Luke chapter 2 verse 22 on we're looking at the whole section but I'll read up to verse 32 but we're looking at the whole section up to verse 38 Luke chapter 2 verse 22 to 32 reading out the ESV is 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 every male who first opens a 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 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 until t death before he had seen the Lord Christ 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 on his arms and blessed God and 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 presence of all the peoples a light for revelation to the Gentiles and the glory to your people Israel let's pray Heavenly Father we thank you for your constant grace and love toward us but as we ready ourselves Lord God for this Christmas season help us Lord not to be caught up with the rest of this world just in the busyness Lord of buying presents and getting together with families vacations that in the midst of all of this Lord God that you would keep our heart pure and focused on you and what this day symbolizes and represents for us that Christ in being very nature God not considering equality with God something to be grasped but becoming nothing like us help us for you God to glean from his sacrifice and to learn father God what it means to be a eager participant of what you have done for us and thank you in Jesus name we pray amen again as you as you know Christmas is coming up in in a few weeks and I think every Christmas season we have things that we're thinking about like what to get people you know what am I getting maybe some of you guys are young enough or still where parents are have promised certain things for you or maybe some of you guys ordered a iPhone or or your phone and you're waiting eagerly waiting for that to come but I think a lot of what Christmas symbolizes is waiting the concept of waiting for a Christian is a very important part of what it means to be a follower of Christ because the Bible repeated it says over and over to again to us to wait right Psalm 27 it says wait for the Lord be strong and let your heart take courage wait for the Lord again in Isaiah 40 31 there's a passage that you and I are very familiar with he says but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings like eagles they shall run and not weary they shall walk and not faint so in other words in Isaiah 40 the concept of what he's saying is if you want to be strengthened if you want to be run and not grow weary or faint so we have to wait right our typical type of thinking is not waiting because especially in our culture waiting is not something that our culture especially our generation is known for we're not good at waiting right internet takes more than five seconds it's we need to we need to get another phone you know what I mean you order something and it doesn't come on time send it back it didn't come back come on time you order food doesn't come timely you know again you messed up so our culture our generation is not good at waiting so to come to the scripture where it keeps telling us that in order to be strengthened you have to wait you have to be patient and over and over again we are told this story well if you look at the text that we're looking at obviously we have the larger picture of the redemptive history about the coming of Christ and so we're going to be taking a closer look at that next week but this week we're examining Luke at this particular part of it and when Luke is presenting Christ at the temple you know the larger picture basically is telling us that Jesus was an obedient disciple or obedient follower of the Old Testament law just like any other faithful Jew so even from birth it over over again it says in verse 22 and the time came for the purification according to the law of Moses and that phrase is repeated about five or six separate times that he came and and came to be circumcised according to the law he came and was dedicated according to the law they made sacrifices of pigeons according to the law and then according to the custom of the law they did all of this so over and over again the central thing that Luke is trying to say is that that here's this Jesus that from the beginning of his earthly life not only he but even his parents were very focused on making sure that he was obedient now this was extremely important to present because the whole purpose of Jesus's existence was that he would qualify for what he ultimately came to do to be a sacrifice for sinners now if he didn't obey the law of God he would be disqualified that's why the first thing that we see when Jesus comes onto the scene as a to do ministry he comes and gets baptized and so John the Baptist says why do you why do I baptize you you're the one that I've been preparing for you should baptize me remember what Jesus says he says no is right for you to baptize me to fulfill all righteousness right again that Jesus submitted himself to God's order right after he's baptized he's taken into the wilderness in the wilderness as he is tempted every time he conquered the temptation by saying it is written it's in the scripture in other words to establish him as the perfect sacrifice that he is qualified to die for sins of mankind that's why it was important for us that from the very beginning that all the Gospels all the gospel writers present Jesus and that again he was obedient in every way and that's again the larger picture of what Christmas symbolizes that what we are to remember and to celebrate but within this larger picture of redemptive history there are there are many stories right there there are side characters that kind of we can personally relate to that we're not just observance of this of this redemptive history we're just kind of sitting from a distance and watching but God somehow brings in characters right sometimes they're kings sometimes they're peasants sometimes they're very well educated sometimes they're very normal average people just like the people that we see here in this passage Simeon and Anna is introduced to us and we don't see them again this is the only time where Simeon and Anna is mentioned so we don't know anything about them before the scene we don't know anything about after this scene they weren't kings they weren't noble people they weren't Pharisees we don't know much about them they just all of a sudden appear and the central thing that we are taught about them is that they were simply waiting they were faithfully waiting for the Lord to come we see if you can look at the passage with me in Luke chapter 225 this is how Simeon is introduced to us is that now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon even his very name it's a very common name you'll see the name Simeon everywhere else in the scriptures and they're not all the same people because it's like John Kim or Peter Kim it's very common right every time I go to DMV I have to say Peter H Kim and then I have a number 32 behind it because there's so many other Peter H Kim's right Simeon is one of those names is a very common name right so even even this is very name itself Anna again is a very common name right that every a lot of females had the 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 what an awesome thing to have heard from the Holy Spirit and say you're not gonna die until you see the Lord I mean that's kind of like me wouldn't that free you to do whatever you wanted right if the Lord said you're not gonna die until you see the Lord said well now I can go to skydive I can go deep sea diving you know I can go tightrope walking I do whatever because he said I'm not gonna die right maybe you'll get hurt but you're not gonna you're not gonna die right God said to him again as he was devoutly and faithfully waiting for the Lord and it's in that context where he comes in encounters with the Messiah again we see this lady Anna in verse 36 they said there was a prophetess named Anna the daughter of Phinewel of the tribe of Asher again we other than this we don't know much about her she was advanced in years having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin and then as a widow she until she was 84 she did not depart from the temple worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day in the ESV if you look at your translation most of your translation will have some sort of number or letter on it and they don't have some note on the bottom right so in the ESV translation it just says she was 84 years old in some of your other translations will say that she actually was widowed for 80 years 84 years depending on how you translate it either way look at it whether it was 60 some years or 80 some years she basically dedicated himself to serve God and said night and day she was praying and she was waiting to this and then it wasn't just that if you look at verse 38 it wasn't just them two there were many other people in verse 38 and coming up at the very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who are waiting for the redemption of Israel so it wasn't just a man it wasn't just Anna it was a lot of people who are eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come to deliver them and it's in this context where Jesus shows up so it wasn't like there was no prophecy there was nothing going on there was a group of people who was eagerly waiting for him and now as we as I mentioned that concept of waiting in the Bible is extremely important like as a Christian to wait upon the Lord like if you go and Google and or if you have a Bible concordance look up wait I mean you'll have hundreds and hundreds of that phrase being repeated over and over again to tell us to wait wait wait right even the disciples before they were gonna go out and preach the gospel what did you say wait wait until the Holy Spirit comes upon you even now we are living he said our spiritual life as we're preaching the gospel one of the key characteristics about our sanctification or salvation is to wait wait for his second coming and everyone who puts his hope in him will purify himself so this idea of waiting is a central part of what it means to be a follower of Christ we a worshiper of Yahweh but what does it mean what does the word wait mean how do we apply practically apply this other than just kind of like okay we'll just sit here do nothing right what is the Bible's concept of wait the most common word that is translated for weight in the Old Testament the Hebrew word is kava and the word kava is basically lit means to be bound together to be bound and when you hear the word bound literally it means your bath like right you're not you can't do that you're restricted from doing something and that's the idea of this word to stay put to stay where you are in Psalm 37 7 says be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way over the man who carries out evil devices he says to be still again I don't know about you but you know and I know I see some of our kids at our church and I could totally relate to the to the more ADD you know what I mean type of I would have if they had ADD medicine when I was younger I'm pretty sure they would have popped it in my mouth you know as soon as I went to school right waiting no one has ever accused me of being patient right and especially in our generation being patient necessarily is not like a good quality because we're taught to be problem solvers right we're taught we're all taught to be problem solvers if you're good at problem solving you make more money if you're in a company and you see here's some issues that aren't working right here's a problem identify it well here's a solution how do we get there step one step two step three and you you are good problem solver right and that's kind of like the mentality of our generation's like what's the problem solve it now if you live in a poor part of the world I remember you know we were talking while we were on this compassion trip now how do you define poverty and one of the pastors he was thinking about it so you know I think poverty means lack of opportunities right lack of opportunity you don't have a choice whatever is presented to you you have to make do with what you have but you don't have opportunities that's not me and you you and I have finances you we have freedom we can move we can change jobs we have all kinds of stuff because we have we have you know physical blessing but along with that comes this idea or this this paradigm that if we just apply ourselves more if we can just kind of figure it out and do this and do that that we can make this work and and sometimes we apply that very type of you know we can do it type of mentality even in our walk with God and sometimes it's good at a lot of times it's detrimental the first concept of being a follower of Jesus Christ to be a worshiper of God is learning to wait upon the Lord Psalm 62 1 and 2 says for God alone my soul waits in silence from him comes my salvation he only is my rock in my salvation my fortress I shall not be greatly shaken see the whole nation of Israel God promised them as they went into captivity if you look at the minor prophets and the major prophets every time that God brought judgment upon the nation of Israel he would always relent and then he would promise that even though you're I'm taking you to judgment I will deliver you I will send the Messiah and he's going to deliver you and and there's going to be a new generation of of God's people going to worship him and so when they heard this they said yes God is not going to forget about us but the trouble that the nation of Israel got into was they began to will themselves for this to happen see the Sadducees they they again saw the problem as the Romans you know the political situation so their idea of deliverance was if we are politically more influential if we had more money and if we were more clever that we can somehow win the favor of the superpower and maybe that's how God may turn things around for us and you had the zealots the zealots are the ones who are military you know like by by military might that if we train ourselves and have our knives sharpened enough and if we get enough people to come on board we can fulfill the promise that God said the Messiah is going to come but we're going to make this happen but I think the most subtle and the most dangerous of them all were the Pharisees because the Pharisees thought to themselves that if we just implement and obeyed the Sabbath if we obeyed the laws and that's the reason why the why the Jews their ancestors got into trouble but if we obeyed the law if we did this if we keep kept the Sabbath if we didn't go into the Gentile homes if we ate the right things and not eat the wrong things that somehow God is going to show us favor and that's how he's going to bring about his promise on a surface it seems like well that sounds right if we just do the right things God's gonna bless us and the danger of that type of thinking is that it can easily become nothing more than superstition see if they thought like well if we keep the Sabbath for so long that's God's gonna have to he's gonna have to listen to us how that is suddenly it creeps into our thinking creeps into our church is is you know I know a lot of you guys are studying for finals right now a lot of you students and some of you are gonna take the test and then you wake up next morning you blew it right you blew it I'm not saying you you you will I'm saying some of you some of you might okay you're gonna wake up and and then you say oh my gosh I didn't do it and then you're gonna start thinking backtracking what could I have done maybe if I did my quiet time first maybe if I did my quiet time the guy would have blessed me and I would have remembered all this stuff maybe some of you are waiting for for a job right you're waiting for you apply for jobs and you're waiting eagerly and and you didn't get it and you start thinking to yourself I haven't been faithfully tithing I haven't been faithfully doing this and I missed too many Bible studies you start to backtrack and thinking maybe God is punishing me disciplining me because I didn't do this and then and then you start to train yourself to think that if I do the right things that somehow God is gonna that's all gonna add up and God's gonna say okay now you twist my arms since you obey me I'm gonna listen to you and then suddenly what begins to happen is we start to we start to have this idea of superstition and Christianity becomes nothing more than superstition that if we do this if we step on the crack you're gonna break your mama's back if you don't read your Bible God doesn't give you a good home right well the Pharisees had this kind of mentality was teaching the people that if you obey the law that everything is gonna be alright if you just do what we told you to do see what the whole gospel the whole gospel begins with all have sin and fall short of the glory of God those who have the law are condemned without the law with the law those who don't have the law are condemned without the law and so there's nothing you can do to stack up and get closer to God so the first act of when we come to God the first thing that he tells us to do is to wait to wait upon the Lord to sit still and recognize there's nothing that you can do and I can do to hurry up what God has intended again I don't know about you but you know God always that's one aspect of my life my character that I always just challenging me like to be patient to be patient and he surrounds me with people that that forces me to be patient you know I I have a tendency to go a hundred miles per hour and Esther goes about five five point five you know what I mean so whenever we go places I'm always walking in ahead of her and some people think all of that male chauvinist you putting his wife behind this no because she just walks slower so whenever we talk like a lot of times I end up finishing her sentences not because all we're so in love we're so connected because I want her to finish her sentence she's not talking fast enough you know pastor mark is the same way there are times when we get into a conversation and I'll ask him a question about something and it'd be dead silence because he's on the other side so I said oh okay I guess we're done so I would go back to work and the five minutes later he was like hmm so the whole time he was thinking about what to say I like I moved on I'm already doing Bible study and doing other stuff to be patient you know it's not my second nature and I think again as a as a generation as a whole are when the Bible says become be like wait wait upon the Lord we don't naturally say okay we know what to do because we're problem solvers you have to be problem solvers right to get good grades you have to be problem solvers at work in order to advance but he says to wait the word for wait again there's another word the one is to be bound the other one the mom it literally means to be silent or rest and in some some of the Bible dictionaries it says to be dumb right obviously literally it doesn't mean like lower your IQ right it means to rest it isn't just simply waiting and saying I'm gonna sit here I'm just gonna cook off my mind and just kind of just wait until something happened well that's not the idea of wait the way the as the Bible teaches us is to rest knowing that the answer is found in him to rest not to immediately think well here's a problem if we implement these three things would have solve it and so much of our frustration and anxiety comes because we think like why don't they implement this why don't I do this why don't is he do that and we want our husband to change we want our wives to change we want our churches to change and then when it doesn't happen we're frustrated when the Bible continually reminds us the first and foremost to wait upon the Lord see this Simeon we don't know how old he is but we know that he've been patiently waiting and God rewards him Anna for 60 70 80 years just quietly serving the Lord and in that context God reveals himself to her to her and to the rest of the nation of Israel you know whenever we think of the Jews we think of the Pharisees Sadducees and all these people who kind of missed Christ but not everyone missed him and we're gonna look at that next week about the various people who came to Christ but there were people who were faithfully waiting and as a result of that God revealed himself to them you know when I was younger and people would come and ask for counseling it would drive me nuts because I feel like you know I felt so and if there was any part of ministry where I felt the most inadequate was counseling because all kinds of people are coming to me with all kinds of problems and I know what to do up on the pulpit because it's just me right I just need to prepare and I need to speak I know what to do in Bible study because I need to prepare and and to present it to you and if if it you know if you're learning and you're growing I know what to do when people come to me with counseling have all kinds of issues marriage issues you have your family issues you have your work issues and and interpersonal relationship issues and and some things are pretty obvious right some things I've dealt with so long when I say don't do it you know I mean it's pretty obvious I'm not gonna say what it is all right but there's some things are obvious but there's a lot of stuff that that are brought up I really don't have any answer and I remember that used to drive me nuts because like man maybe I need to go get biblical counseling you know maybe I need to get more training maybe if I did this maybe if I did that maybe I'm just not good at this maybe I'm just maybe I'm doing something I'm just never gonna be good at because in my mind my first inclination is I got to solve this problem right how many of you guys get into problems because your wife tells you something and you had you think like huh do this and then your problem is solved right and she says thank you yeah you're laughing because that doesn't work right now because our natural instinct especially as a guy is we think like we have we have to solve this if I'm gonna help you we have to solve this and that's basically what I was thinking and one of the most important things that I realized about being a pastor is sometimes there's no answer there's no human answer and the answer is wait for the Lord you don't have to do anything you don't have to find a solution I don't have to give you a solution for every problem I don't have it I know he does and so the greatest advice I realized that I can give is to give you Christ to explain Christ who he is and how much he loves me how much he loves you and it may not directly apply or at least we can't connect it to it but it says wait for the Lord because it is in his time see Ecclesiastes 3 1 through 4 says for everything there is season and a time for every matter under heaven a time to be born and a time to die a time to plant and a time to pluck pluck up what is planted at a time to kill and a time to heal a time to break down and a time to build up a time to weep and a time to laugh a time to mourn and a time to dance and it goes on and on basically mean God has ordained certain seasons for certain things to happen in our life for a particular purpose it's when it's time to build when we are breaking down where we have the problem when God has ordained a time to mourn and we're dancing and it's time to weep and we're laughing because we think that oh here's a situation and we need to fix it first and foremost he says to wait remember the disciples when they were on the boat and the storm came I could totally relate with the disciples because Jesus was so fatigued again you know don't forget that Jesus Christ is 100% God and so he was out laboring and working he was so tired he said the Son of Man does not have a place to rest his head meaning he was tired you know on to as long as he's doing ministry there's nowhere for him to go so if you're gonna follow me thinking that somehow I'm gonna lead you to a nice home like don't follow me because the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head and he was genuinely tired fatigue he was so fatigued the storm started coming and you have to imagine these are professional fishermen I think before they woke him up they tried everything right what does he know he's a carpenter right if we need a chair we'll wake him up right but we're in the middle of a sea and we're about to die so I think that they he probably probably implemented everything that they possibly know bring out the row you know everybody laid on the left side they started rowing you know they put the sail up put it down you know throw off these every you know the heavy weights everybody go to the left go on there go up they probably tried everything and nothing was working they were absolutely desperate and again sometimes God allows us to get to that point of desperation because we don't listen until we're at that point right until we've exhausted we come to the point where we surrender we don't listen it's like oh what about God you know what do you know about this we don't say that right but that's how we behave sometimes so by the time they wake up Jesus remember what they say they don't say hey Jesus Jesus there's some we have some problem can you help us he doesn't say that remember how the disciples come Jesus don't you care that we're gonna die they're already angry they've tried everything they saw the problem they try to fix it they couldn't fix it and they're watching Jesus just sleeping right so they're annoyed they're angry they come to him Jesus how come you don't care right Jesus does Jesus wake up like oh shoot oh so sorry everybody calm down calm down boom let's go back to sleep is that what happens no Jesus wakes up and he said why did you not believe why did you not believe what do you mean by that because on the surface I can relate with the disciples because I think every single one of us look at that situation we would have done exactly the same thing right I mean they're about to die they're fishermen and they can't fix this problem what are you doing right what did Jesus mean by that you have to remember when Jesus said come follow me I will make you fishers of men what was his primary thing that he was trying to teach the disciples he was trying to reveal himself to them right yes he taught them how to evangelize he taught how to cast out demons but in the midst of all of that the greatest thing that Jesus had to reveal to them was himself who he was so remember at John chapter 6 when all these people were falling out he turns to them he's are you gonna leave to remember what the disciples say you're the Son of God you have the words of life where are we gonna go in other words we believe you so what was Jesus saying when he said why did you not believe all this time that you were with me you were safe did you believe that you heard me say I'm the author of life and you believe it you have the words of life where are we gonna go you believe it do you think that somehow because of this little storm that I just slipped for a second that somehow you were actually gonna die that all of a sudden he forgot he took your eyes off for you for a second that somehow he forgot about his power and he forgot that he loved you and that you're gonna sink you're with me as long as you're with me if you die it's because I let it and if you don't die is because I won't let it so when he said how come you didn't believe he wasn't just speaking generically he's talking about do you not know who I am said in the context of them trying to fix all of this stuff in the context of them trying to run around and and making sure that we're okay that you forgot the very thing that causes your life to be stable is me that the author of life everything was made by him and for him that he sustains life that I'm on this ship I'm with you it's not because you're a fisherman it's not because of this or that that's what he meant so when the scripture says first and foremost be still and know that I am God to wait upon the Lord it's the first and foremost for us to have peace and rest that he's the answer that would not mean like okay I gotta figure this out what do I do how do I how do I change this what do I do what do I implement where the first and foremost is to wait for him to fulfill what he has ordained that's why you know when the scripture says that at the fullness of time God came Jesus came fullness of time so when Simeon was praying and was revealed to him the Son of God was gonna come it was a fullness of time Anna 60 70 80 years it was because the fullness of time was God's ordained time there's nothing that they could have done to speed this up or maybe if we went out and and made better roads and a lot of you know in some sense was every time we talk about fullness of time we say all the Romans came in and built the roads right yes they built the roads and it made the access a lot easier but couldn't God have done that did God have to wait until way way wait it's not time because I'm waiting for the Romans to conquer Alexander and we have to wait right couldn't God have just said couldn't have just made the roads right oh we didn't wait until the the language is all unified and they all spoke Greek so when Paul went and preached that they could understand each other true all of that was a huge help but he's the one who divided them in the first place the reason why they couldn't understand each other is because he said boom you know you guys get together speak the same language and look what you do with it right you become arrogant proud want to become like me so he's the one who confused him so couldn't he have just and then all of a sudden everybody's like hey like I we understand each other right Google Translate could have happened thousands of years ago if you want it right so yes all of these things were helpful but I think when the Bible says the fullness of time when the Bible says God gave the law and the purpose of the law was to make it make sure that sin became utterly sinful that the law had to take its natural course kind of like a drowning man and if you probably heard this illustration before a drowning man the way they train to jump into the pool is that don't jump in jump to save that person until he is helpless because a drowning man who's reaching and scratching when you jump in they're gonna grab you and you're gonna sink together so what they do is they wait until their helpers and they run out of fight and then you can go grab that person and then bring them back well that's basically what the law was was here to do was to reveal sin and to make it utterly sinful so they'd have to take his natural course where people are fighting and scratching and I'm gonna do this I'm gonna do that and then when they get to a point like nothing has worked nothing has worked and then if you look at Jesus's ministry the three on from a human perspective for three years he poured himself out in this three particular cities right near Galilee and at the end of it what does he say to them if the same things were performed to tire and sight and they would have repented long ago so after three years stirring and fatigue they reject him and by the time he's he's on the cross humanly speaking if he was successful you would think that there would be a mob running and say you can't crucify him instead at the end of his life the mobs are saying crucify him crucify him so in every way humanly speaking it was an utter failure if the purpose of Jesus's ministry was to gather a large crowd and to and to go out with a bang then it was an utter failure see what Jesus's ministry was an extension an intensified extension of what God was doing through the nation of Israel with the law they failed again and again and again and again absolutely helpless and then Jesus comes and if you look at his ministry instead of people's passion for God growing the very few people who he came to love end up crucifying him on the cross it was one thing for people from a distance hearing saying you know what we reject God's law we reject the prophets but as another thing when the Son of God himself comes and he's face to face in his and then they say we reject him so if you're talking about when Israel was at its darkest in his history was when Jesus was headed to the cross every possible opportunity was given to them and they said no it was in that darkness Jesus reveals himself now when the scripture says that he demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners and that's what we need to come to understand when he said while we were yet sinners we weren't passive sinners we were actively actively backs blaspheming him actively rejecting him and is in that context where it says the fullness of time the fullness of time meant the sin became utterly sinful and mankind was absolutely helpless it brings us to a point where we throw our hands up is I can't do this it is not me see every single one of us there's a part of us that thinks there's a part of us that thinks that we can do it right there's a part of us maybe not preaching maybe not evangelizing but there's certain things that you're good at if you happen to be you know a lawyer you know and your job is to argue and argue you know and you don't that's you that's your expertise so in that area in that area we think I can do this remember after the resurrection Jesus meets the fishermen he meets his disciples and they're fishing all night they caught nothing right and Jesus says throw the net in remember what the disciples said it's like we've been fishing all night we've been fishing all night we're professional fishermen and we've been fishing all night and we caught nothing and you a carpenter I know you're the Messiah you know even after he was resurrected from the dead I know you resurrected from the dead and the only reason why we're gonna do is because you're telling us but we're fishermen we're perfect we know how to catch fish right you know how to preach you know how to heal people but we know how to catch fish but because you said so we're gonna do it so remember what happens they put it in they catch so much fish they can't even pull it up by themselves and Peters they're actually counting and I heard a funny story that people said that maybe maybe they counted because Matthew the tax collector was with them and he was counting because that was his habit and I mean he counted it so you owe me and then they say oh shoot forgot I'm a disciple now I'm no longer a tax collector right see that's a tendency for all of us because whatever every single one of us there's an area that we're not good at there's an area that we're good at and the things that we're good at we have a tendency to think I can fix it first and foremost is to come and rest in him to recognize that when it comes to this matter of following Christ and knowing him our salvation every single one of us is absolutely helpless and but to be helpless doesn't mean okay now since I'm helpless I do nothing I just I just sit here and let God do whatever he wants there's actually the word that is used here say where Simon Simeon waited for the Lord the word here waited is that in the New Testament the Greek word is pros decamite and the pros decamite means to actively search that's that's the word that is used for weight in the New Testament so again when you put it all together it means to be bound it means to rest in him but in this binding in this resting we are apt actively seeking that's the word that is used in Luke chapter 12 36 or 37 when we are told is that be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast the word waiting here is pros decamite the same word that is used to describe Simeon's waiting that he wasn't just at the temple he wasn't just at home kind of like huh when is this gonna happen he actively sought the Lord that was the biblical waiting and that's why he says when we are waiting for his second coming we are not to sit passively and say well he didn't come today just like Anna at the temple actively praying and fasting seeking and being ready who knows when he's gonna come who knows what God's gonna do when he's gonna do it and so they actively sought him out in lamentations 325 that Lord is good to those who wait for him to the soul who seeks him it is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord and let me again wrap up with this in Jeremiah 29 13 says you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart are we waiting for the Lord I know that in a week and a half we're gonna be celebrating Christmas we're gonna be talking about you know a lot of things then you know I don't know if it's as controversial as it is this year as it was in the previous years in the previous years the big fight was what we can't say Christmas right and everybody was so angry we can't say hey target won't let us say Christmas don't go to Target anymore right Costco won't say to they'll say Mary happy something but no Christmas and we're all creed we're all offended right and I think there's a place you know we live in a free country we could speak right we can vote and these are our rights we guess I don't think there's anything wrong with that but in the end so what so what if we get to say Christmas or not to say Christmas what is that how does that change our eternity how does that change the eternity of of souls who are lost because they say in fact it kind of gives a false sense of security somehow like we're winning the battle because we get to say Christmas that we get to pray you know at mayoral you know inaugurations or at the you know at football games we can we can say in Jesus names I guess we can do it now right in the end what is that what does that change in eternity in fact gives us a false sense of security that somehow we are winning this battle and that's actually more dangerous because in the end all it has done is just put up more superficial religious legalism it means nothing has no power in the kingdom of God our fight is not against flesh and blood it is not by our might nor by our power he says by his spirit and we can't force that we can't will that you can't have enough money to do that you can't be talented enough to have that so that's why first and foremost he says wait upon the Lord wait upon the Lord the consolation of Israel it's not a interesting word consolation of Israel the Savior the King the Messiah but here he said he's the consolation of Israel now if you look at in the context of book of Luke Luke is trying to present a human side of Christ and so Luke presents Jesus as the consolation the comforter and over over again the Bible describes God as our ultimate comforter he's our counselor you know the difference between sympathy and empathy and again those are you're gonna question me so I already looked it up you can look it up yourself okay empathy basically is to from a distance like I I didn't walk in your shoes but I feel for you right so I don't know what you're going I don't I can't relate to what you're going through but I feel for you that's empathy sympathy is somebody who's able to step in your shoes like you've been there so if you're a doctor or whatever field you're in somebody is in those shoes I can I can understand so some of you stay-at-home moms you'll sit and talk to other stay-at-home moms and immediately there's a connection because you can sympathize with each other right I talked to other pastor friends who are wrestling with the same thing and and we can sympathize with each other so there's empathy from a distance and sympathy because they walk their shoes walked in the same shoes well the scripture says in Hebrews 415 that we have a high priest who was able to sympathize with our weaknesses because he drew near to us he walked in our shoes so that we have a we have a mediator who sympathized because he was there and yet without sin therefore he says he's opened the throne of grace with to enter it with confidence to find in grace and mercy in times of trouble he says those doors have been opened so that you can come in seek him and to know him to wait for him and that's what they were waiting for and finally as a result of meeting him this is what Simeon prays in Luke 2 29 Lord now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word for my eyes have seen your salvation to put it in modern English not that this isn't modern English but to make it more modern right what he means by that is now I can die in other words this was it this is what I've been waiting for this was my hope this was my passion now I can die you know I meet people every once around say you know I don't want Jesus to come yet because I'm not married I need to be married that's one thing that I like that and that's the passion in life like I gotta get married he can't come now right well I don't have children he can't come now I just started a business he can't come now you know I put all I've been saving up my vacation to go to Europe he can't come now whatever it is that we have treasured in our heart and that's what we're waiting for that's what's gonna be in your mind it's gonna be in your heart wherever you wherever you put your treasure that's where your hearts gonna be so if you're eagerly anticipating and your hope is in your next iPhone that I mean you know again I got a new galaxy note 4 so I'm not you know what I mean I'm not judging you right I'm just saying if that becomes our treasure if these silly little things becomes our treasure and then we get together we could tell right away what we are passionate about you know this is coming it's not here yet but what kind of apps what's the best app for this thing and you're always looking up like what's what's the best case for this what's the best case you know what I mean what can you do well look at the quality of the picture and you're just like this is it this is it and these trivial things we get entangled with it we know we know it's trivial we have so many things that we we kind of get entangled within and then we just kind of go from one gadget to a next one event to a next one thing to the next and we find out that our heart is not waiting for him at all if Christ came would you say now I can die that this is what I've been praying for this is what I've been waiting for so our challenge through our Christmas season is the world is gonna be busy buying presents getting together they're gonna all this stuff is happening but it's a great opportunity if there's any period in the year where you can openly talk about your faith is during Christmas talk about I'm going to church a Christmas service you know it's Christmas Merry Christmas right so what do you mean by that you can share the gospel if there's any time where you can take advantage of the of the culture that we live in it's Christmas but in order to do that we have to wait for the Lord we have to be rested in the Lord if we're anxiously running around to fix things and not recognize the author of life is with us that we have access to him then all this opportunity that we have we're just gonna blow it so my prayer is again as Christmas is coming up in the midst of busyness in the midst of all the things that that we're involved with that we take some time to step back and recognize what it is that got crisis given and that we can honestly say Lord we are waiting on you would you take a minute to pray with us as we invite the praise team to come up let's pray that God would help us to use the time that we have use a Christmas season to redeem it for for him redeem it for ourselves that we can use this opportunity the vacation time that's coming up you know not just to be busy we're running around with families in buying presents but really take some time to meditate and think upon what his incarnation means to us how should that affect my family my life my future who are the people around us that would be a great opportunity to share the gospel with and to use that opportunity so let's take a few minutes to come before the Lord in prayer