Luke 2:22-40

My gracious master and my God, assist me to proclaim, assist me to proclaim.

To spread through the earth the broads, the honors of thy name, the honors of thy name.

Amen.

And secondly, you may have noticed that half our church are still away on holiday.

Peter, our youth worker, is not here this morning and therefore the kids' church is not on.

The children are going to remain with us for the remainder of the service.

But we haven't forgotten them.

Just to say we've printed off a colouring sheet and a kind of puzzle sheet.

I see the boys excited down there.

If you want one of these, then just put your hand up at the start of the sermon and we'll come and deliver these to you.

Lawrence, if you want to come and read Luke chapter 2, verses 22 to 35.

Luke 2:22–35

If you'd like to follow along with me, you'll find the reading in the Pew Bible on page 1028.

And we're going to begin at verse number 22.

If you'd rather not follow on the screen.

But I'm going to read from the screen so that we all get the same reading.

When the time of their purification according to the law of Moses had been completed,

Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.

As it is written in the law of the Lord, every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord.

And to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the law of the Lord,

a pair of doves or two young pigeons.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon,

who was righteous and devout.

He was waiting for the constellation of Israel,

and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he'd seen the Lord's Christ.

Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts.

When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the law required,

Simeon took him in his arms and praised God,

saying,

Sovereign Lord, as you promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace.

For my eyes have seen your salvation,

which you have prepared in the sight of all people,

a light for revelation to the Gentiles,

and for glory to your people Israel.

The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him.

Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother,

This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel,

and to be a sign that will be spoken against,

so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed,

and a sword will pierce your own soul too.

There was also a prophetess, Anna,

the daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher.

She was very old.

She'd lived with her husband seven years after her marriage,

and then was a widow until she was 84.

She never left the temple, but worshipped night and day,

fasting and praying.

Coming up to them at that very moment,

she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child

to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.

When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the law of the Lord,

they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth,

and the child grew and became strong.

He was filled with wisdom,

and the grace of God was upon him.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you, Lawrence.

So just before Ian comes and speaks to us,

we're going to sing two songs.

Firstly, we're going to sing Tell Out My Soul,

and then we're going to sing Ten Thousand Reasons.

So let's stand if you're able for both.

Tell out my soul the greatness of the Lord,

Unnumbered blessings give my spirit voice.

Tender to me the promise of his word.

In God my Savior shall my heart rejoice.

Tell out my soul the greatness of his name.

Make known his might.

Make known his might.

The deeds his arm has done.

His mercy sure from age to age the same.

His holy name the Lord the mighty one.

Tell out my soul the greatness of his might.

Powers and dominions lay their glories by.

Proud hearts and stubborn wills are put to flight.

The hungry fed, the humble lifted high.

Tell out my soul the glories of his word.

Firm is his promise and his mercy sure.

Tell out my soul the greatness of the Lord.

Through children's children and forevermore.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul.

Worship his holy name.

Sing like never before.

O my soul, I'll worship your holy name.

The sun comes up.

It's a new day dawning.

It's time to sing your song again.

Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me.

Let me be singing when the evening comes.

Let me be singing when the evening comes.

Pastor Lord, O my soul, O my soul.

Oh, my soul, worship His holy name.

Sing like never before.

Oh, my soul, I'll worship Your holy name.

You're rich in love and you're slow to anger.

Your name is great and your heart is kind.

For all your goodness I will keep on singing.

Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find.

Bless the Lord, oh, my soul.

Oh, my soul, worship His holy name.

Sing like never before.

Oh, my soul, I'll worship Your holy name.

And on that day when my strength is failing, the end draws near and my time has come.

Still, my soul, will sing Your praise unending.

Ten thousand years and then forevermore.

Bless the Lord, oh, my soul.

Oh, my soul, worship His holy name.

Sing like never before.

Oh, my soul, I'll worship Your holy name.

Bless the Lord, oh, my soul, oh, my soul.

Bless the Lord, oh, my soul, oh, my soul.

Worship His holy name.

Sing like never before.

Oh, my soul, I'll worship Your holy name.

Lord, I'll worship Your holy name.

Yes, I'll worship Your holy name.

Good morning, everyone.

Good morning, everyone.

Thanks very much to Graham for his introduction and welcome.

I'm not going to read the passage again, but if you have a Bible, be handy if you return to Luke chapter 2,

Luke 2 · chapter mention

because we will be referring to it as we go along this morning.

I've called this final song, final hit that we're thinking about the song of a fulfilled life,

and I hope that you'll see the relevance of that as we go along.

This is John Glenn.

John Glenn was the first American astronaut to circle the Earth in 1962.

He then went on to become a senator for 24 years and was at once a candidate to become Democratic Party nomination for president.

He didn't get there.

But then in 1998, John Glenn became the oldest person ever to go into space when he was 77 years old.

He's now 92 and I believe still going strong.

After John Glenn went on his 1998 expedition, he held a press conference, and one of the things that he said was this,

old folks have ambitions and dreams too, like everybody else.

So why don't they work for them?

Why don't they go for it?

Don't sit on the couch someplace.

I suppose when we come to look at Simeon and Anna, we have a good example of old folks who weren't just sitting on the couch and waiting for the end of life.

Simeon was waiting for the end of his life, but he was waiting with a purpose that he knew he was going to see the Messiah before he died.

We assume that Simeon was an old man.

We're not told, but I think it's reasonable to assume it.

Anna certainly was old, depending on which version of the Bible you read.

You could read that she was 84, or you could read that she'd been a widow for 84 years, which would have made her well over 100 years old.

Probably the former is the case, but certainly a very old woman.

And yet Simeon and Anna, as elderly people, they weren't just sitting around aimlessly.

They were still eagerly serving the Lord and still looking for the Lord's blessing on their lives.

They had ambitions and dreams, but their ambitions were all to do with God and with the promises that he had made and with seeing them fulfilled.

Now, it's not the main theme of what we're going to talk about this morning, but I think for a few minutes, just if I can talk to those who are slightly older,

you can decide yourself whether you're slightly older or not in this morning,

I just encourage you to keep going in your Christian faith.

Very easy as we get older to think, well, there's not very much I can do.

It's all about the young people.

They're the ones who are the future.

Let's them get on with it.

And I'll just sit back a bit, enjoy the fellowship and the worship, but not be very actively involved.

Even if you're older, even if you're not generally that active, there are many, many things you can be doing for the Lord.

You can have real ambitions and dreams.

You can have a real purpose in your life.

Whether it's visiting others, whether it's giving a word of encouragement,

whether it's simply being a witness to those you come into contact with,

or if nothing else you can do if you can just spend time in prayer,

then you can still be very much part of God's work and active in Christian service.

I know we have many people at this church who are exactly like that,

who are still in their older years, are still very active for the Lord and serving him.

I had a bit of a reminder recently, I don't consider myself really old.

My son-in-law tells me I'm old, but in general, I don't think of myself as being particularly old.

But one of the highlights of this year at the church has been the mission rescue clubs that we've had for the children.

I've been a kind of a bit of a bit part player in mission rescue,

a kind of fetch and carrier and tidy her up and all that kind of stuff.

And I was reflecting that if this had been 30 years ago, I would very much have been in there,

I might indeed have been leading the whole of the mission.

That was what I did, that was how I learned in a practical way about Christian leadership.

Now my time in that, in working with children, I recognise has gone.

But I can still be involved, and I think particularly having been there and done it,

I should have some kind of understanding of what is involved in the kind of issues and problems

those leading and those working among the children face and encountering their work.

I also should be able to pray intelligently for them.

And again, if you're older, you may have been a leader in the church,

or you may have brought up a family, or you may have lived throughout your lifetime with singleness,

or you may have lots of experiences that you can look back on and draw on and be able to help and encourage those who are younger.

Don't think because you're older that there's nothing you can do.

And for the younger people, don't despise age.

Don't think it's all about you and that you're the ones who know everything and can do everything.

There's an enormous amount of experience and wisdom around our church.

Do get talking to the older people.

Find out about the kind of things, experiences, and knowledge of the Lord that they can pass on to you.

Together, younger and older, we can serve the Lord in our church.

That's slightly incidental, but I thought it was worth saying to begin with,

because we are talking about two older people.

Let's go back to the pastors and let me just give a bit of background into what's happening.

So Jesus has been born in Bethlehem,

and we had the activities of the first night when the shepherds came and visited him.

The wise men would come quite a lot later.

And then the practice of the Jews, the law of the Jews,

where there were a number of things that his parents had to do.

They had to have him circumcised on the eighth day,

and Luke records that they did that.

It wasn't in the passage you read, verse 21 of chapter 2.

And then after around 40 days, there were two things, two duties that his parents had.

One was that they had to take their firstborn son,

and they had to present him at the temple to the Lord.

They had to dedicate their firstborn son to God's service.

Now that goes back to Old Testament time, to the Passover,

when the firstborn sons of everyone in Egypt were slain,

except for the firstborn of the Jews.

And following on from that, the firstborn of every family should have been dedicated to the Lord.

A good example of that way was Samuel from the Old Testament.

Now by the Lord's time, the practice has slightly changed.

In general, the parents would make a payment into the temple treasury,

and that would kind of release them of their obligation to dedicate their firstborn to the son.

And it was the Levites who did looking after the temple and all that kind of stuff.

So that was one thing the parents had to do, though.

They had to dedicate their son to the Lord.

And the second thing they had to do, because Mary had been pregnant, had a baby,

she was considered unclean under the law, and they had to make sacrifices for that.

The sacrifices they made indicate they probably were relatively poorly off,

because those who were better off would have sacrificed a lamb,

and they sacrificed two turtle doves.

So they came to the temple to do these things,

and while they were there, they met Simeon.

Simeon, as I said, probably an old man, certainly a good man.

He was righteous.

That has something, I think, to say about how he dealt with other people,

that he was someone you could trust, someone you could rely on,

someone who did what is right.

And he was devout.

That certainly says something about his relationship with God,

that he spent time with God, that he wanted to follow God.

And as they were there, we have this song of Simeon.

I just want to make three points about that,

and we won't be too long this morning.

The first thing is that Simeon was filled with what I've called

a spirit-filled anticipation.

He was waiting for God's Messiah to come.

The word that's used here for waiting,

it says he was waiting for the consolation of Israel.

The word that's used there is used of three people,

or three groups of people, in the Gospel of Luke.

First of them is Simeon.

The second one we read later in the passage,

it is Anna and those who are around her who are waiting

for the Messiah, the redemption of Jerusalem.

And then right at the end of Luke's Gospel,

we have a third person.

It's Joseph of Arimathea who buried the body of the Lord Jesus,

and it says he was waiting for the kingdom of God.

The sense of the waiting is very much it was waiting with anticipation.

It was really looking forward to something that was going to happen

and waiting to welcome it.

Now, it has to be said, there weren't that many people in Israel at that time

who were waiting in that way.

The religion of the nation had become largely sterile.

It had become largely just following a series of laws set by the Pharisees and others.

And there were relatively few who were eagerly anticipating the Messiah who would come.

Perhaps not very surprising, given that it had been 400 years

since God had last spoken to the nation of Israel.

But Simeon was one who was waiting for God's time,

waiting for, it says, the consolation of Israel,

the one who would come to provide comfort and solace to Israel,

which I remember was then under Roman occupation.

And it isn't there, I think, for us, about waiting for God's time.

We have a schedule sometimes of how we think things should happen,

how we think things should be.

It's not necessarily God's schedule.

God knows what's best for all of us.

And we need, if we're Christians, if we know the Lord Jesus,

we need to wait patiently for his time.

If it doesn't come quickly, it doesn't mean it's not coming.

If we pray for something we don't seem to get an answer,

it doesn't mean we should stop praying if we're convinced

that this is something that would be God's will.

It means we should pray all the more

and wait for God in his time to give us the answer.

Second thing I put up about the Spirit-filled anticipation

was it was about responding to the Spirit.

You notice in the account that two, three verses describe Simeon

three times the Holy Spirit is mentioned.

Verse 25, the Holy Spirit was upon him.

In verse 26, it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit

that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

Verse 27, moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple court.

And indeed, there could have been another one

because I'm sure that his song was also inspired by the Spirit.

Here was someone who had the Spirit of God

and was being guided, was being led by it,

was being obedient to the Spirit.

And as we wait for God's time,

as we look for God's answers to our prayers,

it's important that we also allow ourselves to respond to his Spirit.

The Spirit is in all of us if we are Christians,

if we know the Lord Jesus,

and we need to be sensitive to the leading and guiding of the Spirit.

Unlikely we'll get the same kind of revelation that Simeon got

about not seeing death before the Messiah appeared.

But if we are sensitive to the Spirit,

then he will lead us,

and he will help us through all the circumstances of our lives.

So Simeon was a man who was waiting for God's time,

and he was responding to the Spirit.

The second thing I want to think about was specifically in his song,

and I've called it the worldwide salvation.

Verse 30,

My eyes have seen your salvation,

which you have prepared in the sight of all people,

a light for revelation to the Gentiles,

and for glory to your people Israel.

I think Simeon had been meditating on the prophecy of Isaiah,

because the words that he brings out

are very similar to those in Isaiah chapter 42,

Isaiah 42 · chapter mention

when Isaiah is looking forward to the servant of the Lord who would come.

This is what he says,

I will keep you and make you to be a covenant for the people

and a light for the Gentiles,

to open eyes that are blind,

to free captives from prison,

and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.

And of course,

the last part of that was what the Lord was preaching on

a little bit later on in Luke's Gospel,

as he preached what was the first recorded sermon that we know of his.

So Simeon had been reading the Scriptures,

he'd understood what God was saying,

he saw that the one who had come,

this little baby,

was the one who would bring God's salvation,

and his mind went back to the prophecy of Isaiah

that he'd been studying,

and he was able to echo that in his song.

Now the song is all about seeing,

and it's about light.

So the first thing he says,

my eyes have seen your salvation,

which you have prepared in the sight of all the people.

I've seen your salvation,

it's prepared in the sight of all the people.

Now the Lord Jesus came to give us sight.

The Bible tells us that we are walking around blind to God,

and the Lord Jesus came as the light of the world

to reveal God to us,

to open our eyes,

so that we can see what God is like,

so that we can see the way to God.

And Simeon says,

my eyes have seen your salvation,

just a little baby he saw,

wasn't anything particularly spectacular,

but he knew that through that baby salvation would come.

And my eyes have seen your salvation,

which you have prepared in the sight of all people.

Simeon knew that eyes were going to be opened by the Lord Jesus,

that those who were receptive would see him,

and would find salvation for themselves.

And then says Simeon,

he looks at the Jews,

and he looks at the Gentiles.

So this is verse 32,

a light for revelation to the Gentiles,

and for glory to your people Israel.

This is the first time in Luke's Gospel

that it says explicitly

that Jesus came to be saviour of Gentiles,

as well as Jews.

When the angel Gabriel came to Mary,

he talked about Jesus being a king

on the throne of David forever.

When the angels came to the shepherds,

they said it was good news,

which would be for all people,

or all the people,

but the shepherds may well have thought

that is just for the Jews,

for all the Jews,

because they are God's people.

Here Simeon says,

no, it's not just for the Jews.

It is something that will reveal God

to the Gentiles.

This one who has come to be the light of the world,

this one who has come to show us

what God is like.

He's not going to be restricted

to one nation in the Middle East.

He is the saviour who is here

for all the world,

for all who will believe in him.

That's a fantastic message,

that Jesus is there,

not just for any kind of select group of people,

not just for a few privileged folk.

He is there for anyone

who will put their trust in him,

who will believe that through his death on the cross,

that they can have forgiveness for sin,

they can enjoy his salvation.

The revelation was to the Gentiles

as well as to the Jews.

It doesn't mean that the Jews weren't special,

and aren't special,

because Simeon goes on and says,

for glory to your people, Israel.

And it is still special.

The Jews were for God's,

who are God's people throughout the Old Testament times.

They are still a very special people in God's sight,

because out of that nation of Israel

came the one who is the Messiah of the whole world.

And Jesus is, in a very real sense,

one who brings glory to that nation.

Israel is still seen in our world as being special,

perhaps a slightly different nation,

obviously caught up in the tensions

and turmoil of the Middle East,

but it is still the nation that God called to be his own.

It is a nation that we read about

that has a future with God.

It is a nation from which the Messiah came,

and for that, he is the glory of Israel.

The salvation that God gives,

that Simeon saw in that baby in the temple in Jerusalem,

it is for all of us,

all of us who will receive it.

And finally, Simeon doesn't just stop at the end

of what I suppose we may think of as his song,

but he has something more to say specifically

to Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus,

from verse 33 onward.

And I've called this a heart-rending revelation,

a heart-rending revelation.

Heart-rending for Mary.

Mary had the joy of being a new mother.

She knew that this baby who had been born to her

was very special,

and Simeon is the one who has to point out to her,

yes, the baby is very special indeed,

but it's going to cause great pain for you

and looking forward undoubtedly

to the death of the Lord Jesus.

So for Mary, there was something,

Simeon says, a sword will pierce your own soul,

that she would have to suffer the anguish

of seeing her son crucified,

and perhaps at that point not realising

that he would be raised again gloriously.

So it was heart-rending for Mary.

But I think heart-rending goes a bit beyond that.

Because the Bible tells us that the word of God

is like a sword,

and that it pierces between the bone and the marrow.

So it is something which reveals

the hidden things of our hearts.

And Jesus says, Simeon is someone

who is going to reveal the hidden things,

the things that people would rather keep secret

and would differentiate between one and another.

So he says in verse 34,

this child is destined to cause the falling

and rising of many in Israel

and to be a sign that will be spoken against.

When it says falling and rising,

it may mean falling and rising of one person

in the sense that they would be brought to their knees

as they realised their sin and then raised again

as they saw the salvation through Jesus.

I think more likely it's talking about

two different groups of people.

One whom it would be cause to fall

and one who would be cause to rise.

So for some people,

Jesus would be a stumbling block.

He would be someone they would see,

they would witness what he was doing,

they would hear what he was saying,

and they would turn away from him.

It would be unacceptable to them,

and particularly for the Jews,

when he went to the cross,

when he was crucified there,

that was, says Paul,

it was a stumbling block for the Jews.

And as Jesus forced people to make a choice

about who he was

and to think how that affected their lives,

for some it would be something that made them fall,

that turned them away from God in a sense

as they saw the goodness and the holiness of God

and how far short of it they were,

Jesus would be the one who would make them fall.

But for others, he would be the one who would make them rise.

The word that's used here for rise,

everywhere else that's used in the New Testament

is translated resurrection.

And I think that's appropriate,

that Jesus would be the one

who would raise those who trust in him to life,

that they would rise from the deadness of their sin

and their failure before God.

And they would rise,

they would be resurrected in newness of life.

It's what's symbolized when we have a baptism,

when someone goes down into the water

and comes up again,

they're raised to walk a new life.

And Jesus is one who divides us into two.

Either we accept him or we reject him.

If we reject him,

it means that we fall,

that we have to face the consequence

of our own sin for ourselves.

If we accept him,

then we're raised,

we're resurrected.

We come through his death and his resurrection

to know that he is our savior.

The salvation that Simeon talked about is ours.

Not because we've done anything particularly good,

but because we've looked at Jesus,

we've seen him as the son of God,

we've seen him as the savior of the world,

and we've put our trust in him.

And as well as falling and rising,

there is this thing of uncomfortable disclosure

that I've said.

The thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.

And ultimately,

it's our attitude towards Jesus

that reveals where our hearts are.

If we accept him,

if we recognize him for who he is,

then our hearts are in the right place.

Our thoughts are in the right place.

If we reject him,

then our thoughts are in the wrong place,

and we will have to suffer the consequences for that.

So to sum up,

let's take these three in reverse this time.

The three main problems we've talked about,

anticipation, salvation, and revelation.

Let's, as we summarize,

take them the opposite way around.

The first thing that Jesus does

that we learn from Simeon's song

is that he reveals the inner thoughts of our hearts.

That God's word,

as we read it,

as we understand what God is saying through it,

it reveals to us

our failure,

our inadequacy,

and it then either draws us to Christ,

or it leads us to reject him.

But it reveals who we are,

it reveals what we are

before God.

Then there is salvation.

If we put our trust in the Lord Jesus,

if we believe that he took our place

on the cross at Calvary,

then we are saved.

If we believe he died and rose again,

then we know for ourselves

God's salvation.

The challenge this morning

is do we know the salvation of God?

Do you know God's salvation in your life?

And then there's anticipation.

400 years, we said,

between the end of the Old Testament

and when the Lord Jesus was born.

Nearly 2,000 years now

between when the Lord Jesus

was taken up into heaven,

when he ascended into heaven,

and where we've got to now.

Do we still live in anticipation

that the Lord is coming back?

If we know him,

is this something that affects

our thoughts and our actions?

That Jesus is returning.

We don't know when.

It will be unexpected.

But he is coming back.

Are we prepared for him to come back?

Are we looking forward

to him coming back?

Let me finish by reading you

some verses from Paul's letter to Titus.

Now again, the word wait

is used in this.

It's used in connection

with the Lord's second coming,

but there are also a number

of other themes

that we thought about this morning.

Titus chapter 2,

Titus 2 · chapter mention

Paul writes,

for the grace of God

has appeared

that offers salvation

to all people.

It teaches us to say no

to ungodliness

and worldly passions.

It reveals these to us,

teaches us to say no,

and to live self-controlled,

upright,

and godly lives

in the present age

while we wait

for the blessed hope,

the appearing of the glory

of our great God

and Savior,

Jesus Christ,

who gave himself for us

to redeem us

from all wickedness

and to purify for himself

a people that are his very own,

eager to do

what is good.

The grace of God

has appeared

that offers salvation

to all people.

And those who have accepted

that salvation

wait for the blessed hope,

the appearing of our great God

and Savior,

Jesus Christ.

Do you know that salvation?

Are you waiting eagerly

for the Lord to come

and to take you

to be with himself?

Simeon wasn't afraid of death.

All that he wanted

was to see the Lord's salvation,

the Lord Jesus,

before he died.

He could then go

knowing that his life

had been fulfilled,

that he had achieved,

all that he wanted to achieve.

He could go peacefully

to his death.

Are we ready

to meet the Lord?

Are we looking forward

to being with him?

Let's pray together.

Our Father,

we thank you

for your word to us

this morning.

We thank you for Simeon,

for this probably elderly man

who had this one ambition

in life

to see the Messiah

before he died.

we thank you for the way

you had revealed that to him.

We thank you for the patient

and way in which he anticipated

the Lord's coming.

Thank you for the way

he walked in the Spirit.

And thank you for the way

that you did indeed reveal

your son to him.

We pray that you'll help all of us

to examine ourselves,

to look at that revelation

of ourselves

that your word brings,

to ensure that we know

the salvation

that comes through Jesus Christ,

and then to live

in anticipation

of the Lord's return

or of going to be with him

through death.

We thank you for your word.

We thank you for the time

of worship we've had this morning.

And we just commit ourselves

to you now

in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Back to Graham.

John 8 verse 12 says this.

John 8:12

Again, Jesus spoke to them saying,

I am the light of the world.

Whoever follows me

will not walk in darkness,

but will have the light of life.

Let's close our service

and let's sing,

In Christ alone,

my hope is found.

He is my light,

my strength,

my song.

In Christ alone,

my hope is found.

He is my light,

my strength,

my soul,

this cornerstone,

this solid ground.

firm through the fiercest drought

and storm.

What heights of love,

what depths of peace,

when fears are stilled,

when strivings cease,

my comforter,

my all in all,

here in the love of Christ

I stand.

I stand.

In Christ alone,

who took on flesh,

for this of God

in helpless faith,

this gift of love

and righteousness,

scorned by the ones

He came to save.

Till on that cross,

as Jesus died,

the wrath of God

was satisfied.

For every sin

on Him was laid,

neither the death

of Christ I live.

There in the ground

His body lay,

light of the world

by darkness slain,

and bursting forth

in glorious day,

but from the grave

He rose again.

And as He stands

in victory,

sin's curse

has lost its grip on me,

for I am His,

and He is mine,

bought with the precious blood

of Christ.

No guilt in life,

no fear in death,

this is the power

of Christ in me.

From life's first cry

to final breath,

Jesus commands my destiny.

No power of hell,

no sleep of man,

can ever block me

from His hand.

Till He returns,

from course,

behold,

here in the power

of Christ I stand.

No power of hell,

no sleep of man,

can ever block me

from His hand.

Till He returns,

or calls me home,

here in the power

of Christ I stand.

Do you please have a seat?

And let's finish

by reading those words again

from Isaiah 40

that we read

at the outset,

and in light

of everything

that Ian's brought to us

from God's word

this morning.

Why do you say,

O Jacob,

and speak,

O Israel,

my way is hidden

from the Lord,

and my right

is disregarded

by my God?

Have you not known?

Have you not heard?

The Lord

is the everlasting God,

the creator

of the ends

of the earth.

He does not faint

or grow weary.

His understanding

is unsearchable.

He gives power

to the faint,

and to him

who has no might,

he increases strength.

Even youths

shall faint

and be weary,

and young men

shall fall exhausted.

But they

who wait

for the Lord

shall renew

their strength.

They shall mount up

with wings

like eagles.

They shall run

and not be weary.

They shall walk

and not faint.

And all God's people

said,

Amen.

Folks,

that is the end

of our service.

Thank you so much

for coming.

Please do hang around

for tea and coffee,

which is to my right

and to your left.

And all that's left

to say is

have a great afternoon

and a very happy

new year

when it comes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'm going to go over to began

by each node.

Bye.

Bye.

Bye.

Bye.

Bye.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.