The Hope Of The World

um how are we doing this morning good awesome my name is Joshua one of the lead pastors here at the district Church it is a joy and an honor to worship with you guys this morning as the kids are going out I can just go ahead and lay some of the cards on the table uh the reason the prayer wasn't up on the screen and Grant was just reading by himself is my fault I got here early enough to do it and I just forgot so that's what happens when I have to preach other things are on my mind so forgive us for that it's another reminder that we are a church plant and uh we are blessed by God to be doing this right so if you ever always go ahead and open to Luke chapter two we're going to be continuing in our Luke series taking a look this morning at something you guys might be familiar with maybe you kind of read it in the Luke narrative in regards to Jesus's life it is his presentation or as we Baptist like to call it a baby dedication of Jesus at the temple um and what I want us to do this morning is we're looking at this is c not just this dedication this presentation at the temple as just a narrative story that doesn't have any impact on our lives Jesus has a huge impact on our lives even as an infant and Luke is writing to us so that we can see the importance of his infancy this week we'll end The Narrative of what most pastors theologians will call the birth narratives right the last couple of weeks last couple of months we've been walking through the birth narratives of John the Baptist as well as Jesus himself and within the last couple of weeks we've seen the birth of Jesus and this morning we'll see him at eight days old as well as 40 days old and seeing how even in his infancy we find Hope and that's what I want you guys to take away this morning is that even as an infant Jesus is the hope of the world right he is he is the hope of all mankind you see we love the coming of Jesus as a baby when it comes to Advent because oftentimes what that points to is Christmas right we get presents and gifts we get to celebrate with friends and family and those are good things but Jesus coming as a baby reminds us that God has come and dwelt Among Us this is the Incarnation of Christ he is put on flesh and dwelt among his people now we love Advent and Christmas because of those beautiful realities the the gifts and the presents but we also love to think about at least I know I do love to think about what did Jesus do as a child right anybody in here want to admit like what what did perfect Jesus look like as a kid right and next week we'll get a glimpse of an interesting story where Jesus and his family again is going back to the temple when he is 12 years old but how many of us look over this infancy story pretty quickly we look over this story of circumcision might not dive into it because we don't really know what it means we know what it is but we don't know what it means and we may be familiar with this story but we may not know the importance of what it means for our lives but how many of us have asked this question we've slowed down in the Book of Luke how many of us have asked why would Luke include this story to Theophilus why would he include this story for us to be able to see the beautiful reality of Jesus as an infant and why would it be so important that he would include it so that we would if you remember back in chapter one why Luke is writing this book so that we would have certainty with the things that have been taught and I think it's important for us to understand that knowing what Jesus did even as an infant has a huge impact on our lives and I want us to take a look at that this morning from this passage because it should bring us hope that even in infancy even as a baby Jesus was accomplishing for us what we could never do ourselves and I want us to see this hope through three p's this morning I really tried to stay away from the alliteration of like three p's from this passage but there's two things that I've realized about myself when I come when it comes to preaching one I'm a Baptist and so we have a natural gift of just finding letters and sticking with them and then two I do think that this does allow for us to see a natural flow of this narrative so the three p's that I want us to see this morning is purification presentation and Proclamation so I'll say that again purification presentation and Proclamation is what we'll see and why we should have hope when we read the story of Jesus as an infant so let me pray and then we'll jump into this narrative Lord you are good and Lord just as we sang Lord hope has a name and his name is Jesus and it's because of his work even in infancy that we have hope that our sin has been defeated and we are free from its bondage help us to behold this Glory with all and wonder this morning May Our Lives look like the witnesses of Simeon and Anna that we find in this story that have been stirred up by this good news of redemption and peace that we can't help but share it because it is the greatest gift of hope that this world could ever know Lord forgive us when we lose sight of this gift and this hope help us to be reminded through your word this morning and through your people that you are the greatest gift and the truest joy in this life give us eyes to see and ears to hear this beautiful truth this morning and as your servant Lord speak through me let the words of my heart and the meditations of my mouth be acceptable To You O Lord my rock and my redeemer it is for your glory and our joy that we praise you this morning help us to behold these wonderful truths from your word in Jesus name amen so purification so we'll start in verse 21 we see this Luke writes and at the end of the eight days when he was circumcised he was called Jesus the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb and then 40 days later we see in verse 22 and when the time had come 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 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 now I want you to see first and foremost for those of you who are male and firstborn We Are Holy and I say we because I am the firstborn and I like to remind my family of that all the time so the scripture says it sorry guys but here we have a purification process that again we might look over we might not necessarily see as important to our own lives when it comes to the story of Jesus but here in this purification process eight days in into Jesus's Ministry we are told this baby is circumcised and he is named Jesus and then he's brought to the temple to be purified now I know circumcision isn't a topic that most of us are going to bring up at the dinner table right we're not just going to be talking about what's going on in this moment but the Bible discusses this reality a lot and we as Believers should recognize that it's not just an Old Testament process Old Testament process that would happen to Children eight days into their birth it's actually something that Paul would call in the New Testament a part of the Gospel he would even say that the cross was a form of circumcision for us and so this is the reality the Bible shows us when it comes to this topic now if the Bible speaks so highly of it if the Bible speaks so much of it we should be asking what is it what is the meaning of it you see circumcision in the Old Testament was a covenant sign for Israel that God made with Abraham in Genesis 17.

that all men in Israel would be circumcised in Covenant with the Lord this was the promise made to Abraham that God would be his God and he would be the father of God's people and so everyone born from Abraham would receive this sign of circumcision but there's more to it than just a sign of being a part of the people of God every born person of Adam which means every one of us in here has a corrupt sin nature that can only be cleansed by a bloody righteous judgment a cutting away of a filthy heart and so what I hope you see in this sign of circumcision is a parallel to a a cleansing of the heart in the Old Testament was symbolized by a cleansing of skin being cut and it had a significance a two-fold significance that we find in the Old Testament first was that it was a sign that the people of God were set apart that through this sign the people of Israel were to be set apart from the world holy and righteous living in such a way that points the rest of the world to God but it was also a sign that someone's sin was removed from them just as flesh was removed ceremonially so by faith sin is removed and they are made pure now we see in the New Testament this sign has then been replaced by baptism right baptism is still a sign that you are setting yourself apart you have trusted in Christ as Savior and you recognize that your heart has been made clean when you're baptized into the water it is a symbol that your sin has been washed away and now you walk as Paul says in newness of life so just like baptism circumcision was a sign it was a sign of Salvation that only came through faith so I hope you're starting to think okay if this is a sign that needs to be given to sinful non-perfect dirty people why would Jesus need to do all of this why would Jesus need circumcision because doesn't the bible say that he is perfect that he is sinless and to that question I say yes and amen Hebrews 4 reminds us of this Truth for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are yet he is without sin over and over and over again the Bible reminds us that Jesus is perfect spotless and he is without sin so why would he have to go through a ceremony like this to be purified because Jesus is our representative in every respect he had to endure everything that Sinners Like You and Me had to undergo and he did so without sinning everything that can be said about Jesus can be said about us and it is only because Jesus being born under the law kept the law perfectly so that in him the righteousness of God is imputed to us so Jesus keeping the law Jesus being perfect and spotless the only way that that righteousness can be imputed to us is because he lived this perfect spotless life and he is our representative and I want you to see and I want you to get this understanding this morning that even in infancy even as a baby Jesus is standing in your place Jesus is standing in my place he was representing you he was representing me and notice how he did it he did it by the shedding of his blood even as a baby you see this was the first Act of suffering that Jesus was committed to you see this Bloodshed foreshadowed the blood that would shed on the cross and that blood on the cross would provide atonement for our sins but I don't want you I don't want you to look past this moment in circumcision and think that this blood is not important because it is this Blood here in circumcision gives the blood at the cross value because Jesus keeping every aspect of the law even as an infant being perfect being spotless living a sinless life is imputed to us and we receive his perfect righteousness at the cross I hope you understand what I'm saying this morning because this is the greatest hope that we find Ethan in Jesus being an infant at eight days old the shedding of his blood the keeping of the law this is the only way in which we are considered perfect and spotless and righteous because Jesus's obedience to the law has been given to us so when we read at eight days old he was circumcised and as an infant we should rejoice there should be hope and joy and we should bring glory to God even as this infant child because he is standing in our place as our representative so I don't want you to overlook a small verse like this that you think this is just a part of The Narrative of Jesus's life it is but it has significance to not only Jesus's life but also ours because if Jesus doesn't live a perfect life then there is no imputed righteousness for us and his death is in vain and we are not made pure and we are still dead in our sin so we should understand we should have this hope found and even this what would seem insignificant part of the story it is significant because Jesus is our representative and we are made perfect and spotless because of his obedience the next thing I want you to see in this passage is the presentation of Jesus we saw in verses 22-24 another part of the purification process where Mary and Joseph are going to the temple for their purification according to the law and they bring Jesus up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord now we find this process in Exodus 13 and Leviticus chapter 12.

you see the law required the firstborn son or the first animal to be set apart for the Lord and it was a reminder of what happened on Passover when Jesus came and set Israel free as a reminder that they had Redemption out of slavery when they were in Egypt and so Jesus again is fulfilling this law but in a greater way because even though he is being presented to the Lord as a firstborn under the law what is happening here is that law was written pointing to him and what he is doing here even in his infancy is he is coming to fulfill it by being the Everlasting firstborn son you see this baby dedication that is happening now as they're presenting Jesus to the Lord what's very interesting and and Dwayne and I joked about this when you read the language right Jesus Is God fully God fully man all right coming to the temple where God dwells so he's coming to the temple where God dwells being God being presented to God so God is presenting God to himself what a very odd thing that is happening here but even in this presentation we find representation from Jesus for us here Jesus is presented as the firstborn of the Redeemer who has come to save the world the god of Heaven who took on flesh as an infant born of a woman under the curse of the law took on this purification process so that as Galatians 4 says so that we would be redeemed so those under the law would be redeemed so that we might receive adoption as sons and because we are Sons God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts crying Abba Father and get there so so that you are no longer a Slave but a son and if a son then an heir through God Jesus coming and being presented is the representation that we now receive as Sons and Daughters of God we are Heirs of God because Jesus is obedience to the law now you might be asking the question as well why did he need circumcision why did he need to be presented to the Lord especially since he is the Lord and here's a beautiful commentary that I want us you don't have to read aloud with me but I want you to follow along as I read this and it will be on the screen I promise I I actually pasted it myself uh but Nick batzig writes this answering this question why did Jesus need to be presented he says why if God sent him into the world why if the Holy Spirit through the Virgin Mary knit together a human nature with a Divine Son of God two natures and one person Inseparable forever why would Jesus need to be presented to the Lord you see you get a glimpse of this when God speaks audibly about Jesus and the gospel which he only does twice and in both times he says this is my son in whom I am well pleased Christ as an infant is presented to his father and is set apart to be the law keeping blood-shedding Redeemer and then the only other time Jesus is presented to the Lord is at the cross where he says father in to my hands I commit my spirit as an infant and in his death he is presented to the Lord and when he presents his soul to the Lord with that cry on the cross he is presenting The Souls of all his people that he has redeemed into his father's hands and so once again in this presentation in this purification process of Jesus the Lord points us to what is to come in the cross because he kept the law for us and ultimately presents to the Lord being our representative who has redeemed us and imputed his righteousness he now gives us the right to be called sons and daughters and God says the same thing about us that he said about Jesus my son my daughter in whom I am well pleased this is why this circumcision and this purification and this presentation process is so important and that we cannot lose sight of this beautiful reality because this is our hope even in infancy This is Our Hope and I I pray this morning and as I prayed this week for this passage I hope that you can look at this with a fresh set of eyes and not just Overlook a circumcision and a baby dedication but you can see the Glorious truth that Jesus is our representative and it is because of his obedience and his perfection in obedience to the law we now for those who believe in him are imputed with his righteousness and God sees us as he sees him perfect spotless now I want to take us take a moment and just I'm going to speak to our parents this morning but I'm also kind of going to speak to our singles who and married people who don't have kids so bear with me on this Jesus kept the law perfectly on our behalf he is our representative and it is the beautiful reality that we live in as believers now this may seem obvious to you or maybe you've read this passage and you're like of course Jesus kept the law he's God right we believe that he's fully God and fully man so of course that's the reality that he's going to live in because he's God he's going to keep the law but that that's not necessarily true he is fully God he is fully man and in his humanness he still had to keep the law it wasn't his godness that kept the law it was him growing in wisdom and stature and favor with the Lord the scripture tells us this at the end of this passage and the end of next week Jesus just like us had to grow in the wisdom and knowledge of God's word being with God's people all of these things in order for him to live and then impute this righteousness to us to us which meant that he had to endure everything that we would endure and here in this passage in the passage next week we see that he had to endure infancy he had endured being a teenager he had to endure his awkward phase where his hair probably wasn't super long and he looked weird Isaiah actually tells us that there was nothing that was about him in in regards to his appearance that we would even think he was King which basically is throwing him under the bus and saying Jesus probably didn't look that good but anyways he had to go through team he had to go through being a teenager he had to learn and grow in knowledge and wisdom and this was all a part of his humanness he wasn't perfect because he had the divine nature in him and one of the things you can draw from this passage is that Jesus would have learned obedience to the law from his faithful parents and I want you to see that four times in this passage and two times in the next week's passage Luke tells us that Joseph and Mary did everything according to the law that they were his faithful mother mother and father that helped him be obedient and anytime we see a reiteration like this we need to pay attention because the author is trying to drive home a point and I believe here Luke is showing us the point is that Mary and Joseph were faithful and obedient to God's law and this is where Jesus most likely would have learned what obedience looked like this is how Jesus would have grown in wisdom and favor is by watching his parents and so parents I hope that you understand and I believe that most of you already recognize that you have a weighty responsibility when it comes to the faith of your children when it comes to the faith of your household your children need to be able to learn obedience to the Lord by looking at you now yes do they come here and learn I hope so right I know that there are some stories out there that our kids say some weird things but they're kids right but we get them for an hour maybe two you get them for the rest of the week you put them to bed you wake them up they should see you in worship and not just singing here on Sunday mornings worshiping As Romans 12 talks about living a life sacrificially for the Lord they need to see you studying God's word and I'm not talking about like locking yourself in a bathroom so that like you can read in peace and quiet that might be nice but with kids that's not going to happen but they need to be able to see you reading God's word whether it's 5 minutes 15 minutes they need to see you reading his word studying the scriptures they need to hear you talk about the things of God in seasons of Plenty and in seasons of need right they need to see you praising God through cancer and they need to see you praising God for gift for the gifts of healing and all in and all of that in between they need to see you having non-believers in your house and you evangelizing to them and sharing the gospel with them and living in such a way that loves the Lord and loves others they need to see you practice Sabbath that's right they need to see you rest and not always be busy busyness seems to be a terrible a terrible thing of our church as well as the people in the world we're always busy I and God has a plan for that to practice Sabbath your kids need to learn what it looks like to rest now I get the pleasure of teaching you this morning and it's only and I might tear up saying this because I was thinking about this last night as I was writing but my mom's here and it's by the grace of God that I can honor her this morning and my father in saying that the faith that you see in me is because of her parents it starts with you and what a weighty and glorious task you have in discipling your children and for those of you who don't have kids or those of you who are waiting for children for those of you who are not married we have a task too I know I say this often but as a church Community when we are covenanting to one another that means that we're also covenanting to the families around us when we have family dedication or baby dedication whatever you want to call it we as a Covenant Community are saying to that family we will come alongside you to help raise your children in the way of Christ and that should be our commitment just because we don't have physical children does not mean that we can't help raise spiritual children so that's my parents and non-parents it is starts in the home it starts with you guys and as a church it's it's bolstered by us coming alongside parents and helping them raise their children in the way of the Lord so finally my third p is Proclamation and we have two faithful witnesses that we see in this story that proclaim the goodness and mercy of God so starting in verse 25.

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 and it had been revealed to him by the holy spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ and he came in the spirit into the temple when the parents brought in the Child Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law and he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said now 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 people a light for the Revelation to the Gentiles and for Glory to your People Israel and his father and mother marveled at what was said about him 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 so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed so Simeon is our first faithful Witness and as you see in this passage a proclamation is given when he sees the Lord now I want to point out something really quickly before we jump into Simeon and Anna's story these two were faithful men and women waiting on the coming Messiah they weren't waiting for something they were waiting for someone and Luke's narrative up into this point and really throughout the book as we continue through this gospel he highlights that the nation of Israel was actually indifferent to the things of God we actually see that in in the gospels elsewhere as well this was even seen last week as the Angels Came to shepherds in the fields what an interesting group of people that that would be the first proclamation of the Gospel right shepherds in the fields not the religious leaders not the Pharisees Sadducees but lowly Shepherds we'll even see in Anna's response as she goes and tells all who are waiting and what we can understand and know about this phrase all we're awaiting is that during that time there was only a small remnant of people who truly trusted that God would send his Messiah that we're not indifferent to God's word and they were obedient to him and so Luke highlights this Luke's trying to help us see this picture this is what's happening when Simeon and Anna finally meet the Messiah and so as Luke highlights these faithful followers who are waiting for their redeemer he's also showing us as the reader that there were very few people in this time period truly waiting on this Messiah and these two people I hope their faith challenges this morning as it did for me this week you see Simeon this older man who has been told by the holy spirit that he would not taste death until he sees the Messiah now I don't know about you because the scriptures do not say anything about when he was told how old he is but man if you're told hey man you're not going to die and then now you're going to have to wait it might get a little frustrating day in and day out waiting for this Messiah especially as you're getting old right I'm getting old I mean I've got a broken wrist bones are getting fragile like it's just just what happens you get over 25 and the plane starts to descend right so this this man who we would believe is an older man probably wanting to go home in glory is told that you're not you're not going to die but here's the beauty of This Promise is you will also see the Messiah who you have been waiting for and longing for so there's this hope and angst in waiting and Luke tells us that he was righteous and devout he was faithful he was in the temple worshiping the Lord with God's people The Remnant that was hoping for this Messiah and his faithful brother has been told by the spirit that you will see this coming Redeemer and as he's waiting in Comes Mary and Joseph in Comes This lowly humble and even as Luke shows us very poor family not as a president not as a king not not as a leader who the people would turn and flock to but a lowly humble family and Simeon By The Power of the Holy Spirit recognizes this humble Messiah that is coming in and he rejoices in song and if you've been following through with the last couple of chapters with Luke there's actually been about three four maybe even five songs that have been sung about Jesus in this birth narrative and finally Simeon gets to close out with his Hymn of salvation look back what he says in verse 29 Lord 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 of all peoples a light for Revelation to the Gentiles and for Glory to your People Israel he says I can depart in peace according to your word because I have seen your salvation and he sings this and I'm sure that people heard him because as we'll look at Anna coming up she hears what is being said and she rejoices in this news as well but he sings This truth of Salvation because this is what Jesus came to do to save his people from sin and all of those before the foundation of the Earth he has come to Give Peace by the power of his blood this is what Simeon is singing about this is what we sing about every Sunday morning that Jesus has come giving salvation for all who would believe in him that his blood covers our sin and he is restored and redeemed us into a right relationship with God so that we can now know and believe that we are Sons and Daughters of the most high Paul tells us in Colossians 1 19 and 20 of this beautiful Truth for in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile to himself all things whether on Earth or in heaven Making Peace by the blood of Christ on the cross this is our reality this is his Hymn of salvation but there's some interesting Dynamics and dimensions of this salvation that Simeon sings about he says that this salvation is a light to the Gentiles now I don't want you to overlook that because remember the Jews were God's chosen people they had the oracles and the Mystery of God's salvation through the Old Testament through the law and the prophets their whole lifestyle was to be built around as Jesus says in the New Testament loving God with their heart soul mind and strength and loving others as themselves and in doing so the Gentile Nations around them would see the glory of God and trust in him but what we find in the story of the Old Testament and through the Jewish life is that they are disobedient they are not a light to the Gentiles and they actually don't believe the Gentiles would be included in this story and so Simeon here making this Proclamation is huge that this salvation is coming to the Gentiles just as it was promised to Abraham Simeon seems to recognize by the leading of the Holy Spirit and understanding of God's word that salvation has not only come for Israel but for the Gentile Nations as well and Luke wants to make it clear to his largely Gentile audience and Theophilus that Christ Has Come for All Nations now this may seem odd that we're covering something like this because this obviously is what we believe we have Matthew 28 that tells us to go and make disciples of all Nations but we have to put ourselves in this moment as best as we can for someone like Simeon to make this Proclamation would have been huge that salvation is coming not only for Israel but he's also come for the Gentiles it's a missionary Proclamation it's a hymn before Matthew 28 has come out that the light of the Lord has not only come for the glory of Israel but has also come to save the Gentile Nations and all those who put their hope and trust in Christ's savior and this is what he's singing about he's singing about the truth that the Old Testament has proclaimed since its beginning and he's seeing also about the glory of Israel that their consolation has come and what consolation means here is not a secondary prize but a prize of Hope and peace he is saying that Jesus Is Our Hope and our peace that has finally come he is our Cornerstone as we'll see as we walk through the Book of Luke Jesus is showing us and Jesus is showing his people through his ministry that he is the long-awaited Messiah that Israel has longed for and yet they reject him the Simeon also points to in verses 33 and 34 when he says to Mary behold this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel the Old Testament and the New Testament point to Jesus being a Cornerstone and also a stumbling block what this means is that Jesus for some is going to be as Paul would say an aroma of life and for some a stench of death this child will raise up many he will save many but he will also offend many through the proclamation of the Gospel now this may seem odd to you if you've never understood or heard that before and you may come from a background that thinks if I just live the gospel if I just preach the gospel people are going to like me maybe even love me they may not love Jesus but they sure will like me the reality is that's not the truth at all Simeon shows us here the truth of the Christian Life that preaching the gospel will be a fragrant Aroma to some yes some will accept it some will love it some will Faithfully follow the Lord because of your proclamation of the Gospel but some will hate you some will be against you just because of the belief in Jesus because what Jesus Does as he exposes the heart of man he reveals our sin nature and the depths of the the depths of depravity that is within us all and we don't like that our sin nature hates that and there will be people who will hate that also he will be a stumbling block to many and many will in fact hate us just for preaching and living the gospel and we have to be prepared for this Jesus tells us this in The Sermon on the Mount blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven he goes on to say blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account but then he says rejoice and be glad for your reward in heaven is great for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you this is the continual pattern when we pursue the Lord and we preach the gospel some will hate us it will be a stumbling block for some Jesus tells us this again in John 15 when he says remember the word that I said to you a servant is not greater than his master if they persecuted me they will also persecute you so we have to be prepared we have to understand this reality that the gospel is offensive and how how beautiful it is for us who have received it it may be a stumbling block to others and it's a stumbling block because as RC Sproul says you cannot be neutral when it comes to Jesus C.

S Lewis would go on to say he's either a liar a lunatic or Lord he's either Lord of your life or he's not Lord at all we cannot be neutral when it comes to Jesus and because of that it will be a stumbling block to some but the beautiful reality is it will also be a proclamation and a a gospel truth that will raise up many that God would call people to himself just like us out of sin out of Darkness out of Shame and forgive us and redeem us and this is the gospel reality that we live in this is the prophecy that Simeon gives to Mary about Jesus and his ministry that is to come but he also tells us that this was an appointed thing he says this child was appointed for this very thing and what we can learn from this prophecy that Simeon gives about Jesus being the appointed one to come is that all of this was planned all of this was decreed as Ephesians 1 would tell us before the foundation of the Earth Jesus guys is not God's plan B to save the world this was his plan before all time both now and forevermore we see this in verse 34.

right Simeon blessed them and said Mary to said to Mary his mother behold this child is appointed for the fall and Rising he has a appointed one he is the one to come he is the plan in which God created before the foundation of the earth within the Triune godhead the father Son and Holy Spirit had a plan to redeem their people and so even though we see him in infancy here and we'll see him next week as a teenager his Destiny as Simeon says here his Destiny was to die in order to redeem his people and this is our hope this is all keep going back to it I'm so glad that the majority of our songs this morning are about hope hope in Jesus because he is our only hope this plan before the foundation of the Earth was not made on the Fly it's not plan B it was God's plan before the foundation because Adam and Eve had sinned but in his all-knowing perfect wisdom he had this plan to redeem his people and restore his people back to himself and not only did he have a plan he in this plan included himself right he inserted himself to be the one to complete this plan he didn't ask for some type of sacrifice of this world although the Old Testament sacrifice system ultimately pointed to this coming sacrifice they weren't enough as Hebrews were would remind us that the the sacrifice of goats and Bulls were not enough to cleanse us of our sins we needed something permanent something righteous something spotless and Jesus stepped out of heaven the son of God second person of the Trinity put on flesh lived the perfect life that we could never live I think it's important for us to recognize that right we could not live this perfect life and we needed someone to do that in our place but he died the death we deserve because of our sin and he resurrected from the grave defeating sin and Death on our behalf a sealing our adoption as sons and daughters God himself God himself gives us himself in order that we would be restored back to him and this is this is the great hope that we live in this is the joy that we must hold to and cling to this is the proclamation that Simeon gives and and as we'll look at this next witness of God's Great gospel in Anna she says the same thing the Redemption of Israel has come and this great hope should call us to do the same to Proclaim this good news so let's look at Anna what her life shows us verse 36 and there was a prophetess Anna the daughter of fanuel of the tribe of Asher she was she was advanced in years having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin and then as a widow until she was 84.

if you have a Bible with footnotes you might see she lived as a widow for 84 years I'd like that translation better but it is what it is she was a widow for a very long time she did not depart from the temple either worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day and coming up at the very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to who speak of him to all who were waiting for the Redemption of Jerusalem what a beautiful story and in fact Luke does this often in his book where he will highlight widows in my opinion and I think most commentators would say he highlights them to show that God is a God of Mercy especially to the ones in a society who would not be looked upon highly that he takes care of those who are lowly but I want you to see where is this Widow found she's found in the temple in this store she's on her way to the temple but it also describes her as being there fasting and praying night and day see in her loss she waited on God and she was able to see the Redemption of Jerusalem day in and day out she's coming to the temple worshiping and praying and on this glorious beautiful baby dedication day she gets to see the Redemption of Israel what a beautiful gift to her faithfulness she has been praying and waiting for years and she goes and tells her friends that that Remnant that the Messiah is here they have been waiting for years and years praying and fasting that the Messiah would come but do you wonder I know I did but do you wonder what she would have shared with her friends I mean think about this right like this is a baby we've already described him as just an a normal child coming from a very poor and low family nothing about him would point to that he is the messiah maybe she ran and told her friends what Simeon just sung that the light of the Gentiles that the hope and Glory of Israel is here salvation has come actually we don't know other than that she spoke of him to all who are waiting for the Redemption of Jerusalem but what we do know about Anna here is her love for God and the news that the Redemption of Jerusalem was here led her to overflow with joy and gladness and Thanksgiving and she went and shared this beautiful good news to those who are waiting notice how she goes back and and Luke tells us she goes back to this small group this Remnant who's waiting on the Redemption of Israel to share this beautiful story of a child who's now come to the temple who is the messiah Sinclair Ferguson has a wonderful commentary on this particular story about sharing with one another and how it can lead to more evangelism he says a lot of people will come and press on you the need to do evangelism asking are you witnessing enough but what they should be doing is coming and saying let me tell you about what Christ has done for me in my life and then you can tell me what he's done for you in your life because when we have the confidence to speak about Christ to those who are trusting in Him we will have the confidence to speak about him to those who aren't when we have the confidence to speak about Christ to those who are trusting in Him we will have the confidence to speak about him to those who aren't this is what Hannah does she goes back to this small remnant of people and proclaims the Redemption of Israel has come what what a wonderful testimony and beautiful gift this remarkable Widow is because the reality is she knew pain and loss right but she did not become bitter as an elderly woman she had not lost hope in waiting and perhaps perhaps it was because she was a woman devoted to worship and prayer and I hope that our lives would be marked by this same hope and joy in waiting so I want to close out this morning with a progression that as I walked this week and read studied has revealed to me and this is the way my my mind works I need progression right and so I want to share this with you as it was shared with me we see first that Christ is the law keeping Redeemer because of his obedience and Perfection this is what we receive imputed to us because of our faith in him this law keeping Redeemer who was presented to the Lord Has Done Everything necessary for Redemption and he provides us hope and peace as Our Redeemer and representative and because of this we are to go and Proclaim him proclaiming him to one another in our churches in our small groups and then proclaiming him to those who don't know him and so I want to ask a couple of questions this morning and we'll close with communion like Anna are you devoted to worship prayer and sharing the good news of Jesus Christ to other believers and to those who don't know him as Savior is that your life mission and devotion like Simeon are you waiting for Christ's second coming with hope and joy longing for him to come as he did the first is there a hopeful expectation anticipation for the second coming do we live like Paul looking for eternity like John that says Maranatha Lord come quick because we know that eternity with the Lord is far greater than anything we can experience here on Earth and finally do you see your need for the Bloodshed of Jesus do you recognize what we do in communion each week when we take the bread and drink the juice I want to give you time to get the elements here and then I'm going to give some instruction on communion and then we will continue to worship here so if you don't have the elements go ahead and get up and grab them if you do sit there and look around I want to go back to this last question is do you see your need for the Bloodshed of Jesus you see in our time of the communion one of the things that Paul points us to is to examine ourselves and as Dwayne has done so many times in a beautiful way I hope I don't butcher this I want to do the same as we take this wafer that is something like bread out of this little cup we have to think about what this piece of bread represents the breaking of Christ's body but not just the breaking of his body in vain the breaking of his body because his his life in perfection and going to the Cross has taken our sin his body broken for us and so we when we look at this bread and then when we drink this juice let us be thinking about the sin that put Jesus on the cross and it's not just all of our past sin there is still sin each and every day that we need to continue to go to the Lord and confess and repent of but this time we do it with assurance that we are his but when we look at the spread we recognize that it was our sin that held him there on the cross so we sing so often it was my sin that held him there until it was accomplished this perfect law-keeping Redeemer has taken the wrath of God on for us so that we could be free from the curse of the law that's what we celebrate when we take this bread and as we drink this juice we see the representation of Christ shedding his blood for us and may it be a reminder each and every week that we should not try to outlive the blood of Jesus for it is here that our sins are atoned for and that we are cleansed we are washed by his blood so as you examine yourself before taking communion think of these things and let them point you to the cross and what Christ has done for you and the joy that we have in that reality that he is our representative and he has stood in our place and we as second Corinthians 5 21 says have received his righteousness because he who knew no sin became sin on our behalf I would also encourage you this morning that if you have not trusted in Jesus as your savior if you have not placed your hope in this Redeemer let you not take communion it is a time in which Believers in Christ celebrate what Christ has done for us but here's what I would encourage you to do come talk to me come talk to Dwayne or ransford we would be happy to Proclaim this truth about what God has done in Christ so let's celebrate together as I read First Corinthians 11.

and then we will continue to worship this good news and this good Savior and Redeemer that has been given to us Paul writes for I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus on this night when he was betrayed took the spread and when he had given thanks he broke it and said this is my body which is for you do this in remembrance of me and in the same way also he took the cup after supper saying this cup is the New Covenant in my blood do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes church let us Proclaim this death and worship him together Lord you are good and we are so thankful that you are our representative that you lived a perfect spotless life for us so that on the cross and in faith and trusting in you that righteousness has been imputed to us Lord For Us in here that have received this grace Lord let us be like Simeon let us be like Anna faithful devout worshiping pointing others proclaiming others to you the Redeemer and may we be bold in the gospel trusting that you have us in your hands and because of that truth we know that nothing can separate us from that love it's in your son's name we pray amen