Understanding Simeon's Prophecy: The Opposed Sign of Jesus at Christmas

Maybe it's just me, but uh I need signs in my life, right? It's dark. I don't know where I'm going. Often times I I

can't see. I don't know what's around me. I don't know where I am. Life can feel a lot like this at times. Feels

like we're not sure what what's around us. feels dark and and that can be confusing and sometimes that could even

feel really scary, right? If we're honest, we all need a sign,

something to direct us, something to show us where to go. Those signs can look very different.

Sometimes those signs might tell us we need to go to the left. Other times it might tell us we need to

go to the right. Sometimes it tells us to go up. Might even tell us to go down.

And once we're on the path, once we've maybe been directed where to go, there are some things that we might experience

along the path while we're going. Sometimes those signs say to stop. Time to catch a breath. Time to let

somebody else have a turn. Time to rest. Time to turn it off just for a little bit.

Sometimes those signs tell us to go. Been sitting long enough. Stillness is over. In fact, you've been called to

move. God's given you a directive. He's given us a mission. So, it's time to get moving. It's time to get going. And as

we go, here's the speed that you're supposed to go at. The pace that you're meant to live your life. It's okay. You

can go a little faster. Some of you might need to slow down. But here's the pace. And so, now we know where we're

going. We've been given permission to go. We know what speed and how to walk. But along the way, there are also some

signs that are there for us to warn us of things that are around like don't enter here.

It's a danger zone. In fact, if you drive into this area, bad things are ahead. Things that might endanger your

life, might harm those around you, could harm yourself. So, don't enter there. Because if we're

being really honest, there's really only one way that you're meant to walk. There's really only one

path. And on that path, what we find is everything that we've been looking for.

We find love. We find life. We find grace and peace. We find all of these things. And yet, what is so fascinating

is that on this path, while it is the path that leads us to everything we want, it is the sign that points us to

the very place that we want to be, it is the path that is met with so much resistance.

So much opposition. In fact, Simeon in the Bible, he prophesies that this would be the way it

would be. He says it like this in Luke chapter 2. says like this. And after blessing him, he looked and he said to

his mother, "This child is appointed for the fall and the rising of those in Israel and

for a sign to be opposed." Father, this morning we understand that the rhythms of our

life move us in and through all of these different things. And God, we're thankful that at this

Christmas season, we've been given a sign, but even though we've been given a sign,

God, that sign is so often opposed. So Lord, would you just give us the willingness to understand what the sign

is this morning? And will we have the boldness not to live in opposition of it, to live in acceptance, knowing that

there is where we find everything we are looking for. Open our minds to your word this morning, to [snorts] your

scripture. May it challenge us. May it equip us. And may it it lead us to live more in pursuit of you, Jesus. We love

you. We thank you. We pray this in your name. Amen. Well, hey, we're glad you're here. Uh today, we are going to be in

Luke chapter 2. If you have your Bible, you can go ahead and turn there. Uh we are in week three of a series that we

have entitled Simeon's gift. It is a series that is built on this kind of understanding that Simeon uh and and

really the Simeon the story of Simeon we we find in Luke 2 but Luke 2 is uh is where we find the beginning verses of

Luke 2 chapter chapter 2:es 1- 21 are actually verses that tell us essentially the Christmas story. It's where we find

the birth account, the the nativity account of Jesus, the the early scenes of his life. And so, if you haven't been

here yet, let me set up for us where we find oursel contextually so that you kind of have a a feeling where you can

kind of climb inside of this story. Luke chapter 2 starts with the telling of the Christmas story. It's the telling of the

birth of Jesus. Verses 1- 21 tell us this. They showcase for us the birth account of Christ. And what it tells us

is that at the culture in that time, there was a census that went out that required that every man, woman, and

child go to their hometown or go to their registration spot and register their family. So, they're getting a

headcount of all these people. And the reason why this is going on is because there is a king by the name of King

Herod who is desiring to kill all of the young two boys that are two and under. We're going to get to why he does that a

little bit later, but this is what he's doing now, while this story is going on. And what we find is that in the midst of

all this is that uh Jesus is born and he's born into very humble conditions. If you if you've read this story, uh if

you maybe maybe you take time each year to read this story, but what we find in the story is that Jesus is born into

humble conditions. They go to Bethlehem, Mary and Joseph, where they're from. As they get to Bethlehem, they realize

there's no place to stay. And so they find a barn out in a field on a farm. He's born in he's wrapped in these very

humble clothes, these swaddling clothes and he's placed in this manger in this like feeding trough that pigs eat out

of. And that's the story of how Jesus was born. And that's normally what we understand about the story. But right

after this account in verses 22 through 36, there's this story of a man by the name of Simeon. And we have taken the

last several weeks to look at what the story is about. And so Simeon, what we learn about Simeon is that Simeon is a

devout and righteous man. It's what Luke 2 tells us about him. And Simeon was told early in his life that he would not

die. He would not pass away until he had seen and met the Messiah face to face. And so what we find in Luke chapter 2 is

that the spirit of God comes upon Simeon and it leads Simeon into the temple. And at the time that he's entering into the

temple, Mary and Joseph are also entering into the temple because they're taking baby Jesus who had been born into

the temple to um essentially to to kind of give him over as a way of dedication and to kind of perform this this service

and this ritual that was very common at the time. They enter into the temple. Simeon is then provoked and by the Holy

Spirit that this is the Messiah. This is the one that you have been waiting for your entire life. and he takes baby

Jesus and he holds the Messiah and he begins to say these very very very powerful things about Jesus. In fact,

what we see early on is that this is what is said about him. He says this, Simeon says this as he holds baby Jesus

says this, "My eyes have seen your salvation." A powerful proclamation, right? He goes on to say it like this is

that this child you have prepared in the presence of all peoples a light that will be for the revelation of your

salvation to the Gentiles and of glory to all of those who are uh to the people of Israel to all the people of Israel

would understand that there' be that this light that this child would be a revelation of God's glory to Israel and

a revelation of the good news of who Jesus is to all of the world all the Gentiles And then Simeon

goes on later and he goes to Mary and then he says some very direct things to her. He prophesies things that were

going to happen to Jesus. And last week we started this by looking at the first part of this prophecy. First part of

this prophecy. It reads like this. Okay? It says this. And he goes and he looks at Mary and he and he tells her this.

Behold this child is appointed. That's an important word. If you have a Bible and you want to circle it, that word

appointed is important. means that this is the purpose for why this child would be born. The first part of his

appointment was what we looked at last week, which is this is that it would be for the fall and the rising of many in

Israel. That's that's number one. Now, if you're like, I don't understand what that means, you can go listen to last

week's message that was all on that sentence, that statement. But then he goes on and says this, and for which

means that this is the other part of his appointment. He's also appointed for a sign that is opposed.

Today we look at this phrase, the sign that is opposed. It's fascinating. We think about um

opposition, right? Because we sit in a church this morning and we're like, well, there's not really any opposition

here. So, for a sign to be opposed, like what all does what does this mean? What is what is Simeon even saying when he

says that Jesus, this born child, is going to be a sign that's opposed. What is he talking about? There's no

opposition in church. We don't see opposition to Jesus here. Everything's very open. It's very accepted. This is

the season of Christmas, right? All of these things are very true. And so, what is this opposition we face? If you will,

let me just highlight culturally for us like how we see a little bit of this and then what I want to do is I want to

break down this picture of a sign and then this picture of the opposition that we that we see kind of even in our own

world and how this is has come to be understood. It's fascinating because I think a lot

of us would say we don't see opposition and the reason the reason why is because we're like well there's where Jesus is

everywhere right? If he's everywhere then he can't be opposed. Well, yes, he is everywhere. And and and the the

presence of Jesus cannot be opposed because we can't we can't cut it off, right? Like Jesus is the creator of the

world. Therefore, everything that has ever been made has his presence on it because it's all been created by him.

So, in that sense, we can't oppose the creation story because we don't have the power to do that. Not only is that the

picture, but also Genesis tells us that every single human that's born, that God breathed his life. That Jesus as creator

breathed his life into every single human. That can't be opposed. You can't say, "I don't want your image on me,

Jesus. I don't want your image on me, God. I don't want to look have any DNA about me that looks like you." Sorry.

You don't have the power to do that. There is no ability for us to to oppose that. But what we can oppose

is the next part of this which is the acceptance of the ways of Jesus. And that is what Simeon is hinting at is

that there would be this these these ways, these standards, these morals, these codes of ethics, these laws and

ultimately the will of God that would be put out for people to abide by. Those things will be opposed. that we see very

very very visually and we see it all the time. Let me give you one current example.

Christmas year in and year out feels like that Jesus is more and more and more pulled

out of the celebration of Christmas. Now, let me just say this. I'm not getting on a high horse and telling you

that your Christmas decorations need to go in the box when you go home today. you need to take down the Santa and the

Grinch and the snowman and all that. I'm not telling you that. But if you would just have eyes to see this this morning,

we we more and more and more we are drifting dangerously close to to culture doing all it can to pull the name of

Jesus out of Christmas. And yet what we understand in Luke 2 is this is the entire reason why Christmas exists.

It's the whole reason why we even have a celebration. It's the whole reason why you have family come over and you give

gifts to each other, right? It's the whole reason why any of these things ever happen or ever exist is because of

Christ, the Messiah, the coming savior, redeemer, and reconciler of the world. It is why we celebrate Christmas. And

yet, what the world wants to do, what secular merchandise and activities want to create is it's not about that. It's

about all these other things. We even can be, if we're not careful, we can make it about family and friends. And

that is ultimately a wonderful piece of Christmas. But can I tell you this? If Christmas is only about celebrating with

your family and friends, then we have missed it. We've missed it because, and not to be cheesy, but like Jesus is the

reason for the season. He is why. It is his birth. It is his celebration. Like we don't throw birthday parties for our

kids and say it's your birthday, but we're just going to do all these other things and not even really celebrate

you. We don't do that. We make it about them. But we have missed it at Christmas.

And what I think has happened is that this this this uh prophecy that Simeon has laid out for us from the very

beginning of the birth of Christ is something that is very true. Is that there he is a sign. It is a giant visual

for our world. And yet it is met with so much opposition every day. The prophet Isaiah, this is 400 years before the

prophecy of Si Simeon came out. Prophet Isaiah, which we actually have a lot of prophecies in Isaiah related to the

birth of Christ. Like uh if you've ever heard the the the prophecy that's found in chapter 9 that talks about for unto

us this day is born a child, right? Unto us or unto us is born a savior as is born a child has been born. That that

prophecy that's found in Isaiah chapter 9. In Isaiah chapter 8, we get a another visual that Isaiah is going to give us

about in similar language to what Simeon says. And here's what he says. This is what a prophet Isaiah gives us in in

Isaiah chapter 8. He says it like this. And he will become, this is speaking of Jesus, speaking of the Messiah. He will

become a sanctuary. That's a beautiful one, right? There is that there is this picture of Jesus that he is the

sanctuary. We are invited into this sanctuary feeling. And sanctuaries feel comfortable and they feel safe and it's

where we meet Christ. is where we have encounters with God. That is where that is who Jesus is. But also,

we are also met with that he is a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel and a trap and a

snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Do you know why all these things are true? Because and really Simeon's

language lines up. The fact that that he calls that Isaiah calls Jesus a stone of offense is very similar to being a sign

who is opposed. That language is very very very similar. And here's how we know this is true.

Because my life has been offended by what Jesus wants to do in it, and yours has too.

And the way we respond to that is different. Here's how I know this is true. Have you ever been frustrated when

you feel like God is calling you to do something, but you don't want to do it? Do you know why that that you know what

that is? That's your secular worldly life being offended by the ways of Jesus.

And so what naturally happens is is then what Simeon prophesies comes true because our life has been offended. The

way that we want to walk is not the way that Jesus wants us to walk. And so what do we do is we say, "No, I don't want

any part of that." And what do we do is we oppose the sign. I don't want that anymore. I

want to go this way. And so what it's it leads us to is then to just have an understanding of okay,

what is the sign and what does this picture of opposing look like? It's very fascinating the the the language um and

I kind of geek out on language a little bit. I've shared this before, but I think language is super fascinating, but

in um in the the Bible in the the the the New Testament is written in the Greek language. That's what we one of

the things we know. It's written in the Greek language. And in the Greek language, the language reads a little

bit different than obviously our English Bibles do sometimes. But I want to show you one thing that I think is super

fascinating. In the Greek, the word Simeon, the name for our main character in the story, not the main character,

secondary character. Jesus is always the main character. The secondary character, Simeon, his name in the Greek is

spelled, it's spelled like uh seon. So it's spelled s e m e i o n. The word for sign is the or that's the word for sign.

Sorry. s e m e i o n. The word Simeon, the name is spelled s u m eo n. They sound and they're actually spelled very

similarly. So like hellenistic Judaism when all this was going on, they would have understood how similar these words

were. So you could have said sumion and and instead meant semon because you said it wrong or you had a wrong dialect or

there was some kind of thing that was off. In fact, there would have been so much similarity between it. In fact,

it's almost as if and I don't think this is like this is I don't think this is circum I don't think this is like one of

those hypotheticals or one of those just random like circumstance type things. I think there's purpose behind this. It's

almost as if Simeon's entire existence all that he was meant to be was to be similar and in in and and voicing and in

reference to the proclamation of the sign everything about his life. It's like

oftent times in the actual language, you could have mistaken these two words. Sometimes if we don't know certain like

certain words very well, we'll mistake them and they sound similar and they look similar, but we'll say the wrong

things. And I'm like, man, how awesome would it be to have my name mistaken for speaking about the proclamation of who

Jesus is. That's Simeon's life. That's what his whole purpose is, is to proclaim the sign. And in the doing so,

he's saying, "But there's going to be some who oppose it. There's going to be some that aren't going to be about it."

The first image we get of this picture of the sign is actually found earlier in the book of Luke and it's in the it's in

the account. What's fascinating is uh what it tells us is that it's it's in picture of where they will find Jesus.

So in Luke 2:12 it says this and this will be a sign that same word that se own word is the word sign. This will be

a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. And this is what the

shepherds are told. They're told this as they're out in the field. They're watching the sheep and uh the angels

come and they shine and they tell they tell them, "Where are you supposed to go?" So, as they head to Jerusalem, they

know very like specifically what they're looking for. They know it because they've been told what the sign is.

We have like uh billboards all around Sumpter, right? And they'll promote all these different types of things. And I

was thinking about it like this for those of us that have waited for certain stuff and like we're like, "Oh, is this

actually going to happen?" you know, like is this actually a real thing? And I've joked like this, like Sumpter gets

a lot of like there's a lot of rumblings about things that are going to happen in Sumpter and it's like until I see it on

the billboard, it's not actually going to happen, you know? But like for example, BJ's just opened. Anybody been

to BJ's yet? Yeah, it's awesome, right? I don't have to go to Columbia to go to Costco anymore. I can just go to BJ's.

Um, but I remember when we heard the first time like, "Oh, this is coming. This wholesale store is going to come."

It's like, "That's not going to that's not coming to Selter." And then there was a sign and it's like, "Oh, wow." And

it's like, "This is where it's going to be." And it's like, "Oh, wow." And then as I'm driving, I'm like, "Oh, sure

enough, there it is. It's actually here. This is what is happening to the to to these these shepherds in the field. The

angels have come and they're saying, "Hey, this thing has happened." And here's the sign. When you go, don't look

for just all these babies. You're going to find this one baby and he's out in a field and he's in a manger and he's

wrapped in swaddling clothes. And that is the sign that you have found the Messiah. You found what you're looking

for when you have landed there. God establishes what he's going to do by the

sending this symbol of confirmation to the people and it's this moment where their eyes

are open and they recognize that everything they've been waiting for is now here. I mean, can you just imagine

if you will like climbing back is like take whatever age you are now and just put yourself in the situation in the

shoes of all those who are currently living in Jesus's day and just back it up. Let's say we're just going to back

it up one year. All of your life you have been waiting. You have heard stories upon stories upon stories about

the one day that a Messiah would come and be born and he's going to rescue the people. He's going to restore and fix

everything that's been broken. All of it is going to be done. All of it is going to be fixed. Everything about it is

going to change. All of life will change forever. And there's a part of you that's probably like, I've heard this

for 399 years. like this isn't going to like this has been told for 399 years. I don't think it's actually going to

happen. Then a year, a year later, you hear, can you imagine the feeling that you

would feel? It's like, man, it's here. It's happened. Like, this is this is this is the thing we've been waiting

for. My grandfathers and great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers and uncles and aunts

and great aunts and great great aunts and uncles have all been telling us this story, and now we get to live in it. And

it's actually come to fruition. It's actually become true that Jesus, the symbol of our salvation,

the image of salvation is here. And here's the sign. He's wrapped in clothes and he's living. He's wrapped in clothes

and he's placed in a manger as a newborn baby. You can go and see him. Can you imagine the feeling? I mean, look, some

of you have waited around for certain things and maybe you're even, you're here this morning and you're waiting for

something or you know that there's been years in your life where you have waited for one specific thing and then it

happened and you're like, "God, thank you." None of us have waited like this. None of us have waited 400 years for God

to bring rescue, restoration, redemption. We haven't waited for that. And here it is.

And what is so fascinating to me about the h about humanity, about our complex as humans, is that their natural

response is to say, "I'm good. We oppose it." Like like it like to me, I'm just like, "Make it make sense." Like, why do

we do this? Why Why is this the response to what God is doing is to say, "God, after all years of waiting, now that

it's here, I'm just I'm good. I'll just kind of I'll choose to walk a different way. I'll go a different path."

But we naturally choose opposition. The the Greek word here and for opposed it's this word uh antilagian it's the

word it means to speak against it. It's the word oppose. It means to speak against to contradict to object to deny.

Like a deeper meaning related to Jesus is like this to oppose oneself to Jesus to decline to obey Jesus to declare

oneself against Jesus or to refuse to have anything to do with Jesus. That's the picture of this word. And what's

what what's what's interesting is that this word this Greek word is used 11 times in the New Testament. Every single

time it's used, it's in relation to opposing the gospel or opposing the ways of of Jesus. All 11 times. The picture

here that Simeon lays out for us is that not only is he going to be a sign for all the world to see, but that he will

meet opposition every step of the way. The Bible starting at this infancy account of Jesus. Let me just show you a

couple of ways in which we see this opposition. Jesus is met with opposition at his birth. Herod wants him dead.

Herod wants to kill all these people. Why? Because Herod is terrified of what Jesus can do of the the of the

prophecies that have been going out. And so what does he do is he puts out this law that if you are a baby two and

under, an official finds them, kill them. And so what happens? Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, they flee. They head out,

and Jesus's life is spared. Because I'm like, "Harod, bro, good plan. You ain't beating Jesus. It's not it's not gonna

happen." But we find that opposition. So then life is altered. In the ministry account of Jesus, if you go read the

gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and you read all of the ministry years of Jesus that he has, do you know what

we what Jesus is constantly met with? Opposition from people like the Pharisees who don't understand him. In

fact, what's so funny to me about the Pharisees is that they're the one Jesus is the very one that they're prophesy

that they're talking about. They're teaching in in his name, in the name of the Messiah, talking about this one

that's going to come and he's standing right in front of them and they don't even have eyes to see it. And there just

there's no vision of the fact that Jesus, the one that you want, is here. And so what happens is that Jesus comes,

they claim him as this false prophet and they say, "No, we're we're this is not the way." And what do they do? They do

all of these things. They decline to obey him. They declare oneself against him. They puts themsel at odds with the

Messiah, at odds with Jesus. So much so that it leads to this whole essentially this whole world of people

that live in opposition and it leads to the death of Christ that we find on the cross. All this opposition leads to him

being killed for the very fact that there is opposition and that despite this opposition, there is still a way

for us to experience and inherit eternal life with him. When we are so undeserving,

when we consistently choose opposition, Jesus consistently chooses you and me. And this is what Simeon's saying. Hey,

there is there is coming a sign a sign that will light up the world and everyone is going to oppose it. Everyone

is going to walk against it. Maybe to make things a little bit more understandable for you, I was thinking

about it like this. If you're here this morning and you're like, "Yeah, this this sounds good. I

understand like yeah, it's about Jesus and it's about the fact that we oppose him." And maybe you have a little bit.

Let me let me just I want to paint it like in a very a very natural picture for us. If I had

the opportunity to go by nine billboards in Sumpter and it was like, what are you going to put on them? It's like here are

the nine things I'm going to put on them in relation to who Jesus is. The first thing is this. This is going to be the

sign. If you're like what's the sign? Here are the signs. This is the sign I want all of us to understand this

morning. The first one is this is that Jesus wins. Jesus wins.

You may think you have victory. You don't. Others may feel like they have victory on you. They don't. There is no

victory apart from life found in Jesus. Jesus wins and he always wins and he can never be defeated.

What we find in Jesus is victory in Jesus. And here's the thing. When we run into opposition, when we say, "I don't

want that. I don't want the fact like I don't believe that Jesus actually wins." Do you know what happens? We just I mean

to use a cultural like we just take L after L after L. We just lose like just non-stop losses and we find ourselves in

places of despair and we're spiraling out of control. We can't get our feet under us and it just feels like every

turn we lose. Do you know why? It's because we have opposed the sign that tells us Jesus is the symbol of victory

in life. He wins. He dominates death. He dominates sickness. And here's the thing. You may

lose some things in life. That does not mean you have lost. You may have some struggles. It does not mean that you

have lost. If you have placed your hope in Jesus, you will ultimately find victory and you

will win. Jesus wins. The cross, the resurrection could death couldn't hold him. And so he was resurrected,

restored, and now he is seated at the right hand of God the Father. That is where we find victory. There is Jesus

wins. But Jesus also saves. You're here this morning, you're like, I just I need saving. Jesus saves. I want

to show you four instances from scripture where we hear words or see stories of moments when people were

saved and rescued because of Jesus. The first one is found in John chapter 5. We're not going to go to these, but I'm

I'm going to tell you about them, and you can go look at them on your own if you want to. John chapter 5, there's a

story about a man who's sitting at the pool of Bethesda. Now, if you don't know what this is, it was this pool that

people believed had these magical waters in it. And when the waters would get all stirred up, they would kind of bubble,

then these people who were sick, they had these physical ailments, they would try to rush and jump into this water

because they believed that it would save them. There was an old there was a man who'd been there, he'd had this illness,

he'd been at the pool for like 38 years. He'd been by this pool and he goes, the waters begin to bubble every day and he

would try himself. He's paralyzed from the waist down. He would try as hard as he could to get into this water because

he felt like there was magical power and ability for his life to be spared physically.

And Jesus comes into the pool Bethesda one day and he meets this man face to face and he has this conversation with

him and Jesus looks at him and he says after having this conversation and him declaring Jesus he says take up your mat

and walk home. Man's been been unable to walk for 30 plus years of his life and Jesus saves him that day. Not just

physically, he saves this man's soul. This man walks out on legs that work and on a faith that has been restored and

established in his life. Why? Because Jesus saves. Acts chapter 4 tells us this is that

there is there is no other name for salvation. Only one. And we can call on all these

names and all these things and all these places and thinking that that's where salvation is going to be occurred in

salvation. Here's what Acts tells us. Paul or uh uh Luke writing this, it says this that there is no other name for

salvation. Jesus is the one who saves. John 3:16, for God so loved the world that he gave

his only begotten son that whoever believes in him would not perish, would not die, but have everlasting life, have

salvation, have victory in Jesus. All these things would be true because of this word. And lastly, Romans 10 tells

us this. Romans 10:9 and 10 says this, "For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart

that God has raised him from the dead," that's believing in the cross and the resurrection of Jesus. If you believe

and confess that those things are true, you will be saved. Jesus saves. Whatever you are walking

from this in this morning, wherever you look at your life and you're like, I need saving. And I just want to tell you

that there is a giant billboard that is here presented before you today that says that there is saving found in

Jesus. Jesus forgives. This one sometimes I think is really

hard for us to to to accept. Caleb, my life is spiraling. Caleb, I've sinned too much. I've done these things.

There's no way that Jesus loves me enough to restore me, to give me hope, to forgive me for the mistakes I've

made. One of my favorite stories in the entire Bible is found in John 21. It's a story

of Peter. And I think Peter had one of the the the the greatest falls in the New Testament, right? He's one of

Jesus's closest confidants, one of his buddies, one of his inner circle men. And he comes to he goes to Jesus and

when his life got got when he got trapped. He gets kind of cornered. And what is what is what does it tell us?

What does the story tell us? That there's this moment where he's cornered and he looks and he's asked three

different times, "Are you the one? You're one of those followers of Jesus. You're one of those guys that's around.

And three times he's like, "No, I don't know him. No, I don't. I deny him." He opposes and denies him three different

times. John 21, the very end of the Gospel of John, Jesus comes and finds Peter and he pulls him aside.

And he looks at him, he's like, "Do you love me?" And Peter's like, "Yeah, I do." "Do you love me?" "Yes, I do." "Do

you love me?" "Yes, I do." Three different times. What he does in this moment is he he extends in spite of this

sorrow and this shame that Peter's living in, he extends. God extends him these unbelievable things. He extends

him grace. He extends him mercy. He extends him love. He extends him a peace. He extends him comfort. All of

these things Peter experiences in John 21. And those very same things are available for us that God gives us

grace. You know what grace is? Grace is receiving something you do not deserve. This gift that Simeon has that's been

given to all of us. This sign that's been presented for us. This salvation that we experience because of Jesus, we

do not deserve it. But out of God's grace, he says, "You can have it." We get God's mercy. Jesus extends to us his

mercy. Do you know what his mercy is? Mercy is not receiving something that we do deserve. Do you know what you deserve

and I deserve? [clears throat] We deserve eternal separation from Jesus. From God.

But God Jesus says, "Nah, that's not the story. my mercy goes forth and even though you

deserve these things, I'm not going to give them to you. I'm going to allow you to have life and I'm going to give you

all these other things. Jesus, what are the these other billboards is that he is an extender of all these things. Listen,

if I had nine billboards or 10, I don't even know the number, whatever the number is, this is what they would say

because these are the signs that are meant for you to understand this Christmas season. When you look at the

tomb, when you look at the the birth of Christ, this is what's meant to be seen. all of these things. This is why Jesus

does what he does is because he desires for you to know that he wins and he saves and he forgives

and he offers all of these things. He extends all these unbelievable things. This is who Jesus is. So my question for

us this morning is very simply this. How are you responding to the sign? Are you here to say, "Man, yeah, I want

I want what that what is offered. I accept it." And this Christmas season, maybe for the

first time in a long time, you look at all of these different moments where we recount the story of Jesus. You say, "I

want this season to be a moment that I do not neglect. I do not oppose." And even though there's all these other

signs and symbols and things around that are fun and they are festive, they will not distract me for the real sign that

is seen this Christmas season. It tells me about the love, the grace, the mercy, the peace, the

comfort, the forgiveness, all the things that Jesus does for us. Years ago, uh, my brother and I with

some friends of ours, we drove to Miami to go watch Alabama play in the national championship. And I don't remember what

year it was. Alabama's been in so many of these, I I can't ever remember what year they played, but um, it was a long

time ago. And so we drove to the national championship and we went, my cousin played at the time. And so we

went to watch my cousin play and to watch Alabama. And so we drive down to Miami. And our plan was we're going to

drive down. I was in my mid20s. We're going to drive down to Miami. We're going to spend the night that night

outside of Miami. We'll drive into the game. We'll hang out with the family. We'll watch the game and then we'll

drive home. We'll go through the night. There were four of us in the car. We said we probably just we'll split it up

and we'll drive all the way through the night and we'll pull back into Birmingham between 6:00 and 7:00 a.m.

Something like that. Right? This is the thought. And so we drive down the night before, we go to the game that that

night comes and it's time for us to drive home. And so we get in the car and we begin to drive make our way back. And

we're driving through Florida at the time, obviously headed due north to try to get back to Alabama. And as we're

driving back, there's I'm just I'm in this area where I I don't really know where I'm at. There are some signs

around, but it's dark. It's 2:00 in the morning. And so there are obviously some signs that I decided I don't really I'm

I'm going to ignore these. And of course, the main one was the speed limit sign said 55, but I'm like, "Oh, wait.

What? 75? Perfect. Let's go." Begin to drive 75 and it's 2:00 in the morning. I'm like, "No one's out." So, I just

ignore this sign. And then sure enough, here's what I see about 30 seconds later is the blue lights, pull me over. Guy's

like, "What are you doing?" I'm like, "Driving back from the national championship for Miami. We're headed

back to Birmingham where we're from." He's like, "Hey, you need to be careful because these speed limit, they change

often. they kind of fluctuate. So, you just got to be very very careful about about these speed limit signs. And I was

like, "Thank you so much." And so, he gives me a warning and then I get back in the car and we get driving. And

here's the thing. I drove for another 10 minutes or so. And as I'm driving, I do notice that the signs are changing. But

before long, I'm just so distracted by things and I'm tired and all of this stuff is going on that I just kind of

not only did I ignore, but I I didn't see all of the signs that were present. And sure enough, I drove through another

one. I got clocked by another cop. I'm like, "What are y'all doing out at 2 a.m. for one?" I got clocked by another

officer. This time the blue lights came on. I got pulled over twice in about 15 minutes.

This one was not so nice. He gives me a ticket for speeding. And I get out of the car and I hand my brother the keys.

I say, "You're driving home." And I get in the back and I was like, "I'm done. I'm hanging it up." You know what

happened then? Do you know what the the issue was for me is that I ignored the first sign and then I lost the ability

to see the other ones. You know what I'm afraid of for some of us this morning is that we are choosing a lifestyle that

says,"I want to ignore the signs of Jesus. I want to ignore the sign." And we are living into this prophecy that

Simeon has offered by saying, "I just want to ignore it. I don't want any part of it. I I can choose better life

without it." And what's happening is if we are not careful, the more that we continue to ignore the sign, eventually

we lose the ability to even see it. I pray for us this Christmas season that our eyes would be awakened, our eyes

would be opened, that we would not ignore the sign that tells us that Jesus wins, that Jesus saves, that there's

victory found in him. Would we be so careful never to ignore it? And would our eyes never be blinded and turned off

to the signs that are around us? We're going to sing one last song together. It's a song called The Air I

Breathe. It's an older song. It's beautiful song, but in it are two lines that I just can't help thinking about

when I think about this. I hope that our heart would cry out this morning. Think, Jesus, not only do we

see the sign, but we need it. We need your direction. We need your guidance. I am desperate for you. I hope that this

is evoked in our soul this Christmas season is that we can say to Jesus, I am desperate for you. And not only that,

but I am lost without you. [music] We are, we need a sign, not so that we can oppose it, so that we can be directed

[music] and it could lead us as we continue to live our life. Father, we are thankful for your presence. We're

thankful for this gift we get at Christmas, which is your presence, your son, Jesus, the savior of the world, the

prophesied Messiah. and we get this encounter with him. I I pray Lord that you would give us eyes to see the sign

or signs that promote that proclaim who you are. That there's victory and salvation and

forgiveness and grace and love and mercy and peace and comfort. All of these things are found in you, Jesus.

God, we are desperate for you [music] and we are lost without you. We thank you for who you are, for coming

and being amongst us. We pray these things in your name.