3 - God Wants to Save Us

STORY - Caleb was born. Katherine sent me an email. That day changed my life.

Luke 2:22–32 NIV

When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, 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 consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 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 have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.”

SIDEBAR - The offering that Mary and Joseph offered was the one given for people who couldn’t afford the normal offering. It was basically a way of God saying, if you’re poor, here’s an easier thing for you to do.

Just picture this scene with me for a moment

FROM THE VIEW OF SOMEONE IN THE TEMPLE

You’re sitting there in the temple courts, you’re worshipping and praying. (DESCRIBE THE SCENE) This guy you know, Simeon, he’s there. He’s told you about this prophecy before. Simeon is off somewhere else.

This unassuming couple walks in. They have a baby boy, they’re there to consecrate their first born. To dedicate him to the lord. (DESCRIBE WHAT THEY MIGHT LOOK LIKE)

You look over, you see Simeon walk in, he seems like he’s on a mission. He heads straight for this couple.

He stops them, asks to see their little baby. You see his face, and his face is pure joy. You’re eavesdropping at this point, and you hear him say “Luke 2:29-32 ““Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.””

You could drop a pin in the courts at this point.

Then this other woman walks over, her names Anna. (OLD, WORSHIPS ALL THE TIME). She sees Simeon, and she sees the child, and she walks over. And she starts to tell everybody.

That room, every person in it, they were all longing to be saved. (FROM ROMANS, FROM BONDAGE). And Anna, she’s telling anybody who will listen - ‘God’s plan - it’s this child. Everything he’s promised, everything he’s worked towards - He’s right here’.

And just picture that moment. Sitting there, listening, and looking at this little child. And being told -

This child is everything we’ve ever hoped for or dreamed for

STORY - A time I’ve been very aware of my own lack, my own shortcomings, my own weakness.

See, every person in that room. They knew what was wrong. They knew the lack. They had grown up under the romans. But they knew how God created them to be.

We all have that issue. That I think, deep down, we know that

something’s wrong

And we try to explain it away. We say, not being perfect is part of being human. And for sure, God didnt create us to be completely perfect.

But the issue isn’t that we’re imperfect. The issue is that we do wrong. ELABORATE

1 John 1:8–9 NIV

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

The bible says - God is faithful, he will forgive us and make us clean.

But sometimes, we embrace the faults.

Sometimes, we let the faults crush us.

He doesn’t want us to live with being broken - and he doesn’t want us to die from it either

See, the thing is, being wrong - it has a consequence.

And the israelites at the time - they had dropped the ball. They had sinned, left god, and were living in judgment. But thThey wanted to rebel against their problems.ey knew the prophecies. They were expecting a messiah, a saviour.

Some people want to rebel against their consequences

They expected a warrior king.

STORY - My kids are very good at stomping their feet and saying, NO I WILL NOT GO TO MY ROOM

But here’s the thing - God is just. As much as he’s love - he invented the concept of justice.

And the big problem here, it wasn’t the romans. it wasn’t them not being a nation, or not having the freedom they wanted. The big, BIG problem was their sin. Their brokenness. Their separation from God.

And the jews didn’t want to face that. They didn’t want to look in the mirror and say, the real problem’s in here, in me.

But, in life, you often have a second kind of person.

Some people think they have to be crushed by their consequences

They don’t expect the warrior messiah. They expected the wrathful judge. The banging gavel and the prison sentence.

They know their problems. They know their faults. And they’ve passed judgment on themselves.

STORY - i was really melodramatic, burnt ‘wife and kids’ on a piece of paper

I wonder how many of the jews saw it that way. They’d lived under opression for so long. They’d been occupied in some fashion by the romans for a few hundred years. Some of them even had the chance of being alive when Jerusalem itself fell to the Roman General Pompey.

When you live with failure, with brokenness. When you focus on your failures and faults - it can be extremely depressing. It can be demotivating and crushing.

Now, let’s go back to that mental image of the temple courts. We’re sitting there, there’s this great commotion. Anna is frantically talking to anyone around her. Simeon is holding up this little child. Picture it.

In this little baby, we have a new chance at life

See, Jesus came to earth, not to judge but to save. He didn’t come to kill - he came to die. The jews hoped for a sword and a throne, and they saw a cradle and a cross.

See, God is both justice and love. He knows that there’s a consequence, there’s a punishment. He knows we face death. And he doesn’t want us to - so he faced death for us.

Jesus saved us -

He saved us from ourselves

We’re meant to be imperfect, but not incomplete. God didn’t make us to have enough by ourselves - he made us to have enough when we were with him.

And the brokenness, the sin, the failure in ourselves. It’s poison. But rather than condemned, Jesus died to open a chance for us to be saved from that part of ourselves.

And this is better than any self-help book, it’s better than anything we can do ourselves. Jesus brings real, and true, and complete transformation. It takes time, and we need to stay faithful to it.

But Jesus saved us from our brokenness consuming everything we are and everything we would have become by ourselves.

He saved us from our punishment

And this is the justice side, and we’re not often comfortable with this. But even the smallest sin, the smallest failure - it was life ending. We stood condemned.

and in christ, we don’t have to look at our problems and say ‘that’s it. that’s the end. i’m done’. As much as Jesus saves us from ourselves, he saves us from the fate we set up for ourselves.

We don’t deserve life, we don’t deserve everything He has for us. But that tells us how GREAT God is.

Because

In Christ, we are new creations

STORY - my old life, i was shy, sad, and filled with self-hatred. I am something new.

We have new life. A new destiny. Whatever you were before, whatever you did - Christ died for it. You’re saved from that old person.

This news is so RIDICULOUSLY important, that when Simeon saw the baby jesus, he said, ‘ok Lord, i’ve seen your plan. You can take me home now.’

We don’t have to live with brokenness, and we don’t have to die from it. We have the power by the Holy Spirit, and by the sacrifice of Jesus, to be able to stand up and say,

‘I have been saved. I have a new life instead.’

INVITE AND PRAY