Simeon and Anna: Waiting for the Consolation

like you to turn your Bibles to Luke Chapter 2 Luke Chapter 2 and verses 21- 38 Luke Chapter 2 this is one of the hardest days for a preacher because how do you tell a story that everybody knows a story that they've heard every year for their entire life a story that they've heard preached again and again and again in church they've seen specials on TV they've read it themselves so how how do you tell that story in a way that will keep everybody's interests and and help people learn something and so as I thought about that I thought you know I'm going to tell a different story now we all recognize the different characters from The Christmas Story right uh we know the baby Jesus of course the

one who came to be born we also know of Mary and Joseph his parents and we know of the Shepherds who came from their field and brought their animals with them like The Talking Sheep and the talking donkey and all the rest of them uh I don't know if they were talking or not but brought all the animals there and then then we have the angel of course who announced the birth of Christ and the host of angels that came as well and then we have the wise men which technically weren't there uh they came later on uh they came after Jesus was somewhere as close as maybe two years old but we all think of them as being part of the nativity Story the Christmas story and then there was a drummer boy no he

wasn't there either but we we know the characters that we remember at Christmas and the ones that we're familiar with right but you know there's a couple other characters I want to talk about as well the the the wise men they believed in Jesus Mary believed in Jesus the Shepherds believed in Jesus the Shepherds believed in Jesus and I but I want to tell you about two other people that believed in Jesus now before I get to that story I'm also going to give away a gift how many would like to have a gift card for California Pizza Kitchen raise your hand if you like to have a gift card man I got all these volunteers ra raise your hold your hand up I got I to uh let's see I'm going to do this for

brother Rose all right I'm not going to give it to you right now okay I'll give it to you later maybe later today maybe next Sunday maybe Sunday after that I I'll give it to you I promise that you're going to get it okay also a big forgetter all I won't forget you're going to remember this all right now look at Luke chap 2 and beginning with verse number 21 Luke chap 2 beginning verse number 21 and when eight days were accomplished for the circumcision of the child his name was called Jesus which was so named to the angel before because he was before he was conceived in the womb and when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished they brought him to

Jerusalem to present him to the Lord as is written in the law of the Lord every male that openeth the womb Shall be Called holy to the Lord and to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord a pair of Turell or two young pigeons and behold there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Sim the same was just and devout waiting for the consolation of Israel and the Holy Ghost was upon him and was revealed unto him by the holy ghost that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ and he came by the spirit in Temple when the parents brought in the Child Jesus to do for him after the custom of the law which was circumcision then took he to him up in his

arms and blessed God and said Lord now letest thou thy servant depart in peace according to Thy word for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou H has prepared before the face of all the people a light to lighten the Gentiles in the glory of th People Israel and Joseph his mother marveled with were spoken of him and Simeon blessed them and said unto Mary's mother behold the child is set for a fall and the rise again of many in Israel for a sign which shall be spoken against yeah yeah a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed and there was one Anna a prophetess the daughter of of Fe femal of the tribe of aser she was of great age and

had lived with a husband 7even years from her virginity and she was a widow of about four score and four years which departed not from the the temple but serve god with fastings and prayers night and day and she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord and spake of him to all that look for redemption in Jerusalem so here we have two other characters of The Bible story that we don't hear about uh most of us maybe if especially you haven't read this passage don't think of Simeon and Anna as being a part of the story of Christmas but they are and each of them had a special part that and Simeon in Luke 2:25 and there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon the same man was

just and devout waiting for the constellation of Israel and the Holy Ghost was upon him the two things we know about Simeon we first of all know that he was a just man he was a just man in Romans chapter 3: 24 it says being justified freely by his grace through Redemption is in Christ Jesus when the Bible calls someone a just man it means that they are just Justified and if you think of the word Justified the word Justified means just as if I'd never sinned a just man is somebody that that is redeemed through Christ and and they stand before God just as if I'd never sin you see you and I in our own selves are just not good enough in Romans chapter 3 and verse 23 it says for all have sinned

and cons short the glory of God none of us in ourselves are Justified before God because every one of us is a sinner before God every one of us has done something you say well I've never murdered anybody or I've never robbed the bank but have you ever lied have you ever disobeyed your parents when you were a young person have you ever had a bad thought have you ever said something you shouldn't say or lost your temper all have sinned and come short of the glory of God and in and of ourselves we're just not good enough to be called Justified but you you know why we can be justified it's just because God Loved Us in John 3:16 for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that's

what we celebrate at Christmas is the is the coming of Christ because he loved the world he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life in Romans chapter 5 in verse number 8 it says but God commendeth or showed his love towards us that while we yet sinners Christ died for us he didn't love us because we deserved it he chose to love us he just loved us because he's God not because we had anything that we deserved his love and so Simeon was a just man but he was also called a devout man in Acts chap 17 and verse 23 it says for I passed by and beheld your devotions I found an altar with this description to the unknown God whom therefore

you ignorantly worship Him Clare I unto you see these were people that were devout in that they worshiped but they did not worship the true God they worship the unknown God they didn't know God and and and Simeon was called a devout man he was a man of devotion he was obviously a religious man in in John chapter 3 hold your place in Luke and turn over to John chapter 3 and look at verse number one John 3 and verse number one it says it was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus a ruler of the Jews if you skip down to verse number 10 it says Jesus answered and said un him art thou a master of Israel and knowest not these things you see Nicodemus was a devout man uh Simeon was a devout man and

that's a good thing to be is to be one that is religion and has devotions towards God but what we need to understand is even with their religion it was not his religion that gave him a relationship with God in Ephesians chapter 2 veres 8 and9 it says for by grace are you saved through faith then not of yourselves it's the gift of God not of Works lest any man should boast you see it's not our religion that gives us that relationship with God it's not our devotion of being uh in church and and being baptized or catechized and all these things uh these are not what gives us our relationship with God we need to be justified first and as a just man he was also a devout man the word devout means

to receive or to take hold of to receive or to take hold of in Romans chap 10: 9- 10 it says that if Thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and Sh believe in thine heart that God has raised from the dead Thou shalt be saved for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation in Romans chapter 10 and verse number 13 it says for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved this Wednesday we're going to celebrate Christmas and many of you have already got a lot of presents underneath that tree and some of those presents have your name on them and when the person that bought that present that loves you hands it to

you you're going to say thank you and you're going to receive it you're not going to reach into your wallet hand the money to buy it uh to pay for it you're not going to go out and wash their car because they gave you that present you're you're not going to do anything to earn it you are just going to receive the gift that they give to you and that's what salvation is Sal salvation is simply receiving the gift of Jesus Christ he was born in that manger on Christmas day but he needs to be born again into your heart and life through trusting him as your savior and he was a devout man because he had received and took hold of the Salvation of Jesus Christ he had received what God had done when

he sent his only son to die for him look at Luke Chapter 2 and look at verse number 26 Luke 2 and: 26 and it was revealed unto him by the holy ghost that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ God for whatever reason had promised Simeon you will not die until you see the Christ child and so you see my son who is coming to save the world you know all of us are going to die we we don't like to think about it but that's part of life my wife's brother just passed away a couple days ago right here Before Christmas what a what a terrible time to lose somebody in your family what a terrible time to have to deal with loss and many of you maybe had the same situation we're all

going to die it's not something we like to think about especially this time of the year but Hebrews chapter 9 verse 27 says who appointed a men once to die but after this the judgment and the question is what's going to happen to you after you die in Romans chapter 6 and verse number 23 it says for the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ Our Lord without Jesus Christ you're going to die and go to hell but with Jesus Christ you can die and know that you're going to heaven you can have that Assurance you see God promised Simeon you will see the Christ before you die but God has promised you and I that you can know that you're going to heaven before

you die in 1 John chapter 5 and veres 12 and 13 it says he that hath the son hath life he that hath not the Son of God hath not life these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the son of God that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may believe on the name of the son of God you see you can know for sure you're going to heaven you can know that you have eternal life you can know that your sins are forgiven if you receive the gift of God what God has given to you God promised Simeon you will see the Christ before you die but God has promised you and God has promised me that we can know for sure we're going to heaven that we can know that our sins are

forgiven that we can know that we have eternal life so why would you wait for that Simeon had to wait to see the child but you don't have to wait to get saved the Bible says in 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse number two it says behold now is the accepted time behold now is the day of salvation look at Luke Chapter 2 and look at verse number 30 for mine eyes have seen thy salvation you see you need to see that Jesus was not just a baby that was born in the manger but that he came for one purpose that was to die upon that cross to be buried and raised again to give you the power of Salvation to give you eternal life to forgive you of your sins and and why would you wait to put your faith and

trust in Jesus Christ you know this is our first year of celebrating Christmas without our family here uh our grandkids are on the mainland and our kids are over there and and so we're going to be just the two of us but I guarantee you just just because it's the two of us every present is going to be open on Christmas day it's not going to be a present left in that house that's not opened on Thursday uh I'm not going to wait any longer I've been waiting long enough uh I'm still a kid at heart I don't like waiting for that present I want to open it now but my wife she's the strict one she said no you got to wait you got to wait you got to wait but the moment I don't have to wait anymore

that's when I'm going to receive and open that gift and folks that you don't have to wait to be saved you can do that today you can do that right now you can do that right now here by Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ by receiving him as your personal savior you can have that gift of Salvation that security of knowing you're going to heaven when you die that promise of God of eternal life look at Luke Chapter 2 and look at verse number 29 Lord now letest thou thy servant depart in peace according to Thy word do you have peace we talk about peace on Earth and we're certainly not seeing peace on the Earth today but you can have peace in your own life again hold your place in Luke and go over

to John chapter 14 John chapter 14 and look at verse number 27 John Chapter 14 verse number 27 the Bible says in John 14:27 peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you not as the world giveth give I unto you let not your heart be troubled neither be afraid folks we don't have peace in this world today uh there's Wars and threats of Wars all around us there's terrorism going on there's things that are happening that that that just don't bring peace in this world but you can have the peace of God in your life look at John chapter 14 and look at verses 1-4 says let not your heart be troubled you believe in God believe also in me in my father's house are many mansions if it were not so I

would have told you I go to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you onto myself that where I am there you may be also and whether I go you know in the way you know you can have peace from God today you can have the Peace of eternal life you can have the Peace of your sins being forgiven you can have peace with with God through Jesus Christ as your savior do you have peace in Isaiah chapter 9 verse number six it says For unto us a child is born unto us a son is given and the government shall be upon his should his name Shall be Called wonderful counselor the Mighty God the Everlasting father the Prince of Peace the baby we celebrate at

Christmas brought peace into this world and he wants to bring peace into your life peace that comes from knowing that your sins are forgiven in John chapter 5:39 Jesus said search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life and they are they which testify of me you see Jesus said if you want to know for sure you have eternal life you can know it from the Bible a a church can't give you eternal life a pastor or a PR parent can't give you eternal life the only one that can guarantee your eternal life is Jesus Christ according to his word and so I wonder today do you have that peace that comes from knowing that you're Justified do you have that peace that Simeon had in knowing

that he had a home in heaven that he believed and received the gift of salvation but there's also another character back here in Luke Chapter 2 and that's the character of Anna in verse number 36 there's one Anna a prophet the daughter of nle of the tribe of assar and It Go goes on down further in verse number 38 and she coming in that in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord and spoke of him to all them that look for redemption in Jerusalem now one of the things I see about Anna here is this is she was in the temple every opportunity she had folks God's house is not just for Christmas and Easter God's house is open every Sunday it's open every week in Luke 2:37 she was a widow

about four score and four score and four years which departed not from the temple she wanted to be in the house of God in Hebrews chapter 10 and verse number 25 it says not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is but exhort one another and so much the more as to see the day approaching I hope that this Christmas you will be challenged as we come into the new year to make a commitment that I'm going to be faithful at the house of the Lord I I'm going to be there every opportunity I have I I'm not going to miss church I'm not going to miss being with the people of God I'm not going to miss hearing the word of God Anna was a woman who said I want to be in God's

house it wasn't just once or twice a year Anna was woman who served God in Psalms 100 verse number two it says serve the Lord with gladness come before his presence with singing one of the things I love about Christmas time is the is the music and singing all the Christmas carols and what a wonderful program we had with the children today and then afterwards listening to all of you sing and and you just lifted up your voice and praise and and and that's what church is about it it's about coming to church to to serve God through worship and music it's about coming together to worship him as a body of Christ it says she also gave thanks in verse number 38 she coming that instant gave thanks

Second Corinthians 9 9:15 it says thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift we have a wonderful gift that God has given us in his son Jesus Christ we have the gift of Salvation it's interesting that both Anna and Simeon took that little baby in their arms now when you take a little baby in your arms that's dangerous uh you saw that last week when I got a little J RI in my arms he started crying he started uh he got upset sometimes you take a little baby in your arms and all of a sudden they throw up on you or sometimes you take them in their arms and they decide Now's the Time to use the diaper you know and and that's when you want to give them back to Mom and Dad and and and and you know

there they they they took this little baby up but the reason they did is they want to remind us that this little baby was God In the Flesh turn over to Philippians chapter 2 Philippians chapter 2 The Wonder of Christmas is that God would come in the flesh that God in Christ would come and be born into a Manger he didn't just come in the flesh but he came as a baby he came came as a baby that had to be carried he came as a baby that had to have his diaper changed he came as a baby that had to be fed by his mother he came as a baby that was taken to a temple eight days later later and circumcised he came for one reason to die for you and me as you look at that little baby in the manger on your

nativity scene think about that that is God in a baby's body God limited himself to that body God came in that form to to limit himself the Bible says in Philippians chapter 2 and beginning with verse number five let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being the form of God thought it not robber to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a serd and was made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man he humbled self and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross wherefore God also has highly exalted him and give him a name which is above every name that the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in

heaven and things in Earth and things onto the Earth Simeon Anna took that little baby in their arms with awe and realized that they were holding God who had voluntarily limited himself to the body of a baby to the form of a servant in man that's amazing thought and I don't want you to miss that when you're celebrating Christmas I want you to take that time just to think about that fact and to give thanks God thank you for coming and being born born in that majer thank you for limiting yourself humbling yourself where you would have to be taken care of by others what an amazing thought in Luke Chapter 2 and verse number 35 says y a sword shall a sword shall pierce through the th own soul

also that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed Simeon warned Mary jesus' Mother he says you're going to you're going to feel some pain when she stood at the base of that cross and watched your son be crucified I imagine it was like a a sword being pierced through her heart but he said also that the thoughts of many shall be revealed what about your thoughts what are the thoughts of your heart in Luke Chapter 2 and verse 19 after all the Angels Came and declared Christ in the glory of God and the Shepherds came it says in verse 19 but Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her Hearts the word kept there means to keep in memory Hebrews chapter 2 and verse number three the Bible

says how shall we escape Escape if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began SP be began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed on Us by them that hurt him folks don't neglect that salvation many of us as Christians we come to this season we go through the the this process and we take all the right steps but we don't even stop to think about the fact again that Jesus died for me keep this in your heart keep it memory what the story truly means in Luke Chapter 2 and verse number 51 it says he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject unto them but his mother kept all these says in her heart the word kept here is a different word it means to watch carefully to

continually observe so this is what I want to challenge you this this Christmas season is don't don't just get caught up in all the rush and and do everything but take a moment especially this Christmas day to step back and really look at this story to look at what Jesus did for you and for me to look at it with fresh eyes with new thinking with a new heart Mary kept these things in her heart It also says back in verse number 19 that she pondered them in her heart as well the word pondered means to put it all together to assemble it go over to Philippians chapter 2 Philippians chapter 2 how many of you ever gotten something for somebody for Christmas and you wrapped it all up and didn't

really look at it closely and then and then you all of a sudden realize that I'm going to have to assemble this you ever seen those words on the package some assembly required you ever seen those words that's a lie you got to have a rocket science degree to put this thing together and some of you as parents you've been up till midnight on Christmas Eve trying to do that sum assembly and you ended up with three extra parts you don't even know where they go right you know what I'm talking about when the Bible says that Mary pondered these things she was trying to take all of what she was seeing all that was happening and she says I need to put all this together to really understand what God is

doing in Philippians chapter 2 and: 12 and 13 the Bible says wherefore my beloved as you've always obeyed not as in my presence only but now much more in my absence work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for as God would worketh in you both to Will and to do of his good pleasure you see when the Bible says to work out your salvation that's not saying to work for your salvation Ephesians 28:9 for by grace are you saved through faith then not of your El is a gift of God not of works so we cannot work for our Salvation it's not by being good or going to the church it's not our religion it's not our our rituals like baptism or cathol it's not our own righteousness it is a

relationship with Jesus Christ so when the Bible says to work out it's God which worketh in us to save us but then we need to work out our Salvation many times I've gotten gifts that were required work on my part they were given to me as a gift but then I had to put it all together I had to to take care of that and God wants you to take the gift of Salvation and put it all together in your life so that you can live the life that he wants you to live now go back one more time to Luke Chapter 2 I want you to look at verse number 25 is in behold there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon and the same man was just and devout waiting on the consolation of Israel and the Holy Ghost was

upon him now when we hear that word consolation we usually think of in relationship to a consolation card or a consolation gift you know you didn't get first place so you get a consolation gift uh you get second place or last place or whatever else it might be I I promised brother Rose I was going to give him a gift card and like Simeon you had to wait for it not quite as long as he did he had a long time to wait for it but I want to go and give you this card so if you come up here I'm going to give you this card as a gift and uh there you go and now know by the way how does he get the gift he receives it as many has received him to them gave the power to become the sons of God same way you

get the gift of Salvation is to receive it just accept it as it is a gift thank you now I have another gift card here that I want to give away anybody else want a gift card all right anybody else want one of those CPK gift cards anybody else want one raise your hand come on let me see who's here oh look at all these hands going up let's see all right um all right I I'm not giving you a CPK card you get the constellation card a $5 gift card for Starbucks you thought I was going to give it to you didn't you she was all smiling like I'm excited now and uh you know it's only a $5 gift card for Starbucks but you know the constellation card oh I'll take that too it's okay listen Jesus is not the

constellation price he's everything he's everything you see salvation is not just about eternal life in John chapter 14 and verse number six says Jesus saith to him I am the way the truth and life no man cometh under the father but by me that's salvation but John 10:10 says I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly see Jesus is not just about getting a ticket to Heaven it's not just about having my sins forgiven that's the great gift of Christmas that's the great gift of Easter that's the great gift of God giving his son to save us but he's not just a consolation prize that now I know I'm going to heaven but he's the Abundant Life he wants to give you

life eternal but life abundant here in this earth as well the word consolation here doesn't mean second prize the word actually means to be our comforter that uh that he is the uh waiting for the comforter of Israel turn over to John chapter 16 we'll look at this in one other verse so we're going to be done John chapter 16 and look at verse number s John 16:7 nevertheless I tell you the truth it is expedient for me for you to go that I go away for if I go not away the comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you verse 13 therefore when he the spirit of Truth is come he will guide you into all Truth for he not shall not speak of himself but whatsoever shall hear

that shall he speak and he will show you things to come there are two phrases I don't ever want to see in a gift the first one is some assembly required because that means I'm going to be spending a few hours working on that but that's one of the things you have to do but the other thing I hate to see in a gift especially L when you open it on Christmas morning is batteries not included don't you hate that and it turns out you have none of those batteries in the house anywhere and all the stores are closed so they got to wait another day to play with your toy when Jesus saved us he said I'm going to give you the batteries included I'm going to give you the Holy Spirit the comforter so he's

not only offering us eternal life he's offering us Abundant Life and he says I'm going to give you the comforter I'm going to give you all the power that you need to live the Christian Life turn over in closing to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verses 15-1 17 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and beginning with verse number 15 therefore Brethren Stand Fast and hold the Traditions which you have taught by our word and by our epistle now our Lord Jesus Christ him God even Our Father which hath loved us and has given us everlasting consolation and Good Hope through Grace Comfort your hearts to establish you in every good work good every good word and work God said listen I'm going to give you the comforter I'm going to give you my Holy Spirit I'm going to give you all the power you need to work out your salvation and all you have to do is receive it