The Consolation of Israel: Understanding Simeon and Anna's Trust in God

Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church Podcast, where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.

My name is Pastor Josh and I want to thank you for listening to this podcast.

I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen you in the word of God.

Now come along, let's look into the Bible and see what God has for us here today.

You've been with us on our Wednesday nights or Sunday nights.

We've been talking about prophecies and specifically prophecies that have been fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

One of the things that we could find confidence in our pages to look at what would then to come true.

And obviously God fulfilling that comes true in the first l work of Jesus Christ.

And so we've looked at some of the more popular ones.

One that you might be aware of, Isaiah 7:14.

Isaiah 7:14 is the prophecy that born of a virgin.

And then we know of Isaiah 96.

Unto us a son is born.

The Bible calls was called wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Mother, the Prince of Peace.

So those are some of the more popular prophecies filled with Jesus Christ, among many others.

One of my favorites is all the way back in Genesis 3:15.

And most commentators believe that that's the first mention of the Gospel.

Just the demons of God speaking to Satan.

And he at one point in time, because the seed of the woman would come and he would crush, which speaks of Jesus lead victory in the gospel.

And when we use the word gospel, we're talking about the good news, Jesus Christ.

And that's mentioned all the way back in Genesis, Genesis 3.

And so I'm a firm believer in the fact that Genesis all the way to Revelation is the story of Jesus and a story of our need for our Savior.

And so throughout Scripture, the Bible tells us the proper way to respond to prophecy.

And that is to believe the truth of God and to trust in the truth of God and to give God.

And so we're going to see two individuals here this evening, Luke 2, that lived trusting that God would keep his word.

And that's really what the Christian life's all about.

When we think about the Christian life, we think about really one word, and that is the word faith.

Faith is, as it said in Hebrews, chapter 11, necessary for the Christian because if we have no faith, it's impossible to please God.

So everything that we do is working under the umbrella of faith.

I know there are certain things that God has made to us and we can reason, but there's certain things in our Christian life that we can't reason out.

There's certain things that we might not be able to understand.

Why?

Because God is bigger than us.

The Bible says that God is not only bigger than us, but he's infinite.

He's beyond our comprehension when it comes to his grandeur, his mighty power, his all doing me the fact that he's not bound by time or space.

And so we come here to Scripture and we see individuals that are trusting that God will keep his word.

And that's really one of these days.

Hebrews chapter 11 tells us verse one, the definition.

And I think it's important for us to note what the definition of faith is.

Hebrews chapter 11 tells us that essentially it's believing without seeing.

It says now made this the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

And so another word that we can link to is hope.

Now when we use the word hope many times in our English language, in our culture, that word hope means well, I don't know what's going to happen.

I hope want to come to like for example this past weekend I was hoping and praying that it wasn't going to snow and full of service.

But obviously God had bigger plans.

But I didn't know what that outcome would be right.

It was just hope.

I I bold.

But biblical hope is, is a word that's a little bit different.

It actually means I'm confidently expecting that God is.

I have confidence.

And we talk about that word confidence quite a bit within our Romans were sending along with us on Sunday mornings that word confidence just means to be with faith.

So the point I'm trying to make here this evening is that the Christian life is full of decisions based on faith.

Ultimately our salvation is based on faith.

But as a decision that we make, trusting the Lord is based.

Why?

Because God has said something and we have to believe that he's going to keep his word.

So when it comes to the area of prophecy, when we look at the Old Testament or even the New Testament, when we see prophecies in the New Testament, it's believing that God is going to do what he says he's going to do.

So for example, Genesis tells us that he's going to send the Messiah, the seed of the woman to come crush the house.

So for centuries, individuals were looking for that promise to be fulfilled in someone they understood that he found in Jesus Christ and that's what but they were believing that God would sense them.

And so what the Bible tells us In Hebrew chapter 11 is all of the individuals that come before the birth of Jesus Christ were trusting him or salvation.

Even though they might not have known it, they knew that the faith would be in the Messiah.

That is the console.

They had the opportunity to look forward to a Savior where we as believers today have a chance to look to a Savior, to know that he's going to continue.

And so the Christian life is about believing in the word of God and believing that what God says he will do.

So chapter two, because here this evening we're going to talk about two individuals trust that God is Lord.

Even if they didn't seem to be making sense or to come to pass in the timing that they expected it to be.

And so Luke chapter two.

Most of you know chapter two, least two.

This story in Jesus's birth.

And there in Bethlehem and the angels come and announce the shepherds the birth of Jesus.

But someone will stop at verse number 20.

The shepherds returning, glorifying, praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen.

But then in verse number 21, the Bible tells us that Jesus was taken by Mary and Joseph to the temple for, for this process to make cultural.

It was, it was a.

A way for Mary's purification and for Jesus being dedicated there.

And we're going to see in verse number 25 an individual named Simeon.

This time, Simeon was looking toward a Messiah.

He was looking toward a Savior.

And here we see the beautiful moment in which Simeon to see his faith come to light.

He gets to see what he's been trusting to come right before his eyes.

And the Bible tells us in verse number 25 and behold, there was a man at Jerusalem whose name was.

And the same man was jumped in the mouth.

We'll stop there.

Basically what it's saying is man loved the Lord.

This man is living the life of being just and dedicated to God.

Not perfect because no one is, but he was just in the mouth of the Lord.

And it says what he was waiting for.

Why, what.

What was his he placed wasn't in his good works.

It wasn't necessarily in the.

The thought of someone bringing something that he wanted.

But it was trusting in what God had already said.

It says he was waiting for the consolation of his meaning, the comfort of his people.

He was waiting for the Messiah.

That's what it's telling us here.

And so he was waiting for the consolation of Israel.

Essentially it's explained that he might not know exactly when it was going to happen, but he did know that God was going to and a child.

He knew that.

He knew the Old Testament.

He knew Isaiah, he knew Zachariah, he knew Micah.

And ultimately what we're seeing here is that he believed that God would do what he said, consolation or comfort or salvation to Israel.

And so it says here that he was weighty.

And I think that's something that we have to do sometimes in our faith is obviously there are certain things that we have to trust in that are not necessarily materializing right now.

I'm not in heaven right now, but I believe that one day God will, will take me there.

Why?

I've never been to heaven.

I've never seen the streets of gold, but I'm believing what God says in his word, believing that what he says is true.

And, and that's what a lot of times people struggle with Christians.

Well, I'm not going to trust God unless he shows me.

I'm not going to believe that he's going to give me who this trial until he gets the trial.

Well, the reality of that is that we're not trusting the faith.

If I say, God, I'm going to love you and worship you after you do all these things for me, we're missing the point of faith.

Okay, Hebrews, chapter 11, verse 6.

I would encourage you to at least memorize that verse in your mind, the second part of it, because it says, without faith, it's impossible to please the Lord.

So if I want to please God, I have to believe in things that I have not seen yet.

And that's essentially what Simeon's doing here.

Simeon's saying, I believe that God is going to a consolation, a comfort, a sacrifice, a savior for Israel.

And then he goes on to say this, it says, and the Holy Ghost was upon him.

And so this type of belief cannot happen outside of the Holy Ghost guidance, the Holy Spirit guidance.

Now at this time this is a little bit different because even though that this story is in the New Testament, it's not necessarily the Church.

Right.

That doesn't come till later.

So this is, this is prior to the indwelling of the Spirit.

This, the value of this happens an agnostic problem.

So before that time, what would happen is the Holy Ghost would come upon people.

And that's mentioned in the Old Testament.

But the Bible clearly teaches that this type of belief comes through the Holy Ghost guidance.

And so it says that the Holy Ghost was upon him and it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost.

So this is the only illumination, this is only teaching.

This is the only belief that come through the Holy Ghost.

God, that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord.

Christ.

So God had made him another promise.

And the promise was he would not die until the Messiah came.

So, so God gave him a promise.

Now he's up in years.

I would venture that there were more, maybe times in Simeon's life where he doubted that that might come to pass.

He's like, I've been older, what's going on?

But no, he trusts that God will keep his foot.

And so it says in verse 20.

And then he came by the spirit of the temple again speak to the guidance of God.

He speaks to how he's obeying God.

They speak to his sacrifice.

And it says, and when the parents brought him the child Jesus to do for him after the custom of Allah, then took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, so this is, this is the result of his experiencing God's promise being fulfilled in his life.

So God makes a promise.

He trusts in the promise.

He waits in God's timing with the promise.

He lives in obedience to follow God to be where he needs to be.

And here is the culmination of that promise.

And this is the result of him experiencing that promise.

It says it right here in verse number 29.

It says, Lord, now let us down, my servant, that aren't peace according to thy word.

For mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared before the beat of all people.

And so what does he do here?

He worships the result of God's promise being fulfilled in his life is a result of gratitude and a result of worships and praises God for what he has done for him.

And then he says this, at this point in time, he can now live in peace.

He's now depart from peace.

So we know that Jesus is the prince of peace.

And we know that walking, living our lives think big brings us that sense of peace as flipping for says the peace that passeth all under see it.

So he says, I have peace according to thy work.

And I think it's an important point as well to, to know because I think a lot of times we're trying to find peace in all the wrong places.

And remember I, I talked about this, it was last week.

We can't have the peace of God unless we have a peace.

And if we're here last week and kind of recap it for you just a little bit.

But a lot of times people are looking for the peace of God that has them all understanding I want that type of peace.

I don't have that type of religion.

I want that type of thing.

But they're not at Peace with God.

What does it mean to be at peace with God?

It means to be in him and salvation trust in him.

That's Romans chapter five.

We can find peace with God because before we come to Christ in faith we are not as peace, we're actually, the Bible says, enemies.

But when we come to Jesus faith and we trust him, he now welcomes us into the family of God, we're justified.

And then the Bible says we can have peace with God.

And so with the peace with God comes the peace of God in our lives, so we're able to snap peace.

And so Timothy was only able to find the peace of God here is because he had peace with God.

And so he says, lord, now let us down my servant, depart peace according to thy word.

And so where do we find peace?

Oh, find peace obviously guidance of the Holy Spirit, the comfort of the Holy Spirit.

But we can't know the promises of God to trust him unless we're in his word because that's where we get the promises.

He says it right there.

He says, this is where I can find peace because have kept your word.

So the challenge for us as Christians is to know promises of God and to trust in the promises of God and rest in his peace as he answers those promises and gives us those things that he has promised us in our life.

So verse number 30 says, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.

So the culmination of all the promises of the salvation that Jesus brings and I think that that's something for us to note as well as Christians is at the core of all the promises of God is the promise of salvation.

We trust in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

We can find that peace with God and the peace of and the Simkin is a great example of someone who was looking to the prophecies and trusting in the prophecies of God, trusting in the word of God so that one day he could find that peace and so that one day he could find that ultimate salvation.

And then he gives a prophecy himself.

He says, Verse 31, which Thou hast prepared before the feast of all people a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel.

So what does this salvation that this Messiah is bringing is not just for his people, even though it is the consolation of Israel, but this time of salvation is going to be extended to all Isis to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel.

And so the beauty of Jesus salvation is it's not just for one people, it's for all and that goes all the way back.

If some of you know the Abrahamic covenant, the Abrahamic covenant, God's promise to Abraham was the Messiah that would come for his family, would cover his bloodline, would not only bless his family, but bless all the nations of the world.

That's the message.

And the Europe, that might not seem revelatory into you here you might be like, yeah, Jesus names Jews and Gentiles, but for where Simeon was at this point in time, where's the act?

A temple in Jerusalem.

And the Jews believed that they were the only ones that wouldn't be saved.

That's what they thought.

They thought the Messiah was coming just for them.

But for singing, to say, yes, he's coming to save Israel, but he's also coming to offer salvation to all nations.

Done really big and one that they would have certainly been in some ways.

We know that Jesus's salvation is not limited to one group of people.

It's limited to all who come in faith.

And so the amazing thing about saint's prophecy is that it shows that the light on who Jesus Christ is is for everyone.

The salvation of Jesus begins with Israel, as we know In Romans chapter 1, verse 16, to the Jew first, but also to the Greek.

And so it's extended to all.

That's an amazing, amazing truth that he mentions here.

And we see that Joseph and his mother mar.

That's verse 33.

So they bring this child.

Ultimately they know we, we know that Mary knows this.

There's that song out there, Mary did you know, and it's an awesome psalm.

But the answer to that is yes, she did know who Jesus was because Gabriel told her that and she trusted and leave him faith.

But at the same time, they didn't know everything.

They didn't know all the meaning behind it, obviously, and they didn't know all the implications.

So verse 33, Joseph and his mother marvel and those things which were spoken.

And Simeon blessed him and said unto Mary his mother, behold now his seeking into the life of Mary.

Simeon is here and this is interesting.

He says, behold, this child is for the fall and rising again of Israel.

It's true, right?

Jesus commonly he presents the message of hope, the message of salvation.

Some believe, some don't believe.

I mean, you can even look at his obedient followers.

Think about someone like Peter.

Peter believed was Peter perfect?

No, Peter denied Peter hatch troubles.

But ultimately he found salvation in Jesus.

But think about who else was in Judas.

Judas Bible says he did not believe.

The Bible says he's the son of a Perdition.

And so the Bible tells us that there will be people watching the same Jesus, the same message, the same miracles.

Some would believe and some would not.

And so there would be the rise of some, all others.

And same thing.

We preach a message, we live in the Christian life.

And there's people that see the same evidence.

I was thinking about this recently.

There are people that I don't believe in Jesus because there's none.

Okay, that's one way to think about it.

But I would venture to say that there's a lot of people that even if they saw the evidence of Jesus, they still would you say, I don't know about that.

If we just thought Jesus walk in this room and perform miracles, we would all believe.

Well, why didn't everyone.

The time of Jesus life.

There were people that watched the miracles that did not believe.

There were people that were eyewitnesses of Jesus ministry that they got and they didn't.

And that goes to the point of it's not just about singing and seeing what's around us, but it's also about believing in what he says, believing in what he does.

And so it's a step of faith.

It's.

It's a.

It's a belief that I don't understand all of this, but I know that and will save me.

And so Simeon says, this child is sent a bald rising again of many in Israel and a sign which shall be spoken against, meaning there's going to be people that come against them, that once they're actually in the original Greek, meaning to be a target, basically, that Jesus would be a target for people to attack.

We know that's the case.

We know that even in his own earthly ministry, there are people that attacked him falsely for what he was doing.

And we know that Jesus did everything with grace and humility and holiness.

But there were some that still accused him.

And there's still some today that use Jesus as a target to be spoken against.

And then he said in verse 35, Yea, a sword shall appear through thy own soul.

Also the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

So he says, mary, you're going to feel pain, just as Jesus is going to feel spiritual, emotional and physical pain.

So you will be able to overlook this.

But think about Mary was still Jesus's mother.

And for Mary to involve the things that Jesus experienced in that history, ultimately all the way into the crucifixion, it certainly appears Mary's heart.

And so we know just as Jesus had a spirit his side, so Mary would also feel physical Torment.

We see Jesus being rejected, but he says there's a purpose for it.

Obviously the thoughts on many hearts may be revealed.

So, and so Jesus is one who's going to reveal the hearts of many.

And, and we even see in the New Testament that the Bible says that Jesus is a, He's a rock, he's for many, he's the rock, he's the cornerstone of faith.

Like what we place our faith in for others he used as a stumbling block.

There's a lot of people that like religion.

But then you mentioned so, so Jesus is going to lead many people to salvation, but many people because of their pride and because they're rebellion are going to come to Jesus and they're going to want all of these things but then can't get past that faith.

Faith is the, the connection piece between salvation and what is being offered to us in the grace of Christ.

So I want you to see that in the life of Simeon.

Then we see another lady here, well, another person, Simeon.

And then we have Anna, verse 36.

And there was one Anna, a prophetess, which means essentially that word prophetess, a daughter venue of the tribe of Asser.

She was a radiant, lived with husband seven years from her virginity.

Meaning after seven years of her marriage her husband passed away and she was a widow of about four score four years.

And so she's, she's up in years, she's 84 years old, which departed not from the temple.

So it's this quote to her clinging unto the Lord, trusting in him because she could have after losing her husband in that culture, even across the day, but even more so in culture, the husband lost her income and lost her security.

That lost pretty much your hope of having children.

Therefore your children were supposed to take care of you.

Back then they didn't have nursing homes to go into.

And so Anna couldn't have had a lot of reaction to this loss in her life.

But what was her reaction?

It says right here, to dedicate her life to the Lord.

She departed not from the of worship, but served God with fasting and prayers night and day.

I think that Anna is among many things is a good example for individuals who go through loss in their life to how to properly respond.

So instead of responding in bitterness and anger and turn into who knows what, she turns to the Lord in the midst of pain and loss.

That's an amazing thing.

And I think that's one of the major reasons why God selected her to find this blessing in seeking the Messiah.

So when she served God with fasting and Prayer and day and she coming in the instant gave thanks.

Likewise, Lord, again, her response to Jesus's thankfulness spake of him to all that that look for redemption in so what was the response of her life to the Messiah?

The response to the Messiah was number one, faith.

Number two, worship, thankfulness, gratitude.

Number three, what proclamation to those around.

So we can't say that we believe in Jesus, we're thankful for him, and then say, well, I'm not going to share that with other people.

There's that correlation between her thankfulness and her joy and her love, right?

Or telling others about him.

And so they're big up into all of them that look for redemption in and there's people today that are looking for redemption.

Maybe they can't vocalize exactly what they're looking for.

When they're looking for hope, they're looking for some kind of substance in their life.

They're looking for sufficiency, they're looking for salvation.

We as Christians get the opportunity to claim redemption.

All those that are sin doesn't mean that everyone's going to believe, doesn't mean that everyone's going to like us or we do this.

The more we come across people we don't like the message that we bring.

But the Bible tells us nonetheless to preach the truth, to proclaim what Jesus has done for us.

And that's what verse 39 and when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth.

And the child grew and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon him.

So I thought that was a different look from the idea of prophecy.

The Simeon Anon Seeing them that, seeing that prophecy, building their life gives us to the rest in what God has given us.

His Word.

And, and I would encourage you to think about what what first of all, what does it mean to have the promise to God in my life?

I've mentioned this before, but if you don't know what the promises of God are, there's no way to address them.

Like if I don't know what's given to me as a believer, I'm going to struggle with walking in faith because most people that are struggling to walk in faith something contrary to what the Bible says.

Are you following me here?

Thinking biblically means trusting in what God says.

Thinking unbiblically means I'm not trusting what God says.

So let's say he wants to use a hypothetical situation.

Let's say there's someone here I don't believe that God loves me.

Where are you getting that truth?

Well, I'm getting that truth because today it has happened.

For example, I went a really bad day today.

So I don't believe that God loves me.

Well, if take that line of thinking that's contrary to the Bible because the Bible says that God's never going to leave me, nor the Bible tells me that nothing's going to separate me from the love of God.

The Bible tells me for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.

The Bible tells me that God commended his love toward us in that while we were against sinners, Christ, I forced love.

So to think biblically about that struggle would be I'm not going to go off of what I feel because what I feel can change day to day.

Some of us understand, some of us know that today I might be having a good day, tomorrow I might not be having a good day.

Today I might be feeling great, feeling bad.

So if we base our belief thinking of how we feel, we're basing it on a moving target.

We're basing it off of, well, whatever.

I appeal to me.

But if I base my belief and my, my trust in something that never changes, we believe the Bible never changes, then I'm not going off of how I feel, even though what I feel is valid when I'm going off of what I know.

And so what I know should have the way that I believe.

It's.

It's the most simple advice, but it's sometimes the hardest to follow, is when we're dealing with something, we need to think about it biblically because when we think about it biblically, we begin to believe biblically it works in the word of God.

So I don't know if there were times in Simeon's life where they doubted, like if they were human, probably were sometimes where they struggled.

Maybe God isn't going to.

Maybe the messiahs come in a different time period.

Maybe the Messiah is going to come in a different way.

And that's a lot of what we said.

We started to try to like humanly rationalize some of the promises of God and says, well, maybe God's that person, but maybe he's not with me.

Or maybe God is all powerful, but maybe he's limited in this area, have to go back to the promises of God.

So to trust in the prophecies of God means to trust in what God's word has to say.

Now why are the prophecies of the Old Testament so important?

Well, the prophecies of the Old Hebrew are equally important because there's things that we're going to see in the Old Testament that still have not come to pass.

Some of you may be going too far to leave, but there's the book of Zechariah that talks about things that are to come and have not happened yet.

And so what we know is this.

Everything that God has promised about Jesus at least is coming.

His first coming has come to pass.

Therefore everything that he says about a second coming will come to pass because of the who God is.

The fact that he has to keep his wording, that's part of his character.

That's who he is.

The Bible says that God cannot lie.

That's the book of Titus.

I want you to think about those things when it comes to prophecy.

Because I'm not just talking about things that are coming, even though that really part of it.

But also I'm talking about things that God confesses when it comes forth.

Because the word prophecy has two means.

Deceit about the future for.

But then also just so when there's anything in the word of God that's for the truth.

God loves you.

God is all power.

God is with us.

He's never going to leave us nor forsake us.

That's, that's a prophecy of God, meaning He's proclaiming Himself and whether or not we're going to believe.

And so I know that that might be something that.

Of course, of course that's what it is.

But I think that many Christians who struggle in trusting God are struggling in trusting in His Word and believing that he's going to do what he says He's.

I mean, if I tell you like, hey, I'm going to be there for you, I might have really good intention, like I might say, okay, I'm going to be there to help you move, you know, your house this Saturday and what time you want me to be at 10 o', clock, I'm going to be there.

And then I have something come up in my life.

Maybe my car breaks down or maybe I dissed, or maybe I the calendar in wrong.

There's a lot of things that could cause me not to keep my word, even though I wanted to.

And so the beauty is with God is that when he says something, he's not limited by sickness and pain or confusion or traffic or whatever it is.

So when God says something, if we believe that he's all powerful, we believe that he's all knowing that there's no limitations to his love.

When he says he's going to do something.

And when we don't understand, when it doesn't make sense to us, what we have to do is say, lord, you're not the problem.

We saw this in a couple different passages in the.

In the Old Testament.

But I would say that one of the things that we have to do is go back to this idea that, Lord, when I don't understand, it's not your problem, my problem.

I need to figure out why I can't see it actually.

The Book of Africa back again.

Know that story.

Habatics like, lord, I don't understand what's going on, but help me get right to where I can understand what's going on, because I know you're not.

And that's where we have to go to.

We have to go to a complete trust in faith.

And so faith is something that's difficult.

It's actually, I'm going to say this one.

Faith is impossible without the Holy Spirit.

I don't just believe because I'm really smart.

I don't really believe because I'm a good person.

I believe because God has me and he's given me hope and he's.

He's allowed me to see the truth of God.

And the Bible says, faith cometh by hearing.

And this is important to know.

Romans, chapter 10, verse 17.

Don't know this passage again, another verse that gets memorized.

Romans 10:17.

Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

So if I'm lacking in faith, what do I do?

I go as anywhere.

And if I don't have the Word, so I want to have more faith, God, I want to have more faith, what am I going to do?

I'm just going to try harder.

Come up next year.

So if I'm struggling, struggling to believe in what God has said, I go to his work because that's where the source of Being is.

Knowing what he has said and believing in him, and so wants to think about that.

I certainly don't have all the answers.

Simeon didn't have all the answers.

Anna didn't have all the answers.

But they knew who he did.

And so their faith in the Lord allowed them to see the culmination of the promises of God on their life.

We might not see all these.

This side of it.

There's.

There's been times in my life I've looked at a situation.

I've said, lord, I don't know why, and I don't have an answer for why.

But I truly believe.

I truly believe that one.

When we breathe Our last on this planet.

We go on with our Savior one day that we will understand what God is doing and we will see the big how that's revealed to us.

We don't exactly know all the details of how that will be, but the Bible does clearly teach that one day we will be with him and we will understand his plan and his purpose.

And it's all said in Romans 8.

It'll all be worth it.

It'll all be worth.

Maybe you've never heard this before from a pastor, but I'm.

There's times in my life where I struggle.

There's times in my life where I look at a situation.

I. I want to believe you, but I'm not seeing all the things add up.

So what does that mean?

It means I've got to grow in my faith and understanding.

I have to go to cling to him, work.

I know.

I.

One thing I can't deny.

The one thing as a believer I can't deny is the goodness and the power.

So when we question.

So it's.

I did a whole slept service.

It's okay to ask God questions.

It's not okay to question God.

I hope you understand what I mean.

Like, it's okay to ask God why, but it's not okay to ask God.

And the questioning form, like, who are you to do this?

And when question is character you're now lacking.

When you have faith, you might say, lord, I don't know why, but please give me a.

And so I think that there's a.

There's a distinct difference between asking God questions and questioning God's character.

I think that's what we have come down the lines to what we're looking at things in this world and trusting and so the pastor yeah, I'll be completely transparent.

I place it to my life where I don't understand why or I don't understand how and I'm tempted to doubt.

But then the Bible tells us to go back to him, cling to him.

He will give us that clarity and understanding.

So many of us, many of us have seen God's hand over and over and over again in our lives.

God continues to prove himself to us and I hope that he continues to do that in your life.

But ultimately the promise of salvation is a promise that will.

It's initially understood through the.

The Bible says that the Holy Spirit is our down payment, but we will not completely understand salvation.

So one day we are glorified and we are.

And, and so in time, in our waiting period, we just trust in him.

And like Simeon, Simeon says, hey, look, I'm going to fight the good fight.

That's what Paul says.

Paul says I'm going to run the race.

And at the very end of Paul's life, if you want to read about that, in second Timothy, he said, I fought with.

I fought the fight.

I run the race, finished the course, kept the fate.

Really.

That's what it is.

It's keeping the faith.

Now, you can't lose if you're trusting in Jesus Christ as your Savior.

And the Bible says that he has saved us.

I firmly believe that our salvation but at the same time, there's times in my life where I could struggle with faith.

And there was the fellow that's in the, in the New Testament talking to Jesus.

I mentioned this on Sunday.

He says, lord, I believe.

Help what helped my unbelief.

Meaning, lord, I believe.

Well, there's something help me the healing process.

And that's a priority of all of us, to some degrees.

Lord, help me believe more.

Help me trust me more.

And when we do that, we can really experience what the Bible says.

Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast.

I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you.

If you would like to find out more information about our church or this sermon, you can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org or find us on Facebook or YouTube.

You can also email me directly at Josh Massaro@middletownbaptistchurch.com if you've enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and follow along for future podcast and updates.

Thank you so much.

God bless.

Have a wonderful day.