The Song of Simeon (Part 2 of 2)

Sometimes, when we pray, we think we know what the answer to our prayer should look like. And our expectations can then cloud our understanding or our acceptance of God's answer.

Today on Truth for Life, we'll see why those expectations matter. Alistair Begg is teaching from Luke chapter 2. We're beginning today in verse 21. Let me suggest to you that the emphasis of this section, the total section, is on salvation. What is it that Simeon prophesies? It is about the nature of Christ bringing salvation.

What is it that he prays? It is about his eyes having seen salvation. Why the reference to his name Jesus? Because of the fact of the significance of the name in the line of Joshua—essentially the same name—this Jesus is the great Deliverer. What is this salvation for which Simeon was waiting?

My eyes, he says, have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people. What was the expectation of Israel at the time of the birth of Christ? They were looking to be rescued from the hand of our enemies and to be enabled to serve God without fear. But if they listened carefully to Zechariah's song, then they would have realized that the Holy Spirit was moving their minds in a different direction. And in verse 76 of chapter 1, speaking of the role of John the Baptist, he will be called a prophet of the Most High. He will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him. Then verse 77, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins.

Well, that must have been a bit of a hammer blow, don't you think? John the Baptist steps out of the wilderness, and how shocked they must have been at the way in which he addressed them as they came to the baptism service. Look at what he says to them in verse 7 of chapter 3. You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath you bunch of snakes coming out here to get baptized? You say you've turned around, produced fruit in keeping with your turnaround. And don't start saying to yourselves again, We have Abraham as our father.

Do you get the picture? See, they're thinking nationalistically. They're thinking in terms of a national deliverance. They're thinking of the fact that God will come, show himself strong, and that they will be what they desire to be. And God comes, and he says, I am going to bring a deliverance for you, but not along the lines that you're anticipating. It wasn't very palatable, and it isn't very palatable today to the Orthodox Jews at the Wailing Wall to be told that, listen, God can raise children of Abraham out of stones if he pleases. The Jews said, No, that's not possible.

You've got to have the right lineage, you've got to have the correct parents, you've got to come down through the right channels, or you're not a real Jew. That's the debate at the Wailing Wall. Who are these people that came from America? Who are these conservative folks? Who are these weird folks? You get away from here.

You go back to America. We're the real people. We're the ones that know. They have a zeal for God, but it is devoid of knowledge. What knowledge? The knowledge of salvation.

How? Through the forgiveness of their sins. What is the way of salvation? What is the deliverance that God performs?

It is a deliverance from sin, forgiveness that he grants. And there is the verse that I was quoting to you, for I can testify, verse 2, about them, that they're zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. They're zealous, but they don't have knowledge.

What is the knowledge that they lack? The knowledge of salvation. How does the knowledge of salvation come? Through the forgiveness of sins. How does forgiveness of sins come? In the person of Christ.

If they then reject the person of Christ, there is no possibility for the forgiveness of sins. Therefore, they are left only with a zealous externalism which cannot cure the heart of man. And that's where our Jewish friends and neighbors are, and how our hearts yearn for them.

How we long for them. That they would understand that here in this Galilean carpenter is the one of whom their prophets spoke, is the fulfillment of the suffering servant, is the victorious king, is the reigning Messiah, is the Lord in all his glory. But since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. Where is God's righteousness revealed? In the person of Christ.

Why are those people walking around with all these things on their heads and all these tassels hanging from their ears and all the things strapped to their wrists? Because they are devoid of knowledge and full of zeal. And Paul says, Since the gospel I have been called to proclaim is a universal gospel and has liberated me from all of that bondage, my heart's desire for Israel is that they might be saved. And when he goes on into chapter 11, you find him saying in verse 13, I'm talking to you Gentiles, and as much as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but actually life from the dead? Do you pray for your Jewish friends?

I spent quite a considerable time this week asking myself a question, and I couldn't come up with a sensible answer to it, but I sat for a while just chewing the cud and asking myself this question. Would the apostle Paul have been a member of Jews for Jesus? In other words, would he have been prepared to forsake the Resurrection Day celebration and worship, and worship on a Saturday evening? Would he continue to encourage the participants to wear the same prayer shawls, to engage in the same Judaistic routine? Would he have done that? Would he have done that in light of the battle that he fought with Peter? Would he have done that in light of the council of Jerusalem in Acts 15? And you know what?

I don't think he would. And therefore, I am not engaging in evangelism to tell a Jewish person to become a Jew for Jesus. I'm engaging in evangelism to tell a Buddhist, a Muslim, a Jew, a Hindu, an agnostic, a New Ager, a Scientologist, the story of salvation—a light for all the peoples, deliverance for the Gentiles, glory for the people of Israel, which creates what?

It creates a totally new community. And the community is convened not around the lineage of the past, albeit Judaistic or otherwise, but is convened around the fact of an empty tomb, a risen Christ, and a sovereign Lord. And there is no Jew or Gentile, barbarian, Scythian, bond or free, ex-homosexual, ex-drug addict, ex-porn old merchant.

We don't come around and describe ourselves in those terms. That's what we used to be. But we've now been made brand new in Jesus. That's salvation.

And that was Paul's passionate longing. He doesn't start Jews for Jesus. Now, please, for those of you who give money for Jews for Jesus, don't go away and start canceling your subscriptions and everything. These are just the meanderings of a weird Scotsman on the subject. And I haven't given a lot of thought to it.

But I have decided that Paul would not have been a paid-up member of the group, for the reasons that I've just delineated. Because he was constantly urging those who were coming out of his background to see that all those things he regarded as dung for the sake of Jesus Christ. And if he regarded them as dung for the sake of Jesus Christ, why in the world would he then institute his worship services with a pile of dung? Now, that's about as crude as Paul put it, and that's about as crude as I can reiterate it. So, when we talk salvation for the Gentile and for the Jew, we are talking about one way for each and a radical transformation. Now, let me draw this to a close.

Here's the issue. The deliverance the people desired was not the deliverance the people required. The deliverance they desired was not what they required. Now, you don't have to stay in the opening chapters of Luke for this.

You can go all the way through the book. For example, if you go to Luke chapter 19—and you just try it with me for a moment if you would—here we've got the triumphal entry into Jerusalem. And what are the people doing? They are singing the songs of deliverance, throwing their cloaks on the ground.

The kids are coming with the palm branches. They are taking up the Old Testament pictures, and they're saying to one another, verse 38 of Luke 19, "'Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the LORD, peace in heaven and glory in the highest.'" Isn't it interesting that after such a tumultuous welcome, the very next thing Luke tells us about Jesus and what he's doing is what? He's crying. Crying!

You would have expected that he got the guys together and goes, Hey, that's the way I like to go to Jerusalem. That's a good… I'm pleased to see these people have got it. They know who I am. They know why I've come. They're singing the songs. They're waving the branches. The Old Testament prophecies are being fulfilled.

There's none of that. Jesus approaches Jerusalem, sees the city, weeps over it, and says, If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace. Because he sees into their hearts, and he knows that the same people who are singing huzanna in chapter 19, verse 38, are shouting, Crucify him! in chapter 23, verse 23. Because when Pilate comes to the group and says, Do you want Barabbas or do you want Christ?

with loud shouts, they insistently demanded that he, namely Jesus, be crucified, and their shouts prevailed. Why? Because they must have said to one another, You know, I had a notion—I didn't want to say to anybody—but I had a notion when he came on that donkey that we had got the thing wrong. Because you would have expected that if he really was the king, he would have come on a bit of a better horse, and he wouldn't have come just with that ragtag and bobtail group that he's been hanging around with all the time.

You would have thought that he would have had a real entourage and would have made his presence felt. And I had a sneaking suspicion that it was going to go badly wrong. But I didn't think it would go this badly wrong. I didn't think he would go in that garden of Gethsemane and be betrayed and picked up and put in the jail, and I didn't think they would ram a crown on his head. But we know now that this can't possibly… There's no possibility of deliverance here!

Let's fold that idea! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Look where he is! Look what they're doing to him! He's supposed to be the victorious Christ! He has no victory about this!

Let's move on! And even after the resurrection, they're still there. The last chapter of Luke's Gospel.

What do you find? The two guys on the road to Emmaus, one called Cleopas, is it? And his buddy. And they're miserable! And they meet a stranger who says to them, Well, you know, what's on? And they reply, and I love the irony of this, verse 18 of Luke 24, Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem? And do you not know the things that have happened there in these days? This is to Jesus, right? They don't know it's Jesus. Are you just visiting Jerusalem?

Just around for a few days? I'm surprised that you haven't heard what was going on. And what does Jesus do? He didn't stand up and go, Excuse me! Let me just let you know who you're talking to here for a moment.

No, no. He plays along with them. He goes, What things are you talking about? Well, they said, Well, we're actually talking about Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus of Nazareth?

He must have said, Tell me about Jesus of Nazareth. Well, he was a prophet. He was powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. We remember the miracles he did. We remember the things he said.

It was fantastic! But the chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him. Notice verse 21, But we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.

Redeem them how? Liberation. Deliverance. Goodbye, naughty Romans.

And here we are. You see, they were concerned for God to provide them with what they wanted. They wanted to bow before a God whose activities were directly answering their own felt needs.

And if you can make the shift as I move to a close in your mind for a moment, I think there's a logic in my progression of thought here. When we conceive of God in such a mistaken fashion, and when we scale God down to our own size, then the notion of salvation, the notion of deliverance, the notion of redemption is dwarfed, it is diminished. And the central issue is then less the redeeming activity of God on the part of man, and it becomes what man wants from God.

Let me say that to you again. When we get a mistaken notion of who God is—just take your eyes off the Bible, and you'll be there—when you get a mistaken notion of who God is, then God will actually become the projection of our best thoughts. As in Acts 17, for example. They had all these shrines to all these different gods, and one to the unknown God.

So God is what we conceive him to be, and then God, whoever this conception is, will then come and presumably give us what we want. So what we're worshipping, then, is not God but is actually an idol. If you've ever gone to the Orient, you will know that they have all kinds of idols.

And in China, they always take virtues and personify them in deities. And if you've traveled there at all, you will know that there are three of them that always show up together. That is Fu, Lu, and Shu. And you can find them in twenty-four-carat gold, put on little teak plaques, and they'll sell them to you all over the place. They'll sell them to you on Singapore Airlines, if you're crazy enough to pay a hundred and fifty dollars for them.

And why would you ever buy them? Well, because of what they represent. Fu represents peace, Lu represents success, and Shu represents longevity. Peace, success, and longevity. Wouldn't you like that? Let's be honest now.

Yes? I'd like peace, I'd like success, and I'd like longevity. Well then, let me tell you, if you come to Christ, I'm going to offer you peace, success, and longevity. In fact, I can put them in any order you want.

Would you like success first, followed by a little peace and then longevity? What if I started to do that on Sundays? Would the crowd expand or diminish? Probably expand. Go down there. There's a guy called Begg. He's offering peace, success, and longevity. He says that Jesus came to bring it. It's everything we desire. Let's go down there and get some. What do you have to do?

Not a lot. It's called the prosperity gospel. You can tune in on Christian TV and watch it night after horrible night. It is idolatry of the worst form. But you see, the salvation we desire is not the same as what we require. Someone else says, Well, I'm not really interested in prosperity.

I'm at the other end of the scale completely. I like the idea of liberating people from their bondage to disease and from their difficulties and from their homelessness, and I'm the habitat for humanity, man. And I think the answer to it all is in building houses for people.

It is wonderful to help people, and it is nice to build houses for people, and it is a wonderful thing to be able to remove individuals from squalor. But that is not the gospel. For the squalor and the deprivation from which Jesus came to remove us is the squalor of the human heart.

And it is only when God turns the lights on that we'll understand it. When the prodigal leaves home in Luke 15, around the middle of the chapter, maybe around verse 12, he leaves with a request and he returns with a request. You remember, he comes to his father and he says, Give me.

Give me what I deserve, give me what I want, and I will go and I will do what I choose with this. The request with which he returns is not give me but make me. Because he discovered that the salvation he desired was not to be found down there in Fat City. He was on a dead-end street with success. His friendships had hit the fan.

His prosperity had molded on him. He was in a pigsty. What sort of gospel would it be to go to a guy in a pigsty and say, Hey, cheer up, Charlie.

You could be in a worse spot than this, you know. What good is a gospel that leaves people in pigsties? And that's the gospel of the twentieth century. It holds out the appeal of success and peace and longevity and delivers a pigsty.

And once in the pigsty, it has no possible means of liberation. Can I ask you this morning, are you able to say with Simeon, Permission to die, Lord? I've seen your salvation. I've seen that what I desire and what I require are not one and the same. I actually have been desiring a number of things. I've been desiring—somebody spoke with me this week. They said, You know, I think that I desire to help people, and I desire to be more spiritual.

And I said, Those are wonderful desires. Why do you feel you should do that? Answer, Because I think if I help others and if I get more spiritual, I will feel much better about myself. So in other words, it's driven not by philanthropy, it's driven by total selfishness. It starts with me, and it ends with me. That's not the gospel. So can I ask you again? Have you ever said, Lord, I ask for permission to die? I can die any time now, because I have seen your salvation. I understand what Jesus came to do.

I understand that the problem I have is not external to me, it's internal to me. And I ask you to grant to me a knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of my sins. And the Bible says that whoever calls out to God in that way, God will never ever turn him away. God always hears and welcomes our prayers, but we don't always want to hear what we need to hear. That's Alistair Begg explaining that everyone needs to hear the gospel of Jesus.

If you're listening to Truth for Life, Alistair will be back shortly. This message of salvation is universal. We're called to share it with everyone. And that's what your partnership with Truth for Life makes possible. The gospel message is what we proclaim every day on this program. And we're able to do it because of the generous giving that comes from listeners like you, so that people from every walk of life anywhere in the world can hear this good news through Alistair's teaching without cost being a barrier. As the year is winding down, we want to make sure you know we rely on support from listeners like you so that Truth for Life can end the year and begin the new year with the resources we need to be able to move forward with this ministry.

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Go to truthforlife.org slash donate. Now here's Alistair to close today with prayer. Father, we thank you for your Word, and we thank you for the instruction that comes by means of these statements from Simeon. We pray that as we think about the nature of salvation and the universal nature of it, that you will enable us not to keep this good news to ourselves, but having taken, as it were, Christ in our arms and embraced him, that we would then want to share him with others. And for those of us who stand aloof from the salvation he came to bring, we pray, Lord, that you will help us to sort out the difference between desire and what we require. And now may your grace and your mercy and peace be with us this day and in the days of this week, for Jesus' sake. Amen. I'm Bob Lapine. There are a number of issues where it's entirely appropriate to remain neutral, but that's not the case when it comes to responding to the Gospel. We'll find out why tomorrow. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.