In this sermon, the speaker discusses the complexity of the human body and argues against the idea that it could have come into existence without a creator. They use the example of a Swiss watch given as a gift to illustrate their point. The speaker also mentions the concept of the big bang theory and questions its ability to explain the creation of the universe. The sermon concludes with a personal story about a man who had a troubling dream and the speaker offers an interpretation that relates it to spiritual matters.

Let us pray once again. We pray Lord that you will come down, be in our midst through your Holy Spirit. He who breathes life to your word will bring and reaches the heart of a person. And then it will reveal to each person literally what it means. So Lord, may it work deep in our hearts. That the one who is asleep will awake. I would like to share with you from a word that is very well known in the mind. It is found in Luke chapter 2 verse 21. And when eight days were completed for the circumcision of the child, his name was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. Now when the days of the purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. As it is written in the law of the Lord, every man who orders the womb shall be called only to the Lord. And to offer sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of two little ducks or two young pigeons. And then it goes on to relate about Simeon and also about Anna, but I am not going to read all that because it will take too much time. Before we continue, there are parents that would like their child to be dedicated. Lord willing we will share from God's word how parents brought their children to the Lord that he would bless them and by that also separate them unto the Lord. And when a child was born, the boy child after eight days was circumcised and then after forty days it was the time for purification for the mother. Now we don't practice physical circumcision in that way, we believe in spiritual circumcision where you are separated and you do away with any unholy thing. But we will still speak about that. And then after forty days, the child was brought to be presented to the Lord, to be dedicated to the Lord and also it was the time of purification. After that, let us pray. Here are these parents Lord, we thank you as well with them for granting them this child. Lord willing it to be blessed by you, to be set apart for you Lord. And Lord we work in a wonderful way that that will also happen in the life of this child and also the parents. Amen. Thank you. Thank you. There are so many points I won't even be able to touch on everything, I will just touch on a few things quickly. And the text starts with these words, when eight days were completed for the circumcision of the child, his name was called Jesus or one could say Joshua and the name given by the angel before he was conceived. Now according to the Jewish law at that time, they had to circumcise the boy child on the eighth day. On the eighth day. Now circumcision in that time was not like today where you have anaesthetics and you have the most modern equipment to do it with. And that the child doesn't feel any pain as a result. It was difficult. It was a difficult thing, a painful thing, it wasn't like today, there were no anaesthetics in those days. So on the eighth day even our Lord went through this traumatic experience, he had to suffer in that way in spite of the fact that for him it would have been totally unnecessary. But that was a sign to show that they belonged to the nation of Israel. And that is symbolic of cutting away that which is unclean, in other words sin, in your life. Now today we don't need that physical circumcision because there is something far greater, it's that circumcision of the heart which God himself performs. Now there are heathens, godless people who like the evolutionists speak their things, saying things and by it just displaying their own foolishness. How is it possible that something can just suddenly be there without a creator? Everything, even a table, whatever it is, if there is something that is created, obviously there must be a creator. And that goes for everything in this earth and even the stars, there must be a creator. They claim to be wise but by what they proclaim they are showing us their foolishness. In fact also showing us that they do not know God at all. And in fact we are so wonderfully made, if you look at the eye, just at the different members of the body, we could go into detail. It just cannot just happen, a man cannot make such a thing. And I speak of this Big Bang, the Big Bang theory and then that caused everything to come to be. Now my children gave me a nice Swiss watch as a present. Now can you claim that it came into being because of a Big Bang? It just shows that it makes no sense. And a bang, an explosion does not create things, it destroys things. Those that love are the second world war. If there is an explosion, it does not create anything, it just destroys what is there. Now they also claim that we come from the baboons or chimpanzees. What amazes me though is that they do not just make up their mind and go and live in the bush with their forefathers and eat bananas there. Now if you believe we come from the Apes, do not be offended if I speak about your forefathers. You should be proud of them. And if you fight so for evolution, then well I could maybe come to the conclusion then and say well if I look at you, then well maybe there could be some truth in it. And every evolution looks and seems to be like a bogeyman. He takes after his forefathers. So on the eighth day, the boy child came to be circumcised. It was the law of Moses. What is amazing about it, I remember years ago I heard specialists who specialize in this particular field. They say it is amazing that with a child there is a lot of bleeding but amazingly on the eighth day there is the least amount of bleeding and that is when the healing process takes the shortest time. So it is amazing when you think of it. Can you then now relate that to evolutionism? That is when you get to the conclusion that evolutionists do not have their brains in their head. They sit on it. And now let us move on from that. We want to speak about the purification of Mary. Now Leviticus, it is recorded by Moses that God said that after forty days the mother should go to the temple for purification. And after forty days the mother should go to the temple for purification. And the father should go to the temple for purification. And after a fortnight of purification the mother should go to the temple for purification. I am a man of God, I am a man of God, I am a man of God, I am a man of God, I am a man of God, I am a man of God, I am a man of God, I am a man of God, I am a man of God, I am a man of God, I am a man of God, I am a man of God, I am a man of God, I am a man of God, Now if you didn't get married here, maybe your pastor didn't tell you these things, you lost out there, and maybe if I get time you could come and I could explain it to you, but that was all. That's very significant after 40 days, and then the purification ceremony takes place. And so it was that after 40 days, that was about 6 weeks, it was required that the mother and the father go up to the temple. And it was to present the child to the Lord. And also to bring and offer a sacrifice. They were not to come without a sacrifice. In fact it was required that they bring a ox as a sacrifice. So the wealthy people could afford that. And if you couldn't afford that, they'd bring a sheep. And if they were poor and couldn't afford that, a sheep, either they were to bring a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. And if you couldn't afford that either, being very poor, then you could bring meal. And so they proceeded to the temple where this purification ceremony took place after 40 days. But not without a sacrifice that was to be put on the altar. And they had to enter through the east gate. That was where this purification ceremony took place. They even have a name for it, I won't tell you that now. So when they got to that point, that's where the animal was slaughtered and where the blood flowed and then they had to then proceed to offer it as a sacrifice. Because the purpose was to present this child to the Lord. The Bible says without the shedding of blood, you cannot draw near to God. And even the Holy of Holies, when the high priest entered only once a year, he could only enter after that blood had been shed. If he would go without the shedding of blood, then God struck him down. Now today we do not need these animals to be sacrificed, to be slaughtered for their blood to flow. For the Lamb of God, He was the ultimate sacrifice on the cross. He shed His blood for us. Now in the temple, the entrance to the Holy of Holies, there was a very thick veil which was before it. That's where the high priest went into and it was a very thick veil, couldn't get through. And no person was authorized to enter to the Holy of Holies. But the Lamb of God said to him, It was only accessible to the high priest and only once a year, after the shedding of blood. But when the Lamb of God was slain for us, that veil was torn. Not from bottom up, like someone cutting it, a man cutting it from the bottom. It was torn from the top down. It came from above. It was God Himself who intervened. He made it possible. He opened the way that now all of us have access into God's presence. And salvation comes from above. It's only God. God comes down. He alone can cleanse us from our sin and then we have access. Now let's go back to Mary who came with her sacrifice, her turtledove sacrifice. When that turtledove was slaughtered, the priest took the blood of that turtledove and sprinkled it on the mother. And in that way, that was a purification ceremony. The way she was purified physically and spiritually. And then the priest put his hands on the child and blessed the child, dedicated it, presenting it to the Lord. Now some people misinterpret this and they say it only applies to the firstborn. And in fact some firstborns say, well I'm the eldest in the family, so I have that right, everything is mine. No, even I, I had all my children, all six of them, dedicated and blessed. Like Job, who didn't just give up his inheritance to his sons, but even his daughters. It was equally divided among all of them. And then the parents fell on their knees, bowed before the Lord and said, Oh Lord God, we now present our child to you, we dedicate it to you, it's yours. They said sanctify this child and sanctify us too. They said God, you must give it to me. Sanctify us. Sanctify us all as parents that we can go back home to enable us to teach our children to grow up in the ways of God and to fear God. To fear God. Dear parent, have you taught your child to fear God? Well, if you haven't, you ask yourself where you failed. So they presented the child to the Lord and dedicated it to the Lord that it may be set apart for God. And that God would bless it. Well, so I believe that if you haven't taught your child to fear God, it can be separated away from you. But if you have taught it to fear God and taught the child to fear God, then I believe you of you have taught it to fear God and taught it to fear God. And thank you, God. And then this whole ceremony was twofold. The other part of it was to offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving, thanking God for his protection over the mother and the child that it had brought in. Because if you thank God, that is a sacrifice of thanksgiving. And it was an opportunity for the parents just to thank God for keeping them, for his protection through the whole birth. So at that time giving birth was not like today where it is relatively easy. Well, my children say, well, father, dad, it is not so difficult, the birth is not the most difficult. The most difficult is to bring the children up in the fear of God. That is the difficult part. But when the child was born healthy, that is why they brought this sacrifice of thanksgiving. Well, nowadays with modern medicine it is so easy. There are so many ways of helping a mother that she does not go through that. But even that is not without risk. It has to be done by a specialist who knows what he is doing. And so after 40 days they came for this sanctification, purification, but also to present thanks. In fact, the Lutherans to this day even practice that after 40 days the mother goes to the church. So they take it from that. So today they also go to church just to thank God for what he has done for them and granted them. In the Old Testament it applies to the firstborn. But in this time, the New Testament, it applies to everyone. Everyone must be sanctified. And that mother, that parent that brings their child to be dedicated and blessed, that is a wise parent. So then they can go back after that. They go from the temple rejoicing. They have been purified, cleansed, and they have offered their thanks. And if that mother had been faithful before, now she goes after that. And this whole ceremony of purification and offering thanks and receiving that blessing, well then it becomes a double blessing. And if she was faithful, now she is being double faithful. And that is obviously for the one who doesn't just make a circus of it, which is just show, but he who comes and does it in a genuine way, in truth. Now I said I was going to touch on the points. Now when they were in the temple, there was an old man that approached them. His name was Simeon. And he said, And when Simeon saw that child, remember Mary had said nothing to him. No one had announced this to him. And when he saw that child, he went to them, he took that child, took him in his arms and embraced that child. And he said, Oh Lord God, now you can let your servant depart in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, the salvation of the Almighty. It's amazing. Simeon was a righteous man, God fearing, and he lived in the temple. And God had revealed it to him that he would not die before he sees his salvation. He didn't phone him. He didn't get a call on his cell phone. Simeon was a righteous man, God fearing, and he lived in the temple. And God had revealed it to him that he would not die before he sees his salvation. And so it was totally unannounced. It was, no one expected it. And yet, when they came and were on their way, God spoke to Simeon through his spirit. He said, Go to the temple now. Go there. And when he saw them, he recognized that is the child. And he embraced God's salvation. God's spirit was upon him. And God's spirit could reveal things to him and move him to do things. And he responded. And that's why he saw God's salvation. And he said, Lord, now I can die in peace. Now I've seen it. I've seen the salvation of our God. And he said, Lord, now I can die in peace. Now I've seen the salvation of our God. Most people are afraid of death. They run away from it. If there was a doctor or anyone who had a potion that you could take and not die, people would flock there because they don't want to die. Are you afraid to die? If you're afraid to die, then it's because you haven't seen the salvation of God. And to do it is the salvation of the Almighty. So much. The Almighty. But now I can die in peace. Why could he die in peace? Because he saw God's salvation. And then he also took it. He embraced it close to his heart. He took it for himself. He embraced it with both arms. Blessed is the one who dies having seen the salvation of the Almighty. Woe to you if you die not having seen the salvation of the Almighty, without having been forgiven your sins, cleansed of your sins. And remember, death does not cleanse you either. If you die with your sin, that thing will follow you. You will not enter heaven if you have sin in your life. You'll be doomed and damned forever if you didn't make right of your life. And if you didn't confess your sin and you weren't washed in the blood of the Lamb, woe to you. You'll die the death of the rich man. He died. But death didn't separate him from his sin. He went straight down to hell, to the far away world. And Judas Iscariot, he went to his place. Death didn't separate him from his sin. He went to his place, down to hell. And remember, death didn't separate him from his sin. He went straight down to hell, to the far away world. And Judas Iscariot, he went to his place. Death didn't separate him from his sin. He went to his place, down to hell. If you don't embrace salvation before you die, then death will just be the gate into eternal damnation. If you haven't seen the salvation of God, if you haven't embraced His salvation, cry to God, lest you die, and that will be the beginning of an eternal prison and jail, and an end to the fire. If you haven't seen the salvation of God, if you haven't embraced His salvation, cry to God, lest you die, and that will be the beginning of an eternal prison and jail, and an end to the fire. And he spoke more things than Mary and Joseph were amazed when they heard what he said. And he went on to say that now that the salvation of God has come, and all nations will be enlightened by Him. And they were amazed when they heard that, because they thought that the Jews were the chosen people of God. They were amazed when they heard what this old man said. For he said, now the salvation will be for all nations, German, English, African, Sudanese, whatever nation you are, and it applies to everyone. And he said, this child will lead to the downfall of many, but also to the rising of many. The Bible says if you don't love the Lord, you are cursed, so that then leads to your downfall if you reject it. The priests, the Pharisees at that time, they rejected him and it led to their downfall, but there were many who were raised up through his coming. And he said, this salvation will be rejected by many. We'll just take a look at verse 33-34. And it says in 34, behold this child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against. He'll be a sign that will be spoken against. We are shocked if people speak badly about us. We are shocked if they speak badly about and criticize the Bible. He'll be a sign that will be spoken against. You must remember that you are a Christian. A sign that will be spoken against. If people don't speak against you, you are not a genuine Christian. You are a Pharisee. You are a child of the world. And the devil is in you. He'll be a sign that will be spoken against. There were those like Herod who rejected him. They spoke against him and it was led to their downfall. But then there were those like Simeon who saw him and embraced him. And that was their rising up. Like Herod, he didn't embrace the child. He wanted to kill the child. And that was his downfall. But Simeon embraced the child. Herod is burning in hell right now. He's burning forever. And he'll burn forever and ever. Because he failed because of the child. And he said that a sword will pierce through your own soul. And that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. And as it says in Corinthians that when it is prophesied, then people will be pierced and they will be convicted. And that's why it is that when you sit under God's Word, you sit there and maybe you say, oh, someone's told on me. Someone has told them about my life. No, it's God's Spirit convicting you in your own heart. As you've heard, he wasn't sent a card or an e-mail saying, look, we'll be arriving at such a time. No, it was the Holy Spirit that spoke to him and prompted him to go into the temple at that moment. And that was the revelation, to be there at the right time. And the same happened to Anna. And she was also prompted by the Holy Spirit. She was an old woman of great age. And yet the Lord could speak to her. She was prompted in that way saying, go up now to see the child in the temple now. Now, some translations put it this way, that she was 84 years old. Others say that she had been a widow for 84 years. So, 84 was old already, but in some translations it says clearly that she had been a widow for 84 years. And she was a virgin. And so she married as a virgin. She was a virgin when she got married. She wasn't like some young girls who, they just act as a doormat for any boy to wipe off their dirt on. But she married as a virgin and she lived with her husband for seven years when he died. And she didn't get married again. She stayed a widow. She wasn't like some young widows who, when they lose their husbands, suddenly they start dressing like young girls again, trying to attract another man. No, she wasn't that type. But then there was a different type. Now, even though the Bible says that you should not classify a widow as a widow until she's over 60 years old, or 60 years old. Because so many young widows, they lose their first love, it grows cold, and then they get distracted, and then they get interested in men again. But Anna stayed faithful to the Lord for 84 years. She was faithful to the Lord. I didn't say to the widow, you're not allowed to marry. If the lust of the flesh troubles you, get married as soon as possible. Come to me and say, Anna, pray for me. I'm in need of a man. I do so. I won't allow it. Bang! It's got to be God, and not your own lust that is troubling you. But if it troubles you, it's better to get married than to burn. 84 years of faithfulness. So Anna lived for 84 years as a widow. 84 and 7 years. 84 and 7 years. So we're talking about 84 and 7 years, which would make you a widow. And then she was married for 7 years, and then a widow for 84. You can imagine, then she would have been way over 100. No wonder that the Bible says she was old. But what a widow, what a person, who lived and spent her time in the temple, fasting and praying for God's salvation. And God rewarded her. She didn't die before she had seen it. Now we could carry on and go into more detail, but I'll just cut it short. Now we could carry on and go into more detail, but I'll just cut it short. Let me end with this point. You heard that Simeon and Anna, it was not announced to them that the child was coming, but the Holy Spirit prompted them. It breaks my heart when I then see some Christians who've received the Holy Spirit, and then you find that they don't get prompted by the Holy Spirit. They don't. He cannot reveal things to them. They cannot discern things. The Holy Spirit, who unites us, speaks to us and does so much for us, and you see no sign of Him in their lives. They can't be like these other Christians. The devil must be in your heart. I'm a Christian. How can the devil be in my heart? You stupid, the Bible says, give no room to the devil, and you give room to the devil. You've got the Holy Spirit, and you err. You don't walk on the narrow path. You follow the world. It's past. My friends, I can't understand. I can't fathom. How is it possible that a person who has got the Holy Spirit goes wrong, is sidetracked? Only one explanation, the devil came into that life. The Bible says, give no room to the devil, and you give room to the devil. You've got the Holy Spirit, and you err. How is it possible that a person who has got the Holy Spirit goes wrong, is sidetracked? The Bible says, give no room to the devil, and you give room to the devil. The early church was united. They were one in heart and in spirit and in soul. And they spoke like with one voice. There was no disunity. It's sad when a person claims to have the Holy Spirit, and yet he gives the devil room of his or her life. But that will come to light. And if he can't persist in that way when he dies, he's on his way to hell. I remember one day a man came to me. Weeping. And he said, I had a terrible dream about somebody. I was lying in my bed. And a girl came and got into bed with him. And then she came closer and closer to me. And he said, I don't understand it. I've committed my life to the Lord. I've actually got troubled by sexual thoughts and things. And I don't understand how I could even dream such a thing. That I could experience that. I've committed my life to the Lord. And I don't understand how I could even dream such a thing. I've also been faithful to my wife. I've never had an affair with another girl. And then I said to him, I said, brother, if you dream, it refers to spiritual things. And when God is giving you a picture of how He sees you, you get angry. Raise your voice and shout. You're irritated. And you have a grudge. And hatred. That's the truth. That's the prostitute that's getting into bed with you, getting closer and closer to you. That's how God sees it. Because that's the devil coming in between your relationship with God. It's strange when a Christian allows and gives the devil room, And he let's the devil in, be it through a grudge, through hatred, through stubborness. And that is that prostitute coming into bed with you. And if you don't deal with it, it will one day come to light. almost bitterness, almost lying, and then she's coming into bed with you and instead of you kicking her out, no, you embrace her. You don't resist the sin, you embrace it. Well, I'm cutting her shoulder and stopping here. I've told you first, if you don't want to hear, well then, you must, you just go to her. And if you've spoken something wrong, even to your parents, if you don't make that right, you die with it, woe to you. And remember, sin doesn't separate you from your sin. That sin will accompany you. You'll stand before God with that sin. If you don't want to hear, well then, you must, you just go to her. And if you've spoken something wrong, even to your parents, if you don't make that right, you die with it, woe to you. Now we start in the circumcision. Now we start in the circumcision. And we spoke about the purification. And then we went on to speak about Simeon and Anna, and how they were prompted by God, by His Holy Spirit. Now what prompts you? What is it that drives you in your life? Answer me. Today, the 30th of January, 2011, at quarter to one, you answer me in your heart, before God, and God records that answer. Let's bow our heads. Let's bow our heads. You spoke Holy Spirit many years ago. You touched people's hearts. Lord, even right in the beginning when the earth was just empty and void, but your Spirit was above and over the waters. And your Spirit brooded over the earth at that time, and something wonderful, something good came out. So Lord, may your Holy Spirit brood over even these words, that something wonderful, something sanctified, something glorious can come out of it. Blessed is all who hears and does. And if you don't embrace it and get that blessing, the opposite is the curse, and that will then be with you. But those that seek God's salvation and embrace it, and embrace the Savior, they will receive the blessing.