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[0:00] This morning, Luke chapter 2, starting in verse 21 and going to verse 38. Okay, Luke chapter 2, verses 21 through 38. We are kind of wrapping up, tying up, if you will, the Christmas series, even though I know we're beyond Christmas.

[0:17] Last couple of Sundays, we've been looking at the Herald of the Angels, how God was calling men to attention and pointing them to the event that was transpiring in history in a town called Bethlehem.

[0:29] And he was making sure or ensuring that all mankind would have the accurate information and have the opportunity as well. If you were here on Christmas Eve, you know that we very quickly looked at the account in Matthew of the coming of the Magi who came to worship and adore the king.

[0:47] This week, we're going to be in Luke chapter 2, verses 21 through 38 and see the public adoration of the king on the other end of the spectrum. The one thing that is simply amazing to me throughout the Christmas event is the broad range of people in which God saw fit to draw to himself when he became flesh.

[1:06] We have seen that he used the angels to herald this great message. First, he did it to a priest. He did it to the right person at the right place at the right time, right? He did it to Zacharias in the temple who was of priestly descent as he was standing before the altar of incense, offering up which was to be a visual picture of the prayers of the saints.

[1:25] And he appeared to him by way of an answered prayer. He appeared to them saying, Your prayers have been heard and have been answered. And Gabriel was there. So we have a priest at the right place at the right time.

[1:36] Then we also have the most unlikely of candidates, probably a teenage young lady in a poor town of Nazareth, not of any really great status, you would say, because as Scripture testifies itself, many people believed what good could come out of Nazareth or could anything good come out of Nazareth.

[1:56] And yet she was of the right family because she was a descendant of the lineage of David. If you were here the Wednesday night when we looked at the family which Emmanuel chose and we looked at the family tree as recorded in the lineages of Matthew and Luke, you would have seen that not only did Joseph have the right birthright, but Mary had it as well.

[2:16] Because according to the lineage of Joseph, Jesus has the right to the throne in the world's eyes or politically. He is of the right descendants politically to have the right to the throne.

[2:27] But God had pronounced the curse on the descendants of Jeconiah, or as he is referred to in some of the Old Testament passages, Coniah, that no descendant of his would ever sit up on the throne of David.

[2:38] And we know that Joseph is of that lineage, but Mary is of the lineage of David, but does not go through Jeconiah because she actually comes through the son of David, Nathan, who is just mentioned one time in Scripture in the Old Testament and never is ever connected to the throne other than the lineage of Christ.

[2:57] So we've seen how God works it out through the right people, at the right place, at the right time. And then we saw how the angel appeared to the most unlikely, really, of candidates, people that no one else would really go out and tell this great marvelous news to, which would have been the shepherds in the field.

[3:13] The shepherds are really just the common, ordinary, working men who were doing their trade, who were considered unclean religiously by so many because of their occupation.

[3:25] They were outcasts, they were distant, they were isolated, and yet God called the outcasts to himself to worship at the throne, right? To worship at that feeding trough in that stable, and he was pointing them to the hope for all mankind.

[3:39] Really, the shepherds show us that he is the hope for all mankind. And then on Christmas Eve, we saw how the star appeared and led Magi from the east, which would have more than likely been the Babylonian region, and they would have come in response to what they did by occupation.

[3:55] They were astrologers. They would have come by prophecy, Numbers 24, 17. They would have come because God had called his people into captivity and raised up one of the young Jewish boys named Daniel to be the leader of the Magi many, many, many years prior to that.

[4:10] And God used that Babylonian captivity, and that one man, Daniel, who failed to bow down and worship the king, who failed to eat of the king's table, but was given a great gift of interpreting dreams to promote him so that many, many years later, some wise men would come from the east and worship, which shows us that God was reaching out and extending not only to Jewish outcasts, but also to the Gentile world because he is referred to, and we'll read it this morning, as a light unto the Gentiles, right?

[4:38] His light will shine forth, and he is drawing all men to himself. So we have been astounded how God was drawing and pulling and leading men to come to him or leading people to be in his presence, because really all of this is the work of God.

[4:52] It is God who draws people to himself. People respond to that leading or respond to that drawing, but it is God who is drawing these people to himself. And I want you to see just as much in the passage we have before us this morning and hopefully be as astounded by this work of God as he calls people to publicly adore and worship him as he comes and presents himself before them.

[5:17] So if you are physically able and desire to do so, I'm going to ask if you'll join with me as we stand together and we read from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 2, and we're going to start in verse 21, and we're going to read to verse 38.

[5:31] Luke records for us, And when eight days had passed before his circumcision, his name was then called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. And when the days for their purification, according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.

[5:48] As it is written in the law of the Lord, every firstborn male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord. And to offer a sacrifice according to what was said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons.

[6:00] And there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon. And this man was righteous and devout, looking 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.

[6:15] And he came in the spirit of the temple. And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to carry out for him the custom of the law, then he took him into his arms and blessed God and said, Now, Lord, you are releasing your bondservant to depart in peace according to your word.

[6:30] For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light of revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel. And his father and mother were amazed at these things which were being said about him.

[6:44] And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother, Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel and for a sign to be opposed. And a sword will pierce even your own soul to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.

[6:58] And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years and had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage and then as a widow to the age of 84.

[7:10] She never left the temple, serving night and day with fasting and prayers. At that very moment, she came up and began giving thanks to God and continued to speak of him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

[7:23] Let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much that you have given us this opportunity. Lord, what a privilege it is to gather together, Lord, in different settings and various locations, but Lord, to be gathered around your word.

[7:36] Lord, we pray that your word would speak to our hearts. Lord, we pray that the truth of it would captivate our thoughts, captivate our attention, and Lord, draw us closer to you. Lord, in the end, may you be glorified and honored and may you be exalted.

[7:47] We ask it all in Christ's name. Amen. You may be seated. We are looking at the public adoration of the king as found in Luke chapter 2, recorded for us in 21 through 38.

[8:01] It's one of those great encounters of Jesus that we have recorded in scripture. It is a very unique passage because it is only one of a couple of the glimpses we have into the life of Christ at a very young age.

[8:14] Most of what we have recorded of the life of Christ is recorded in about a three and a half year span, beginning as was supposed about 30 years of age. We don't know his specific age, but Luke tells us he was about 30.

[8:28] And we know that we have the years recorded for us of his public ministry, but we have a couple of glimpses into his early years, this being one of them. We have the instance of following this when he was taken to Jerusalem when he was about the age of 12, and remember he stayed back.

[8:44] But it is Luke who alone records for us these early glimpses. But what we see here in this one is this public adoration of this child. This child who is really at this time 40 days old, and we get that from the law.

[8:59] But I want you to see what it looks like to publicly adore, to publicly worship this king as he has come. And God is again the one making these things happen.

[9:09] He is the one who is providing the opportunity. And hopefully as we see this passage, we will see how the Lord alone is drawing people to worship and to adore him. His appearance was by no means ordinary, though he came in an ordinary way.

[9:24] It was no way normal, though it was a normal set of circumstances, which would have allowed it by every other person's viewpoint. But yet God is showing and drawing men to this child so that they may worship and adore him, as he is still doing today.

[9:39] We see, first of all, that this public adoration, this public worship, was an outcome of the desire of a searching heart. It is first and foremost the desire of a searching heart, which will publicly adore and worship.

[9:54] It says, And when eight days had passed before his circumcision, his name was then called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. This was to fulfill the law as recorded for us in Leviticus chapter 12, that after seven days before the eighth day had passed, they would circumcise the child.

[10:10] And on that day, his name would be given. And they were being completely obedient to what the word of God had commanded them to do. So on the eighth day, his name was given exactly what the angel had told them to do.

[10:21] Both Mary and Joseph both had been instructed as to what the name this child. So in fulfillment to the heavenly vision that was given them, and also in fulfillment to the requirements of the law, they did just as God had commanded.

[10:33] And when the days for their purification, according to the law of Moses, verse 22, which would have been 33 days following, so it would have been 40 days total. You get that from Leviticus chapter 12 again.

[10:45] You get this 40-day period would have been 80 days if it had been a female child, right? If it had been a young girl. But for a male child, it would have been 40 days. So when the days of their purification, according to the law of Moses, was completed, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, because as it is written in the law of the Lord, every firstborn male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord.

[11:08] So they would have had to pay the price of redemption, and then they would have had to offer this sacrifice. We'll get to that in just a moment. I want you to see this. We're looking at the desire of a searching heart, but that desire is met by something, and it is met by the fulfillment of the command of the law of God.

[11:25] Okay, God had given a law. We refer to it as the book of the law, the book of Moses, or the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, which speak of what the Jewish people believe the law of God.

[11:37] Everything in the Old Testament is actually referred to as the law later on in Jewish history. But we see here that what we see Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus doing is fulfilling completely what God had commanded through his law.

[11:52] Warren Wiersbe, who wrote great commentary, If you're ever a layman or someone just studying the Word of God, want to buy a commentary series, I very seldom recommend an entire series, or at least one author, an entire series written by one author, but one that I would highly recommend, and I've actually given it to individuals and continuously recommend it, would be the Warren Wiersbe Bible Commentary Series, which goes from Genesis to Revelation, because Warren Wiersbe wrote these as a, many of them had short collections, the B Series, as a result of Sunday school preparation.

[12:26] He was a Sunday school teacher, he was an associate pastor at a church in Covington, Kentucky, before he became senior pastor, just great study of the Word of God. But really, they're just common, ordinary writings that really just expound Scripture.

[12:39] I think I've introduced you to them before, but I love how Warren Wiersbe says about this passage. He says that in this passage, we find Jesus meeting three individuals. He meets Simeon and Anna, we understand those, we still do this, but he also meets Moses.

[12:53] He meets Moses first, because he is a fulfillment of the law of the Lord, or the law of Moses. He absolutely fulfills this. We are reminded in this, that Jesus did not come to abolish the law, but to what?

[13:06] To fulfill the law. So he met every requirement. And the reason I am amazed at this passage, is because Jesus is the only male child, in which we see these things literally taking place.

[13:18] God commands this, right? Every male child that opens the womb, shall be holy unto the Lord, is commanded in the book of Exodus, after the day, because of the Passover event. Remember the death of every firstborn male child, and after the Passover event, now every male child that opens the womb, either of animal or of person, shall be considered holy unto the Lord.

[13:36] If it's an animal, you offer it as a sacrifice. If it's a person, you pay the price of redemption for it, which would have been a number of shekels. But what we see here, is that also the command given to us, in Leviticus chapter 12, that on the eighth day, they shall be circumcised and named.

[13:50] And on the fortieth day, they shall be brought into the temple, and a sacrifice being made for them. And while we have those recorded for us, in the law, and we know that they were taken part, and we know that these practices were obeyed, Jesus is the only one, that we have the opportunity to read about.

[14:06] Why? Because all of the law, really points to Christ. And I want you to see this, and maybe I'm just stretching it a little bit, but I find this amazing. That all the way back in the book of Exodus, when God gives this decree, that every firstborn child shall be holy to the Lord, and all the way when he leads Moses to write the book of Leviticus, in Leviticus chapter 12, and he gives this great command, all along, God had in mind that there would be a day when Simeon and Anna would walk into a temple, and he wanted to make sure Jesus was there as well.

[14:36] Because see, the law, really, as Paul says, is the tutor which leads us to Christ. And here God is using his law to bring about this encounter by the fulfillment and the obedience of the law, that on that day, at that time, he was there because the people God was calling to worship him were there as well.

[14:55] And how do we know it was humming about? Because of this, look at what it says about Simeon. And Simeon was a man, it says in verse 25, and there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel.

[15:11] During these dark days, these wicked days, when so many things were happening and so many things were pushing against being righteous and so many things were pushing against being holiness, God still had his people, and one of those people was Simeon.

[15:22] And Simeon was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel. And where would he look for the hope of Israel? Where would his heart lead him to look for the hope of Israel? That would be where they would encounter the God of Israel, which would have been the temple.

[15:35] And there was also Anna. Her name means grace, right? Anna is there, and she's one of the most gracious people that we ever meet. Luke has a habit of introducing us into widows, by the way. But Anna is a widow.

[15:46] She had lived with her husband after their marriage for seven years and then until the age of 84. By the way, history says that Simeon was 113 years old. We don't know that. Nothing in Bible tells us that he was old.

[15:58] History tells us he was old, but we really don't know if that is accurate history or if that is just man's interpretation of history because the Bible never tells us his age. The Bible just tells us, as we'll get to in just a minute, no matter how old he was, he was ready to die after he worshipped the king.

[16:13] But what we do know about Anna, she's 84 years old. She had lived with her husband for seven years. After seven years of marriage, her husband had died, and then she lived until the age of 84. She didn't turn bitter.

[16:23] She didn't turn mad. She didn't come angry. All of a sudden, she became devoted because it said that she stayed in the temple with prayers and fastings and hoping and looking and longing. Look, she was searching with all of her heart the comfort and the presence that only God could provide.

[16:40] And where was she doing that at? She was in the temple. All I want you to see here is that those who publicly adore and those who publicly worship the king are those who have a heart that searches after him. I don't know if you've ever noticed this in your life, but I have seen it, in particular in church happenings.

[16:57] I've seen it in individual happenings. There are some people that when you talk to them about the things of Christ, they want nothing to do with it because really it's not a matter of intellect. You can convince them intellectually all you want to.

[17:07] You can argue with them and you can give them all the historical facts and you can give them all of the data and you can give them everything that you want to. And that's where apologetics comes in, right? And apologetics has its place because we are to always be ready to give a defense for the hope which we have in Christ, which means we should be able to answer those things.

[17:24] An apologetic is not an apology. It is also, it's just a defense for the gospel, right? But you can give all of the historical facts. You can give all of the geographical facts. You can give all the archaeological facts.

[17:34] You can give all this information. You can pour it out and never convince the individual because it's a matter of if the heart is searching for it or not. And if the heart is not searching for it, then it doesn't matter how much the mind believes.

[17:46] It doesn't matter how much the mind is convinced. If the heart wants nothing to do with it, neither will they. Those who worship really are those who have a desire of a searching heart. The heart has to be looking for hope.

[17:58] The heart has to be looking for comfort. The heart has to be looking for something outside of itself. And it is those individuals in which God draws to himself through the fulfillment of his word. God is using his word and his spirit to draw the people with a heart longing for it.

[18:13] Friend, this is why when God moves in us, he moves us through the heart first. There are things that my heart believed that my mind could never wrap itself around when I came to Christ. And I'm so thankful that later on, God began to open up my mind and give me a little bit of intelligence as to what he was saying there.

[18:29] Not that I've understand it, but I'm talking about for my own benefit because as I would question things intellectually, he would begin to open them up for me. But he always dealt with me first in my heart because there are questions that we never will intellectually ever be able to answer.

[18:41] We just need to go ahead and admit that. Mentally, we will never be able to answer every single question we have as it pertains to the things of God, but it's a matter of our hearts.

[18:52] And it is the desire of a searching heart to worship the King. That is why as we gather together, it is not how much we think, it is how much we feel. We must come to him with a heart, a broken and contrite heart are those who draw near to God.

[19:04] So we see, first of all, it's the desire of a searching heart. Secondly, we see it is according to the leading of the Spirit of God. Because while the heart may be searching, your heart in the end, as Paul would say, is desperately wicked because the heart of all men is desperately wicked.

[19:17] And the reality is, is that God has set eternity in the heart of all men. Ecclesiastes chapter 3. And the truth of the matter is, is that every heart is searching to find a longing and every heart is searching to be filled with something.

[19:30] And we also find a number of things to try to fill that vacuum in our hearts. And it is our heart that longs and wants something beyond ourselves, whether it be the thrills or the excitement or the adrenaline rush or whatever you may call it.

[19:46] We fill that heart with family. We fill that heart with possessions. We fill that heart with surroundings. We fill that heart with all things. And yet that heart pushes on. But until that heart knows that it is something beyond itself, and how are we going to ever know that?

[19:59] Because if we trust our heart, I've always told you that faith in Christ is not necessarily an emotional thing, right? You can truly believe in Jesus Christ, your Lord and Savior, never have any goosebumps.

[20:10] And you say, well, I didn't have this great emotional feeling, or I didn't have this great emotional excitement. And that's fine. Not every one of us are emotional. God uses your heart, but you must not depend on your heart. Because it is the spirit that draws the man, not the heart.

[20:23] The heart is searching, and the heart is longing. But it is the spirit of God that moves. Look at what it says. Though Simeon had a longing, he would have been nothing apart from the very next part we saw. He was looking for the consolation of Israel.

[20:35] He was looking. In a quiet way, he was looking. But only because of the very next things that we read will he ever find it. Because it says, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 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.

[20:52] Look at this. And he came in the spirit into the temple when the parents brought in the child Jesus to carry out for him the custom of the law. Do you see here the influence of the Holy Spirit? It is the leading of the Spirit.

[21:03] I am so thankful that God gives us a heart that has a longing, but I rejoice more in the fact that he has a spirit that takes that heart and leads it. Because the heart left to itself will not find the truth of Scripture.

[21:16] We do not base our faith based on our hearts, rather based on his leading. And here we see the influence of the Holy Spirit, how the Spirit is taking this man with a heart for the things of God, taking this man with a desire to know the hope and the consolation of Israel.

[21:30] And he is leading him to himself. Because that broken heart, that hurting heart, that longing heart will not be forsaking, but it is by the power and presence of the Spirit. Simeon responds really to the Spirit of God as he has proclaimed the Word of God, and he obeyed the will of God, and then he met the person of God.

[21:52] Because it was not left to himself. Again, we see God doing all things and drawing them to himself. When you came to faith in Jesus Christ, many of us can testify that there was some set of circumstances in our life that would have been God's way of preparing our hearts.

[22:09] There would have been, maybe for some of us, it would have been a tragedy. Maybe for others, it would have just been a life change. Maybe it would have been just a set of circumstances. But either way, there is this preparation. Maybe it was people going before you and telling the ground of your heart.

[22:22] Sidney Gibson, some of you are very familiar with Sidney Gibson. Brother Sidney was the interim pastor here before I came as pastor. He was also the interim pastor at Normandy. I sit under Brother Sidney's pastorate.

[22:33] He is the gentleman who licensed and then ordained me into the ministry. And Brother Sidney, I always loved how you say some of us have been called just to pick up stones in the field that God is preparing, right?

[22:44] I always thought like I was the rock picker-upper. I was the God who would go pick up stones out of the rock. And some of our hearts have been prepared because people went before us tilling the ground, tilling that ground. But it is when the Spirit of God begins to work in that heart that has been prepared and draws people to Himself, now we have worship.

[23:01] Because that heart, which has been prepared through circumstances and situations, and this is why we don't believe in any happenstances or coincidences. We know that God is doing something. Now the Spirit moves in and begins to implant the Word of God.

[23:14] Look at the Word that was given Simeon. You will not see death until you see the Christ. The Holy Spirit was upon Him. Friend, long before you ever came to believe in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit was upon you.

[23:26] You say, well, how do you know that? Because Paul says, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. While we were yet sinners, He died for us. And the only way we ever came to Him, Jesus also said, no one comes to the Father lest he be drawn by the Father.

[23:40] No one comes to the Son lest he be drawn to the Son. And the only way you are drawn is not because you chose to, but because His Spirit took your heart that was prepared for Him and began to move you. Friend, this is why if you're sharing the hope of Christ, you need to pray that their heart will be prepared, but you need to depend on the fact that the Spirit is going to use the Word that you proclaim.

[23:59] It is the Spirit's drawing and the Spirit's leading. We see the Spirit here pulling him to this divine encounter. And how great it is that Mary and Joseph are over here obeying the law of God, and the Spirit is moving Simeon to come to the temple of God, because the Spirit has a divine encounter, because at that moment when He came in, we see the leading of the Spirit of God here.

[24:23] Aren't you thankful? Don't ever stop being amazed. I think there is danger when we stop being amazed, because when we stop being amazed, we stop worshiping and we stop adoring Him.

[24:35] Never stop being amazed at the way the Holy Spirit moved in your life and took your heart that was prepared and put you at the right place at the right time to hear the right word so that you could worship the King.

[24:47] It was not your choice. It was not your doings. It was not your actions. It was the Holy Spirit that the Bible says hovered over the darkness of the voidless form of the earth in the early books of the Bible, right?

[25:01] All the way back in Genesis 1. It was the Holy Spirit that took your prepared heart and drew you to a divine encounter of Jesus Christ. And when we understand salvation that way, we can't help but worship.

[25:17] And we can't help but do the very next thing, the last thing that we see here. It is the desire of a searching heart. It is the leading of the Spirit of God. And third and finally, it is also the rejoicing of the sinner's freedom.

[25:29] It is the rejoicing of the sinner's freedom. Public adoration is nothing else than the rejoicing of the sinner's freedom. I am a sinner who have been set free because look at what it says in verse 28.

[25:42] In Simeon, it says, he took him into his arms and blessed God. He started worshiping God. He blessed God and said, now, Lord, you are releasing your bondservant to depart in peace. You are releasing your bondservant to depart in peace.

[25:54] Now, if he's 113 years of age, okay. But he could have been much younger than that. We don't know. The Bible doesn't tell us. And it really doesn't matter. All Simeon is saying, now I can depart in peace.

[26:07] Again, we go back to what Warren Wiersbe said here. That word depart is a very unique word because it has four meanings really in the original language and all four of them are really in a positive sense.

[26:18] Because to depart would be to release a ship to let it set sail. To depart would be to set a captive free. Or to depart would be to set something loose. Every one of them is to be set free or loosed from a bond so that you could go fulfill your purpose, right?

[26:34] And what Simeon is saying here is that I have been released from the bondage of this sin-filled life to go be in your presence. And there is this rejoicing. You're releasing your bondservant to depart in peace according to your word.

[26:47] Not according to my thoughts, not according to my feelings, but according to your word. Why? Verse 30. For my eyes have seen your salvation. Here is the rejoicing of the sinner's freedom.

[27:00] For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all people as a light of revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel. He begins to proclaim this release and this freedom which he has, understanding who he is, understanding where he is at, but also understanding who he is holding in his arms.

[27:19] This is the Savior of the world. This is the Messiah. And understanding that he has now seen his salvation, he is free to be released and depart in peace.

[27:29] We see later on with Anna as he is beginning, Simeon takes his praise and his blessing and begins to prophesy and encourage Mary and Joseph. Also Anna walks in at that moment in verse 36 and there was a prophetess, a female prophet, right?

[27:45] We find those throughout Scripture so let's not ever say that ladies did not have a prominent place in Scripture. We find a number of prophetesses in the Old Testament and we find a grouping of them in the New Testament as well.

[27:56] A prophetess would be one who would proclaim the truth of God. It is a foreteller, not a foreteller. That's a big difference, okay? Prophecy is foretelling, not foretelling. It can be foretelling to a bit.

[28:08] Isaiah foretold prophecy when he said Isaiah, you know, in Isaiah that a child will be born of a virgin. That is to foretell. But it is also foretelling and to tell forth is to proclaim something God has said, okay?

[28:22] To foretell is to tell the future. But most prophecy in Scripture is foretelling. This is what God has said and this is what Anna does here. The daughter of Phanua was a widow of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years and had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage and then as a widow to the age of 84.

[28:38] She never left the temple serving night and day with fastings and prayers. Look at this. At that very moment she came up and began giving thanks to God. Again, we see the rejoicing of the sinner's freedom.

[28:49] She began rejoicing and giving thanks to God and continued to speak of him to all those, only to a particular group of people. To who? To those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

[29:03] Until a person understands how desperately they need redemption, they will not stand and publicly proclaim his praises. Because see, true worship really is the rejoicing of the sinner's freedom.

[29:16] You know why I long to worship together with other believers? You know why I have a desire to worship? It's because I really understand how much redemption I need. And I understand how great of a redeemer he is.

[29:30] And as we gather together we have the privilege and the opportunity to publicly declare he is our savior, he is our redeemer and I declare the sinner's freedom every time I worship him.

[29:41] I can do that alone or I can do that publicly. But every time I worship him I am declaring the sinner's freedom. Oh Lord, I am free to come before you with rejoicing and shoutings of acclamation.

[29:53] And Lord, you are worthy and desiring of my praise. So may we be those people who publicly adore the king. May we do it in this corporate setting but may we also do it in our everyday setting of life because my friend he is worthy.

[30:08] Our hearts were prepared and the spirit led us to the sinner's freedom where we can rejoice. Let's pray. Lord, I thank you so much for this day which you have given us. And Lord, with much rejoicing we stand proclaiming your greatness and your goodness.

[30:24] Lord, how amazing it is that you draw men to yourself. Lord, drawing them through your word, through your presence and through your power. Lord, as we have been drawn to you, may we never shun or fail to worship you.

[30:36] Lord, may our hearts be set on that adoration which you deserve. And Lord, may you always be exalted in our midst and we ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

[31:21] Amen. Amen.

[32:21] Amen. Amen.

[32:52] Amen. Thank you.