a time of taking reflection.
SPEAKER_00: What feels like a waste place in my life?
SPEAKER_00: What feels dry and arid in my life?
SPEAKER_00: Where do I feel unfulfilled?
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah says you can start singing now.
SPEAKER_00: Especially us.
SPEAKER_00: Because he did come.
SPEAKER_00: For the Lord has brought comfort to his people.
SPEAKER_00: This comfort rests in the very promise of God's Son.
SPEAKER_00: This comfort rests in the very work of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: As we know, we have two advocates, do we not?
SPEAKER_00: Our first advocate is Jesus, the one who came to come alongside of us.
SPEAKER_00: But when Jesus ascended into heaven, he sent another advocate, another, not the same.
SPEAKER_00: He is seated in the heavens with the Father, but he sent another like him, just like him in terms of being fully God.
SPEAKER_00: This is Advent.
SPEAKER_00: Simeon says, According to your word, my eyes have seen your salvation.
SPEAKER_00: In the person of Jesus, our paraclete, when the Holy Spirit revealed to Simeon that that very child was the Messiah, he thanked God for what this child meant to him personally.
SPEAKER_00: And how can any of us go through Advent without thanking God personally for the Savior He sent you?
SPEAKER_00: There's no other gift on the list, is there, really?
SPEAKER_00: There's no other gift on the list.
SPEAKER_00: Have you made out your list or you're going to make out your list this Christmas?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, make out your list.
SPEAKER_00: Between number one and number two is a chasm.
SPEAKER_00: Thank him.
SPEAKER_00: Again.
SPEAKER_00: Simeon sees more than a baby, he sees a savior.
SPEAKER_00: And just like Simeon, we need the Holy Spirit to point us back to Jesus, to awaken us to the promises of God anew.
SPEAKER_00: Are you in the Word of God?
SPEAKER_00: I've spent the last three months in Jeremiah.
SPEAKER_00: I've never done that before in my life.
SPEAKER_00: Millie, as you read those verses, my heart just pounded because after three months in Jeremiah, there's a lot of heavy stuff in Jeremiah.
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of darkness in Jeremiah.
SPEAKER_00: In Jerusalem at that time.
SPEAKER_00: It was a tough, tough time.
SPEAKER_00: Not unlike what people in Israel are seeing now, but in some ways worse.
SPEAKER_00: In some ways worse.
SPEAKER_00: Go back and read it.
SPEAKER_00: The promises of God shine the brightest against the backdrop of the reality of living in a sin-cursed world.
SPEAKER_00: Let's not shield our eyes from the darkness.
SPEAKER_00: Let's not run from the darkness.
SPEAKER_00: The darkness shows us the beauty of Advent when we see it.
SPEAKER_00: Simeon said, For my eyes have seen your salvation.
SPEAKER_00: And he could say that in living under Roman oppression.
SPEAKER_00: He could say that living under the cruel King Herod.
SPEAKER_00: He could say that living with an exorbitant tax structure.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he was dealing with a lot of hard things in his own lifetime.
SPEAKER_00: But he says, My eyes have seen the Savior as he's holding this baby.
SPEAKER_00: Everything is right.
SPEAKER_00: In holding the Savior, in holding to the Savior, everything is right.
SPEAKER_00: No one is saved simply by the birth of Jesus, however.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the message we need to get out this Christmas, friends.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody is saved simply by the birth of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of your friends believe that.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of your friends believe that Christmas is about all of us being saved together by whatever, and those who profess to be Christians would say, because Jesus came, of course, we're saved.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: Where is our hope found?
SPEAKER_00: In the promises of God Himself.
SPEAKER_00: Our hope is anchor in the past.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus came as a baby.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus lived the perfect life.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus died the death that we deserved.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was raised from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: We have hope in the past.
SPEAKER_00: We have hope in the future that He promised that He's going to come back again on the clouds.
SPEAKER_00: My grandson and I were having this conversation just yesterday.
SPEAKER_00: Does that mean it's going to be cloudy when he comes back?
SPEAKER_00: Not necessarily.
SPEAKER_00: I've seen on some beautiful sunshine days, I've seen some clouds up there, but he's going to come back on the clouds.
SPEAKER_00: And your hope is going to be firmly fixed when you see that.
SPEAKER_00: But as we look back, as we look forward, how does that help us live today in the present?
SPEAKER_00: If it doesn't, you're not thinking.
SPEAKER_00: You look back to what he did, you look forward to what he promised he will do, and you will find hope.
SPEAKER_00: You will find hope today, no matter what kind of dark things you face.
SPEAKER_00: Consolation for all peoples, he said.
SPEAKER_00: Luke is the one of the four apostles, uh, evangelists who is who is wanting to, you know, the light is coming for all nations, all peoples, not just Israel.
SPEAKER_00: That means for us in this room.
SPEAKER_00: Consolation for all peoples.
SPEAKER_00: So I have a question for you this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Who or what are you calling to your side to make it through life?
SPEAKER_00: Through the stresses of your life, through the darkness of your life.
SPEAKER_00: Where are you finding your comfort?
SPEAKER_00: This past week.
SPEAKER_00: Take a day.
SPEAKER_00: Take a problem.
SPEAKER_00: Take a challenge.
SPEAKER_00: Who or what are we calling to our side to get us through?
SPEAKER_00: To give us comfort.
SPEAKER_00: It's widely known that in this month in particular, many people are going to call a bottle of liquor to their side to get them through.
SPEAKER_00: Many people are going to use a piece of plastic to get them through.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, why call on the God of all comfort when you've got all that power and a little credit card?
SPEAKER_00: To try to make you feel better.
SPEAKER_00: You see, there's all kinds of things that we have at our disposal as we look and feel the emptiness inside, as we feel the hopelessness, as we struggle against the hopelessness.
SPEAKER_00: Who are you going to call?
SPEAKER_00: Who are you going to call upon?
SPEAKER_00: Simeon gives us the answer.
SPEAKER_00: You call along your side, the Messiah, the one who came, the one who bled, the one who sacrificed, the one who was resurrected from the dead, and he sent his spirit.
SPEAKER_00: You call along the Holy Spirit to come to your side, to make the promises of God like they're new.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know it's possible that this could be an advent, this could be a Christmas season like you've not had in many, many years, I say to you, Christian.
SPEAKER_00: How could that be?
SPEAKER_00: I celebrate Christmas every year.
SPEAKER_00: I celebrate Avant every year.
SPEAKER_00: How could that be?
SPEAKER_00: You call upon the Holy Spirit to show you where your hope really is misplaced.
SPEAKER_00: You call the Holy Spirit alongside to show you where you're really calling out for hope and for comfort.
SPEAKER_00: Invite him in and let him take you right to the promise of God.
SPEAKER_00: Let him take you to the Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: And you will find new hope and you will find new strength and you will find new joy.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe for some of us, more than we've had in a long time at Christmas.
SPEAKER_00: This is the power of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Hope is an anchor.
SPEAKER_00: You've been on a boat.
SPEAKER_00: Many times I've been on a boat in the middle of a lake.
SPEAKER_00: And you throw that anchor over, and you don't have to worry about your boat drifting.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to worry about crashing into the rocks.
SPEAKER_00: Hope is an anchor.
SPEAKER_00: Hope is not like some balloon that you take outside and let go, and there it goes.
SPEAKER_00: That's not hope.
SPEAKER_00: Simeon knew that.
SPEAKER_00: Do we?
SPEAKER_00: Which brings me to the last point.
SPEAKER_00: The last point, the verses are not printed in the text, but let me read them if your Bibles are open.
SPEAKER_00: After Simeon was done with his prophecy, with this song, where he said, Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people.
SPEAKER_00: After he said that, he looked Mary in the eye.
SPEAKER_00: Can you just understand what's going on here?
SPEAKER_00: He looks, this old man looks Mary in the eye.
SPEAKER_00: And he said this.
SPEAKER_00: He said to Mary, his mother, Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and the rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed.
SPEAKER_00: And a sword will pierce through your own soul also, so that the thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.
SPEAKER_00: This is the great divide Simeon is prophesying.
SPEAKER_00: A sword will pass through your soul, Mary.
SPEAKER_00: Right now you're filled with joy as you're holding your firstborn baby.
SPEAKER_00: You're at the temple.
SPEAKER_00: You're hearing the blessing of Simeon.
SPEAKER_00: You've already heard the blessing of the angels.
SPEAKER_00: But there's pain waiting for you, Mary.
SPEAKER_00: The word that's used in the Greek is not a little sword, it's a big sword.
SPEAKER_00: It's a big fighting sword.
SPEAKER_00: Will pierce your heart.
SPEAKER_00: And Mary might have thought, well, what?
SPEAKER_00: Man, why are we talking about this?
SPEAKER_00: I want to talk about that.
SPEAKER_00: Simeon says, No.
SPEAKER_00: Your son is going to be born to suffer for many.
SPEAKER_00: And you are going to suffer along with him.
SPEAKER_00: We know when that happened.
SPEAKER_00: We know when that sword thrust through Mary's heart on the day that she watched her son crucified on the Roman cross.
SPEAKER_00: We know she understood exactly what that prophecy was about.
SPEAKER_00: A sword will pass through your soul also, Mary.
SPEAKER_00: The rising in the falling.
SPEAKER_00: Every person in this world is a fulfillment of this prophecy.
SPEAKER_00: You too.
SPEAKER_00: You will either rise with Jesus or you will fall.
SPEAKER_00: You will fall because of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: There's no exceptions.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Simeon's saying.
SPEAKER_00: Some will receive Jesus, some will reject him.
SPEAKER_00: The word rising is the word that's used in the New Testament for resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: If you receive him, if you rest in him, if you find your righteousness in him, one day your body will be resurrected from the grave with him.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the great divider.
SPEAKER_00: We don't hear that much about that much in Christmas time, do we?
SPEAKER_00: I've yet to buy that Christmas card.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the great divider.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said in Matthew chapter 10, verse 34, I have not come to bring peace but a sword.
SPEAKER_00: Did you know that's in the Bible?
SPEAKER_00: People say, well, I thought Christmas is about him bringing peace.
SPEAKER_00: Well, it is, but it's not only that.
SPEAKER_00: He said, I came to bring a sword.
SPEAKER_00: I came to divide.
SPEAKER_00: That doesn't sound very timely to our narratives in this day and age.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is extremely polarizing.
SPEAKER_00: We will either worship him or we will cast him out.
SPEAKER_00: We will reject him.
SPEAKER_00: There is no such thing as neutrality with Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Many people today believe that there is.
SPEAKER_00: Many people believe that you can have a foot in each camp.
SPEAKER_00: Many people believe that they're Christians just because Jesus was born.
SPEAKER_00: This is the season that we need to preach the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: This is the season that we need to proclaim the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: We need to witness the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Tim Keller said the manger at Christmas means that if you live like Jesus, there will not be rooms for you in many inns.
SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
SPEAKER_00: What most people truly understand, when most people truly understand the real Jesus, they are scandalized.
SPEAKER_00: They stumble over him.
SPEAKER_00: Repent.
SPEAKER_00: Repent of what?
SPEAKER_00: What sins?
SPEAKER_00: I didn't nail him to the cross.
SPEAKER_00: And so it goes.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the great divide.
SPEAKER_00: What is going to be your response to Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Will you rise or will you fall at the second coming?
SPEAKER_00: Will I rise or will I fall at the second coming?
SPEAKER_00: What God will do with us for all eternity depends on what we will do with Jesus right now.
SPEAKER_00: J.C.
SPEAKER_00: Ryle said this years ago.
SPEAKER_00: There are thousands of men and women who go to churches and chapels every Sunday and call themselves Christians.
SPEAKER_00: Their names are in the church membership roles.
SPEAKER_00: They were married in Christian churches.
SPEAKER_00: They were buried in Christian churches.
SPEAKER_00: But they've never seen any fight in their faith.
SPEAKER_00: No exertion, no conflict, no self-denial, no warring.
SPEAKER_00: They know nothing about the real Christianity.
SPEAKER_00: It's not the Christianity of the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: It's not the religion which the Lord Jesus founded and his apostles preached.
SPEAKER_00: True Christianity has a sword for every Christian.
SPEAKER_00: I think we see it captured in the New Testament, James chapter 1, verse 2.
SPEAKER_00: Consider it all joy.
SPEAKER_00: When what?
SPEAKER_00: You face various trials of all kinds.
SPEAKER_00: Consider it all joy when you are privileged to suffer for the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We're not going to suffer, many of us aren't going to suffer in the ways that people in the early church suffered.
SPEAKER_00: But we're all very aware today of just how intolerant Christianity is purported to be.
SPEAKER_00: Are you living in fear of the claims of Christ?
SPEAKER_00: Are you hesitant to let people know whose side you are on?
SPEAKER_00: Do you not speak up when the Holy Spirit is saying, speak up?
SPEAKER_00: Do you just keep quiet?
SPEAKER_00: Because you know the winds, the political winds today.
SPEAKER_00: There's a sword for every Christian.
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't just for Mary.
SPEAKER_00: It was for Mary in a particular way, but there's a sword for you, and there's a sword for me.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus himself lost his peace at the cross, did he not?
SPEAKER_00: So we will not.
SPEAKER_00: There was a sword for Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: There was a sword for Mary, and there's a sword for us.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus as he struggled in the garden.
SPEAKER_00: Father, remove this cup from me, please.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want that cup.
SPEAKER_00: Because he knew full well what was in that cup.
SPEAKER_00: Father, is there another way?
SPEAKER_00: No, son, there's no other way.
SPEAKER_00: This is why we can have hope.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever you're facing this Christmas season, you can have hope.
SPEAKER_00: Because Jesus came under the sword himself.
SPEAKER_00: As Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Genesis, and the angel with the flaming sword preventing them to go back, that sword came down on Jesus so we could get back in.
SPEAKER_00: This is the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Oh friends, don't dare go through this Advent season without being able to say, like Simeon, now I'm ready to depart in peace.
SPEAKER_00: Now I'm ready to depart in peace because I have seen the branch of David, the Lord our righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: He has come.
SPEAKER_00: And everything is okay.
SPEAKER_00: Everything's okay.
SPEAKER_00: Would you please stand?
SPEAKER_00: Take your bulletin or look at the screen as we confess before we come to the table.
SPEAKER_00: May this be our prayer this morning of confession together.
SPEAKER_00: Oh Lord, we have been searching for peace, yet it has eluded us far too often.
SPEAKER_00: We have searched for it in vain.
SPEAKER_00: Searching for it in all the wrong places in our lives reflected.
SPEAKER_00: Forgive us, we pray.
SPEAKER_00: As you reveal to your servant Simeon, would you let us find your peace today in your glorious Son Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: By your grace, may we see him through the eyes of faith as the light of revelation to the world, even as you prepared your own son to come into this world to bring us true peace.
SPEAKER_00: We ask you to use this Advent season to prepare our own hearts, to set our eyes on the coming of the Prince of Peace.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Please be seated.