Christmas Eve 2024 • Faith Lessons from the Life of Simeon

December 24th, 2024 • "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God." — Ephesians 2:8

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Creators and Guests

Host

Beau Bradberry

Senior Pastor

What is Willow Ridge Sermons?

Sermon audio from Sunday services at Willow Ridge Church.

Welcome to the Willow Ridge Sermons Podcast.

We're so glad you chose to listen today.

In this special Christmas Eve message, we reflect on the story of Simeon,

a man whose patient faith reminds us of the joy found in God's promises.

Simeon's encounter with Jesus reveals that Christ is not just a gift to be received,

but also one to be shared and remembered.

Join us as we explore the beauty of the perfect gift, Jesus, the Savior of the world.

Thanks for listening.

Well, good evening.

Merry Christmas.

Man, we are so glad that each and every one of you could be here with us

as we celebrate our Savior, Jesus Christ.

We celebrate His birth.

We remember His life.

And we are going to come together at the end of the service as we take the Lord's Supper together.

Well, as a pastor, there are times where you do things that make you extremely vulnerable.

All right.

And this time of what we're about to go into is going to be one of those.

So, I need some assistance as we get started this evening.

And so, here's what I would like to ask for, if you don't mind.

If you are fifth grade and under, if you wouldn't mind coming down here and hanging out with me for a little bit.

I promise I'm not going to put you on the stage.

I'm not going to put a spotlight on you.

Just come on down and y'all can like have a seat and we can hang out for a few minutes.

All right.

We may even have something special for you after this is over.

Now, parents, as your kids come down here, a couple of disclaimers, okay?

I've been known to say things from time to time that make me and them excited and cause you a little bit of aggravation.

I think last year I gave every kid permission like to stay up late and wake up really early.

You know what I mean?

And I got text messages from like two of y'all, like 3 a.m.

You're like, thanks.

I really, really appreciate that.

So, disclaimer, if something I say up here creates that kind of struggle for you, we understand that.

We get that.

In fact, somebody on staff, it's their responsibility to filter all of those issues.

And so, that's been appointed to our newest full-time staff member.

So, you can just send that to josh.nicks at willowridgechurch.org, right?

So, he will filter that.

But, hey, kids, I'm really, really excited, right?

It's Christmas.

How many of you are excited?

Me?

Yes, you are.

Y'all are excited.

What are you excited about?

No?

What are you excited about?

You've got to celebrate Jesus' birthday.

You've got to celebrate Jesus' birthday.

Like, you just won, right?

That's it.

What else?

What else are you excited about?

Yeah.

The presents.

Presents.

That's right.

What else?

Everything.

All of it.

Staying with your family.

Staying with your family.

Anybody else?

All right.

How many of you are going to, are you going to eat some really good food tonight?

Anybody doing that?

What are some of the things that you're going to eat?

We're going to go to Aunt's birthday, and we're going to be at IHOP tonight.

Oh, IHOP tonight.

Get you that tall stack, buddy.

That's what you're going to do.

What else?

I'm ready for some ham.

You're ready for some ham?

I like ham.

Ham's never disappointed this fella.

Anybody eating steak tonight?

Anybody?

Kind of, sort of?

Oh, carne asada?

Wish y'all's address it on?

Like, everybody's going to kind of head that way to do that?

All right, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So, we're excited.

Now, to me, part of the excitement of Christmas, I know that this is hard for you guys to believe,

but I remember being your age a long, long time ago, right?

In a time period known as the 80s.

And I remember what that's like.

And some of you were like, well, you're really young for that, right?

But I remember part of the excitement of Christmas is in the excitement in waiting, right?

You've made your list of gifts that you want.

You've been thinking through meals and times that you're going to get together.

You've been waiting for that time to be able to bake cookies and to do all the things and be able to eat all the sweets.

Which, by the way, like, on Christmas, I don't know if you're aware of this or not, but I was reading a study.

I like to do that sometimes, and I was reading a study online, and it said this.

It's been proven scientifically that all the sugar that you eat on Christmas Eve will not spoil your dinner, all right?

So, anything that you want to eat sweet, like, you can, right?

And it will not spoil your dinner.

It will not keep you up late at night.

It won't do any of those things, but just for tonight.

But one of the things is the excitement of the gifts, right?

We like to get gifts on Christmas, don't we?

We like to get gifts, but we also, we like to give gifts, too.

And, in fact, I like getting gifts.

I like getting birthday gifts.

I like getting anniversary gifts, like my wife and I when it's her wedding anniversary.

But my favorite gifts are Christmas gifts.

And I was thinking about this today, though.

There's only one type of gift that I think is better than a Christmas gift.

One type of gift.

I've been getting gifts for a long time.

And do you know what type of gift is better than a Christmas gift?

An early Christmas gift, all right?

So, Em and Grayson said that they had an early Christmas gift for me.

And so, I told them, I hope you guys don't mind.

I asked them if they would kind of give me this gift up here on our Christmas Eve service.

So, here it is.

It's got a little penguin right there.

Right.

Thank you all.

Is it?

It's like, what do you want me to do?

I was like, I'll do something, right?

Thank you, buddy.

Thank you.

What do y'all think this is?

A puzzle?

What else?

What do you think it could be?

A dictionary.

This would kind of, like, my vocabulary could fit in that, right?

Anybody else?

What do you think it could be?

I'm kind of hoping it's an Xbox.

What's that?

A smaller box that has some special words in it.

A smaller box that has some special words in it.

What do you think?

Baby Jesus.

Baby Jesus?

Oh, I should have thought of that illustration.

Oh.

Let's unwrap it and see.

Ooh.

One of my favorites.

I don't know if you can tell this by looking at me or not, but I'm the kind of guy that likes candy.

Right?

And what I got right here is one of my favorites.

It's a ring pop.

Anybody else like ring pops?

I'm a big fan of ring.

Anybody like ring pops?

Yeah.

Brent Hawkins likes ring pops.

I heard a woo from over here.

I appreciate that.

Do y'all mind, like, nothing's worse than getting a gift and then not being able to enjoy the gift.

Right?

So, let's, let's.

I heard somebody earlier ask what a ring pop was.

That was my father-in-law.

He's here with us.

He didn't know what a ring pop was.

So, here is the early Christmas gift from Emma and Grayson.

My ring pop is sour cherry.

One of my favorite flavors.

I like this.

That's good, but I don't want to enjoy it all right now, so I'm going to save the rest of it for later.

Just put it right there.

Here we go.

We like getting gifts.

We like getting early Christmas gifts.

We're going to look tonight.

We've been talking in here with the adults about the different people that we learn about and that we meet in the Christmas story.

The Bible's Christmas story.

The true Christmas story.

And we've been talking through and we, we, we learned about a guy named Zechariah and we learned about Mary and we learned about Joseph.

We learned about the shepherds and the angels and the wise men.

But there's a guy that's found in this passage of scripture that oftentimes we forget about in the Christmas story a little bit.

Because you see, it happened sometime after the story of Jesus being born.

The story that we just heard in the video.

The story that we, that we think of in, in Luke's gospel earlier.

But it's, but it's a guy named Simeon.

And I know you've been waiting for your gifts.

Simeon had been waiting for a long time for a gift.

A gift that he was promised.

A gift that he had hoped for.

It was the gift of Jesus.

So I'm going to read to you guys this story about Jesus and about a man named Simeon found in Luke chapter 2, starting verse 22.

And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.

As it is written in the law of the Lord, every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord.

And to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord.

A pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons.

So what's happened is Mary and Mary and Joseph are bringing Jesus to the temple to offer a sacrifice.

Because it's what God had commanded to do.

And it says there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.

And this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel.

And the Holy Spirit was upon him.

And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

And he came in the Spirit into the temple.

And when the parents brought in the child, Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law,

he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,

Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word.

For my eyes have seen your salvation, that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,

a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.

And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him.

And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother,

Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel

and for a sign that is opposed.

And a sword will pierce through your own soul also,

so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.

So we meet this guy in our Christmas story named Simeon.

The Bible tells us that he was righteous and devout.

Probably not words that we use all the time, right, in our dictionaries.

But it meant that he loved God and wanted to obey him.

That's pretty cool to think about, that when Scripture talked about the heart of Simeon,

that this is what Scripture tells us.

That above all things, he loved God and he wanted to obey him,

but that he was waiting for the consolation of Israel.

Here's what that means.

He had waited his whole life, his whole life, to see the Messiah.

He desperately wanted to see the Messiah.

And now he's an older guy.

And God had promised Simeon that Simeon would see this Messiah.

He didn't know when.

He didn't know who.

He didn't know how it would be.

But he knew that God would fulfill his word.

So the Bible tells us that one day Simeon, remember, he's obedient, he's devout, he loves God.

That the Holy Spirit, the Spirit that lives in us, as followers of Jesus, leads him into the temple.

And when he got in there, I bet he had gone to the temple a lot.

Remember?

Because he always did what God had for him to do.

But he saw this time was different.

Because it was the day, for the very first time, that Mary and Joseph brought in Jesus.

And so here's Simeon, he's waited his whole life, desperately wanting to see the Messiah.

And then here, the Messiah comes.

And when Simeon saw Jesus, he was so excited that the Bible tells us that he went, and he picked him up, and he held him up.

And he began to praise God for this wonderful, beautiful gift of the Messiah.

You see, the whole story, the whole point of Christmas, the reason why we decorate, the reason why we celebrate, the reason why we gather, even the reason why we give gifts,

is because all of this is about Jesus.

You know, tonight, you're going to go home, and you're going to eat ham, right?

You're going to eat IHOP, Big Stack, right?

You're going to eat Christmas cookies, because sugar don't count on Christmas Eve, right?

All of this is because of Jesus.

And what Simeon had on that day was Jesus was the gift that he received.

It's the gift that he had hoped for, but it was also the gift that he received.

Everything Simeon had hoped for was found in Jesus.

You see, earlier, I received a gift.

I received the gift of my ring pop.

I think this is a pretty nice ring pop.

I think it's a pretty special ring pop.

I think it's a special ring pop because it's the flavor ring pop that I have.

But more importantly, it's the flavor ring pop.

It's the ring pop that my son and my daughter said that they wanted to give to me, because they wanted me to have it.

And when we look at Jesus, you might not like ring pops.

You might like a different flavor ring pop.

You might think that there's a gift that you would rather have other than that.

You might think it's silly that two 16-year-olds just gave a 45-year-old man a ring pop.

But it's the gift for me, and it's the gift that I received.

The beautiful reminder of Christmas is this, that Jesus is the perfect gift for everyone.

God's Word tells us in John 3, 16 and 17, for God so loved the world that he gave his own son.

He gave a gift that whosoever believes in him, that receives him, should not perish, but have everlasting life.

For God did not send his son this gift into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

And this gift that we receive, Emma and Grayson handed it to me, and I took it.

I had an action that was there, but the gift that we receive in Christ, we receive through faith.

Apostle Paul writes, Ephesians 2, 8, for by grace you have been saved, and it's through faith, and this is not of your own doing, it is the gift of God.

Faith.

You know what faith is?

Faith is believing in something, to believe in your mind and to believe in your heart, and then to trust.

And it's the gift, it's the gift that we receive.

But you know what, when you receive a gift, you're going to receive gifts.

You receive gifts, maybe some of you tonight, some of you maybe tomorrow, you're going to do something with it.

I hope that this was a Xbox.

A little disappointed, right?

But when you get a gift, you're going to play with it.

You're going to show it to people.

Maybe it's clothes, and you're going to put it on and wear it.

Maybe it's a trip that you're going to go on that you're going to experience.

Maybe it's a toy that you can take and that you can show your friends.

You've got a gift, and a gift isn't intended for you to get and then not have.

A gift is intended for you to have and then to do something with it.

So what do we do with the gift of Jesus?

What do we do with the gift of Jesus?

We share the gift of Jesus.

You see, the gift of Jesus is about receiving, but the gift of Jesus is about sharing as well.

Look at what Simeon says, Luke 2, 31 and 32.

Simeon says, you see, this gift of Jesus that he's been hoping for, been waiting for, the gift that he picked up in his hands, is for other people as well.

And that this gift of Jesus is for me, and it's for you.

And what we're called to do is we're called to take this gift and to share it.

So we don't get Jesus and hog him to ourself.

We get Jesus to share.

So it would be really selfish of me to get this gift and not share it with you, wouldn't it?

But this is cold and flu season.

So I'm not going to share this gift, but right now what I'm going to ask you to do is you're going to stand up and you're going to head back to your family.

We've got Pastor Dave and Pastor Joel and Dawn, and they've got gifts inside of these gift bags for you so that you can take those and head back to your family, okay?

Hey, folks, let's give these kids a round of applause.

You guys did so good.

Now, remember, you can eat this right now because it's not going to ruin your dinner at all, all right?

Especially if you're loading down on those tall stack of pancakes.

Josh's email is josh.nicks at willowridgechurch.org.

That's for you, Johnny.

Church, thank you for letting us be a little silly, do some things different.

Because this is just such a special time of year.

It's a time of year where we can take kids out and drive them around and look at lights.

Do we see their faces light up by the packages under the tree of all the things that are there?

And it's hard for us.

And it's hard for us.

It's hard for them.

It's hard for you.

It's hard for me even sometimes to remind ourselves of the reason why we celebrate Christmas.

We always need to remember that Jesus isn't just the reason we celebrate Christmas.

That Jesus is the reason, just like Simeon did.

That when he saw the fulfillment of the promise, he couldn't help, he couldn't help but to live in the joy of the Messiah.

You see, he didn't go to the temple knowing what would happen that day.

But he came to the temple.

And in Christ, in the gift that he received, in that gift that he understood that God had sent his Son to be the Savior, Jesus Christ, the Savior for Israel, the Savior for the Gentile, the Savior for every man and every woman, every boy and every girl.

Jesus, the promise, the hope, the fulfillment of Scripture.

And today, just like every day, is when we put our faith and our hope and our trust in Jesus Christ.

We receive him and we share him.

But you see, that's not just what Simeon talked about.

You see, Simeon, Simeon was devout.

He knew God's Word.

For him, knowing God's Word would have been to know the Old Testament.

And in the coming Messiah, he would know the fulfillment of what this would mean.

And the joy of what would come.

And the salvation that would be found in him.

But he also knew the suffering.

The pain.

The rejection.

He knew that the Messiah would come and must give his life.

So it's important for us that Jesus is not just the gift as Christians that we've received.

That Jesus isn't just the gift that we share.

But Jesus is the gift that is remembered.

Every gift.

Every good gift that you've ever gotten, you've remembered.

I remember it was Aaron and I's first Christmas together.

I don't know if you remember, but I do.

Had a little town home in Aiken, South Carolina.

Aaron was still in college.

I was working at my first church.

We didn't have much.

We didn't have much.

And I remember sitting on our couch on Christmas Eve.

And she went under our little tree and there was this little package.

Probably not bigger than that.

She said, here's my gift to you.

And on that first Christmas, and I opened it up.

It was a beautiful watch.

That she'd saved up for.

And that she'd gone out and she had given it.

She'd given it to me.

I always remember that Christmas.

You see, our calling in Christ as people of faith,

because we've received and we share,

and we live in the joy of the coming Messiah,

but we must also remember.

Look back with me at Luke 2, verse 33.

And his father, this is Jesus,

his father and mother, Joseph and Mary,

marveled at what was said about him.

Right?

They go into the temple.

They know, but they don't know.

You know?

And Simeon had come up and scooped him up and shared all of the praise.

All of the praise.

Their boy, Jesus.

And Simeon blessed them, continues on,

and said to Mary, his mother.

And said to Mary, his mother,

behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel

and for a sign that is opposed.

And a sword will pierce through your own soul also,

so that thoughts from many hearts will be revealed.

You see, Simeon is speaking here.

He's speaking to the power and the work of Christ.

And that while John 3, verse 16 is true,

that God sent his son in the fullness of Scripture,

we know that he'll be rejected.

We know that he's rejected in his life.

We know that he's betrayed.

But still today,

people who have the opportunity to receive the gift,

the hope of salvation in Christ and Christ alone,

they'll reject him.

They'll reject him.

And in order for him to be the Messiah,

that he must come,

that he must live,

and must die.

That he must take the punishment

that you and I deserve.

He must take the punishment

that our sin has created a debt,

a debt that a holy God said,

this must be paid.

And Christ comes,

and he pays the debt.

And he doesn't pay it in part.

He pays it in full.

And his payment,

though it happened

some 2,000 years ago,

to be full in the account.

For all who put their faith,

their hope,

and their trust in him.

So how do we remember?

How do we remember?

Well, one of the ways

that we're commanded to in Scripture

is we remember

about partaking in the Lord's Supper together.

In a few minutes,

the band's going to come on stage,

and they're going to lead us

in another time of worship.

And after that,

I'll come back out,

and we'll partake in the Lord's Supper together.

And if you're a follower of Jesus Christ,

and you're here tonight,

I want to invite you

to partake with us.

You see,

this is not an act

that saves you,

but it is an act

that all who were

saved by Jesus

are called to partake in

as we remember.

In a little while,

we'll

remove the bread from the top,

and we'll remember

His body.

His body

that took the beating,

took the punishment,

took the death

that you and I deserve

and paid the price.

And then we'll open the cup,

and we'll drink of the cup,

the cup that represents

His blood,

His blood that does something

that no other blood could do.

that as His blood

was spilled

on the cross of Calvary,

it took every sin,

it took every lie,

it took every lustful thought,

it took every moment of greed,

it took every sin

of your heart and mine,

and it washed us,

and it made us clean.

Then the Bible tells us

that now when God looks at me,

and when God looks at you,

in Christ,

because we've been covered

by the blood of the Lamb,

that what He sees

is not your sin,

but He sees

the righteousness of Jesus.

And we're made whole,

we're made new.

And the Bible tells us

that because when He died,

and they put His body

in the tomb,

and they rolled the stone

over it,

the Bible tells us

that three days later,

that He rose again.

He rose again.

And He was alive.

And so because His body

took the punishment,

and because His blood

makes us clean,

and because He is alive,

we too

are made alive in Christ.

Not just in this world,

but for all of eternity.

So tonight,

as we remember,

we remember this beautiful story

of hope and truth

of a baby born in Bethlehem,

born of a virgin,

earthly father finds out in a dream,

visited by shepherds,

proclaimed by angels,

visited by wise men.

Because we remember.

But the story doesn't end

at a manger,

but journeys to a cross.

And so we remember.

So in a moment,

the band will come up on stage,

we'll have a time of worship,

a time of response.

We'll encourage you

to take the time

to reflect your heart,

your preparedness

to partake.

Maybe today

you need to come before the Lord

as you prepare to do this,

to prepare to remember

and confess and repent.

Maybe today

you need to give your life

to Jesus

and you profess Him

as Lord and Savior

to believe

and to trust.

We just ask

that you respond

this evening

how the Spirit

of God

leads you.

Would you pray with me?

God, I thank you

for the beauty of this time

and for the beauty

of this gift.

God, I thank you

that there is no gift

in this world

that comes close

to the preciousness

of Christ.

God, if there's anyone here

who has not received Him,

Lord, I pray

that tonight

they would receive Him.

They would receive Him

not through an action

or not through a work,

but they would receive Him

by faith,

believing and trusting

in who Jesus is.

God, I pray tonight

that you would burden

our hearts

for those

who need to hear.

Hear who Jesus is.

And God,

you've called us

to share Him with them

that we would do.

But God, tonight

as we worship,

may we remember the body

and remember the blood

of our Lord

and Savior,

Jesus Christ.

And it's in His name

I pray.

Amen.

That's it for this week's message.

Be sure to check back

next week

for another episode.

In the meantime,

you can stay up to date

with everything happening

at Willow Ridge

by visiting us

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YouTube,

and online

at willowridgechurch.org.

Thanks again for listening.

I'll see you next time.