In this sermon, the preacher introduces the unique perspective of the Gospel of Luke, which presents Jesus as the son of all mankind. The preacher emphasizes that every lesson in this series stands on its own, but there is a connection and building from lesson to lesson. The sermon then focuses on a specific story from the Gospel of Luke, where Jesus is found in the temple at the age of 12. The preacher compares this story to the love story depicted in the Song of Solomon, highlighting the bride's intimidation by the greatness of her groom.

being uh audiotaped and uh Lillian that's my wife over there in the red and she keeps tracking tapes if you would like any of the tapes from previous lessons just see her there's no charge for that and she'll be glad to give you all of the lessons that you've missed once again i'll try to uh every lesson it's my intention that every lesson will stand on its own two feet in other words there is connection obviously and we hope that there is some uh lucid building from lesson to lesson but if you miss lesson one two five seven or whatever and you come in the middle you you shouldn't be lost because we're focusing on the lord and every lesson stands on its own two feet so we welcome you and we just pray that it'll be a blessing to your heart now let me just review a little bit what we've been looking at uh the gospel of luke is a unique gospel and it presents our lord jesus as the son of all mankind more than any other place in the bible you have in luke that wonderful title that's an interesting title because nobody ever said that of jesus nobody said there's the son of man the only one that ever said that was jesus himself he called himself the son of man and he called himself the son of man about 80 times so i take that to be his favorite title for himself that he just loved to be the son of everybody and luke just calls attention to that he was a gentile writer you know the only one in all the books of the bible and he wrote the book of luke in order to tell us that jesus was the son of everybody the poor and the rich and the down and outer and the up and outer and and he was just the son of everybody and luke develops that we've been looking for the past several weeks at luke chapter 2 we've come a little far to review everything but luke chapter 2 just by glancing at it you'd recognize it as the christmas chapter because in it there are these four stories connected with the early life of our lord jesus his birth in bethlehem the appearance of the angels to the shepherds when they announced the coming of the jesus the lord jesus when he was a little baby in the temple and was circumcised and then finally when he was 12 years old and in the temple and so what we've been trying to do not ignore it as a christmas chapter because it is a christmas chapter but we're trying to read it not as a christmas chapter but as the introduction to the gospel of luke luke wrote this book put that in there as an introduction and we've just sort of summarized luke chapter 2 in these words the greatness of the coming of the son of man and for those who like logical connection we've divided it up this way in three ways luke chapter 2 shows how great jesus was in his coming first of all he was great in how he came and we took a whole lesson to show that he came humbly in a condescending way down down down down until he became the son of all mankind last time we spent our session talking about those for whom he came you say well he came for the gentile that's true say he came for the jew that's true say he came for everybody that's true but the point that luke makes is he came for the humble illustrated by the shepherds and he came for the seeker illustrated by simeon and anna he comes for everybody but all he comes to the humble and he comes to those that seek him the part we're going to look at this morning has to do with the greatness of the lord illustrated by the results of his coming he's great in how he came he's great in those for whom he came and he's certainly great in the results of his coming before we begin that third section that third look at luke chapter 2 i want to pick up a couple of facts from the simeon story just to make it clear and and settle a couple of things that could be controversial we sort of left them hanging last time if you look at chapter 2 begin at verse 21 please and when eight days were completed before his circumcision his name was then called jesus the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb and when the days for their purification according to the law of moses were completed they brought him up to jerusalem to present him to the law and then if you'll drop down to verse 39 please when they had performed everything according to the law of the lord they returned to galilee their own city of nazareth now if you just looked at verse 21 and 22 it would look like these things happened in quick succession number one they circumcised him number two they dedicated him and then verse 39 they went home and that's true but it's a little more complicated than that on the eighth day they circumcised him uh in verse 22 it says that the uh the days of purification according to the law were fulfilled well what were the days of purification according to the law and the answer is found in leviticus 12 and i'll just give it to you as a fact ask you to trust me on it and check it in your own time uh the days of purification according to leviticus 12 were 40 days they had to wait for 40 days and there were certain ceremonies they did during that 40 days and then after that verse 39 it says they went back to nazareth uh now there are a couple of possibilities you realize don't you that the wise men did not come to the manger it was about two years later when the wise men finally came and the bible says they came to the house we know they were in bethlehem when the wise men came and we think it was about two years later because remember herod when he was trying to find out who the messiah was he had babies under two killed and so it was about two years later when the wise men came we know he's in bethlehem well verse 39 seems to say that after they circumcised him on the eighth day they had a 40 day ceremony and after that they went home well if they went home they went back to nazareth we know they're in bethlehem two years later when the wise men come so either luke left out something and there's a big gap of time there and they actually stayed in bethlehem for two years or they moved a lot in the first two years here's what it looks like to me because of the taxation they came down from nazareth to bethlehem after the 40 days they went back to nazareth sometime in that next two years they moved again to bethlehem when the wise men came then god came in a dream and said go to egypt so they went from bethlehem to egypt then god came in a dream and said all right harrod's dead you can go back and so they went back from uh egypt all the way to nazareth and that's probably how it happened the reason i call attention to it is that luke calls attention to a circumcision 40 days later and then the parents presented him to god why is that important it's important because of the way luke writes luke is the only one that tells us about the ascension of our lord jesus in other words after he died and rose then he ascended into heaven you know how many days it was between the resurrection and the ascension the answer is 40 days that's right you see what luke is doing is he's picturing right at the beginning a circumcision and then 40 days later presented to the father the picture of circumcision is separation from the flesh he was cut off from the flesh and 40 days later presented to the father luke is going to develop that throughout the gospel and we're going to see another time at the cross where he's cut off from the flesh and then 40 days later he ascends and he's presented to his holy father god now luke does that all the way through the bible he's going to continually show us how the lord jesus identifies with sinners you see this circumcision had to do with identification with sinners we know he personally didn't need circumcision or that which it pictured remember when god ordained circumcision the idea was separate the body from a little foreskin a piece of flesh and that separation of the person from the flesh became god's picture in the heart of separation from the flesh so that jeremiah 4 4 says circumcised the foreskins of your heart and this idea that the heart needs to be separated uh from the foreskin so why was jesus uh circumcised you say well it was commanded and his parents had to do it yes that's part of it and i don't doubt either that he did it to endorse the age-old institution and to take a stand with that and probably he did it to shut the mouths of those who would say messiah cannot be a son of abraham unless he's been circumcised and so by being circumcised and submitting he shut the of those that would be against him but i think primarily he did it to identify with sinners he's the son of all mankind luke's going to develop this you see uh matter of fact in the next chapter jesus stands in the waters of baptism everybody's confessing their sin he has no sins to confess what's he doing in those waters in fact john makes a point of that and he says i i have need to be baptized by you why are you standing in these waters and he said to fulfill all righteousness to identify with sinners and all the way through in his circumcision in his baptism in his temptation in his ministry on the cross numbered with the transgressors always identifying with us and no gospel writer does it like luke he presents jesus as the son of all mankind and when you go through the book of luke your heart just leaps out and you said he's for me he's on my side he's one of us and he identified with us and we see it right here at the beginning illustrated in this wonderful circumcision 40 days presentation to god i'm going to ask you to look again at luke chapter 2 and uh let's look at his greatness as it's illustrated by the results of his coming now there are four groups or people mentioned in this chapter number one the angels and the shepherds number two simeon number three mary number four anna and i think if you just take those groups the shepherds and the angels together illustrate one of the results of his coming simeon illustrates another result of his coming mary illustrates another result of his coming in addition to how we looked in chapter one at mary as the first picture in the new testament of the church that aside from that she pictures again the result of his coming and finally dear old anna one of my favorite people in the new testament pictures the result of his coming let me just get that before you in simple principle chapter 2 verse 10 and 11 and the angel said to them do not be afraid behold i bring good news of great joy which shall be for all the people for today in the city of david there has been born for you a savior who is christ the lord good news it's not good news of joy it's not good news of good joy it's good news of great joy unto you is born a savior and then chapter 2 verse 13 suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising god and saying glory to god in the highest and on earth peace among men with whom he's pleased and suddenly they burst out in this spontaneous pray now glance at verse 20 and you see it in the shepherd and the shepherds went back glorifying and praising god for all that they'd seen and heard as it had been told now the first result of the coming of christ is joy supernatural joy seen in the angels seen in the shepherd good news joy great joy glorifying god praising god heaven and earth are filled with his praises uh some have pointed out from look luke 2 13 it says and the heavenly host said glory to god in high they didn't sing they said uh i've had some folks come to me say now you know the angels don't sing not once in the bible does it say that the angels sing they always say glory to god in the highest or they say holy holy holy and say well what about luke 15 when when somebody comes to the lord says there's more joy in heaven in the presence of the angel and they say yeah in the presence of the angels it's not the angels who are singing it's god in their presence or glorified saints in their presence or something reason i bring this up is so that you'll have an answer when they come to you with that give them joe 38 7 joe 38 7 we've got them joe 38 7 talks about when god created the universe and it says the morning stars sang together and all the sons of god shouted for joy those are angels so the angels do sing and joe 38 7 proves it uh say when when if he sang if the angel sang when god created the universe i got an idea there was some wing waving when our lord jesus was born and they say and even if they just said it they're saying it has to be more beautiful than any song any man or woman has ever sung now when i introduced luke i told you how one of the chief characteristics of this wonderful gospel was joy all the way through this is the happiest gospel happier than matthew or mark or john just that the happy gospel and you're only two chapters deep and already you've got the five greatest songs of church history you've got the ava maria you've got the magnificat the benedictus the gloria in excelsior and the numptimus and uh if if you know anything about the church caroline you'll understand uh those latin words all it means is uh hail mary god be exalted blessed be the lord glory to god and now dismiss me and that's all that it means the first result is praise glory to god rejoicing good news the way god wrote this the christmas story it seems like all his works praised his name joseph illustrates men mary illustrates women the shepherd illustrates poor people the animals illustrate the animal kingdom the gold illustrates the earth the frankincense and myrrh illustrates the plant kingdom the star illustrates the heaven everything was praising god when uh the lord jesus came into the world so that's the first result of his coming illustrated by the shepherds and by the angel this joy joy unspeakable joy the second result is illustrated by simeon and i'll only mention it since we've already discussed sim but i will mention it again verse 28 and when he took him into his arms he blessed god and said now lord thou dost let thy bond servant depart in peace according to thy word for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou has prepared in the presence of all people a light of revelation to the gentiles and the glory of thy people israel the second result of his coming is sort of twofold contentment in life and tranquility in death and it's illustrated by simeon simeon held the baby jesus looked into his eyes and said my eyes have seen thy salvation salvation is not a plan it's a person and they he looked into the eyes of this baby and said i've seen salvation i am now content and i'm ready to die and i'm ready to die in peace well that's one of the results of his coming to come to bring us to the place where like simeon we can cling to the find salvation purpose in life and we'll be able to be dismissed into eternity in death when we discussed simeon several weeks ago i reminded you of the promise that god gave him that he would not die until he saw the lord's cry you say what a precious promise for that priest no that's a promise for every seeker nobody will die who seeks the lord until they've held the lord's cross and god has just given that unconditional promise so the second result of his coming not only joy unspeakable but contentment in life that's where your purpose is when you find the lord you find the purpose for living and finally you're able to say no good to me this now dismiss me into eternity in peace there's a third result of his coming illustrated by mary and as i said this is in addition to the full picture of mary as the church in chapter one verse 33 and his father and mother were amazed about the things which were being said about him and simeon blessed them and said to mary his mother behold this child is appointed for the fall and the rise of many in israel and for a sign to be opposed a sword will pierce your own soul to the end that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed verse 34 first it says that christ is appointed for the fall and rise of many some take that to be because of christ some will fall others will rise some say no it's not two groups of people it's not some will fall others will rise it's the same group some will fall and then rise and it says in israel so they say that's a prophecy of the jews you see when christ first came they rejected the messiah but someday they will receive the messiah now that's true i'm not dead sure if luke 2 34 teaches it but the bible teaches it the principle holds true no matter which position you hold a glance at verse 35 please a sword will pierce your soul what did simeon mean when he told mary a sword will pierce through your soul some teach that a sword passed through mary's soul when she was personally seized with doubts about who her son was and what his mission was well you won't find that in the bible now i know she was concerned on one occasion that he had a busy schedule and she was concerned because there were so many people around he couldn't eat and she was so concerned mark 3 and verse 21 says she called him mad and so mary called her son mad because of his schedule but i don't think she ever doubted who he was or what he came to do uh most teach that when mary stood at the cross and saw her son as any mother who would see their child suffering uh it was then that a sword passed through her own heart i had no doubt that a sword passed through mary's heart when she stood at the cross we've had six children and it doesn't take a cross and undeserved suffering to make a sword pass through a parent's heart and let them have a toothache or let them be sick in any way and the sword will pass through your heart but i believe it's more all-inclusive than that you see simeon told mary that because of her identification with christ he would be opposed and because she was identified with him a sword would pass through her heart as well and i think that's really the principle you see mary pictures the church in chapter one she also pictures the church in chapter two you say because jesus came there'll be joy oh there will and the joy bells will ring in your heart you say because jesus came there'd be contentment and peace yes indeed here's the other side because jesus came there'll be rejection if you identify with christ a sword will pass through your heart if i identify with christ a sword will pass through my heart sometimes it grieves us to to think that we can love the lord so much and then see so many stand against him when anyone stands against the lord a sword passes through the heart of those who are identified with christ that's one of the results of his coming and it's one of the greatest pains you'll have as a believer you'll be identified with him outside the camp and you those of you who have known the lord you know that he's a rejected savior and you identify with him and the sword passes through your heart uh one more illustration verse 36 to 38 this anna there was a prophetess anna daughter of the tribe of asher and by the way i won't develop it now but that's the rich tribe she was advanced in years having lived with a husband seven years after her marriage then as a widow to the age of 84 and she never left the temple serving night and day with fastings and prayers at that very moment she came up and began giving thanks to god and continued to speak of him to all who were looking for redemption of jerusalem a glance at verse 37 we're not dead sure if she was 84 you see there's a couple of ways to read that in the original language it might be that she was just all added together she was 84 that's a possibility or it might be she was 84 plus the seven years she was married that's 91 how old was she when she got married well the jewish law says they couldn't get married before 12 the ripe old age of 12 and that makes her at least 103 that's why i love this one uh she's a dear saint of 103 and full of hope that's so thrilling to me to see someone who's elderly still filled with hope that's anna filled with hope and uh you say what's the picture of anna here did you notice when christ came in it she went around 103 at least she went around speaking of him to everyone overflow there's your missions there's your soul winning there's your testimony and you say what's the greatness of christ in this chapter see luke pulls it all together luke says when christ comes there's going to be joy when christ comes there's going to be contentment when christ comes there's going to be peace when christ comes there's going to be rejection and when christ comes there's going to be overflow there's going to be testimony there's going to be witness uh joy uh luke writes in such a way you're going to see these things repeated over and over and over again in the different historical events that he selects to communicate christ the son of all mankind now there's one more there's uh several things we could say about that but i want to introduce to you uh this story of the lord jesus when he was 12 years old uh follow along let's read the text and then i want to make a couple comments verse 41 please his parents used to go up to jerusalem every year at the feast of passover and when he became 12 they went up there according to the custom of the thieves and as they were returning after spending the full number of days the boy jesus stayed behind in jerusalem his parents were unaware of it supposing him to be in the caravan they went a day in the midst of the teachers both listening to them and asking them questions all who heard them were amazed at his understanding and his answer and when they saw him they were astonished and his mother said to him son why have you treated us this way behold your father and i have been anxiously looking for you and he said to them why is it that you were looking for me did you not know i had to be in my father's house and they did not understand the statement which he had made to them and he went down with them came to nazareth he continued in subjection to them and his mother mother treasured all these things in her heart and jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature and in favor with god and man before i give you the principle let me make a couple of observations so that you can get a feel for some of these facts verse 41 it says that they went to the passover as i told you last time this is one of the three annual vacations that was commanded by the lord a glorious thing to be commanded to take vacation at least three times a year and they went to the passover the passover the feast of pentecost and tabernacle the fact the passover if you stayed the full length of time was eight days and we know that they stayed the full length of time in verse 41 to 52 this is the only record in the bible we have that touches on what has been called the obscure years in other words from the time jesus was born until he was 30 years old the only record we have of those 30 years is this one record when he was 12 years old now there are some books that didn't make it into the bible called apocryphal uh gospel and they have stories of the boyhood life of christ i'll give you a couple of examples of that uh they say uh when jesus was in the carpenter's shop one day joseph didn't listen to perot cut uh measured twice and cut once and he cut it wrong and so uh the board was the wrong length so little boy jesus took the board and made it the right length just stretched it out they got those kind of stories another time uh one of his friends was picking on another one of his friends and he turned them into a frog that story's in there does that sound like the jesus that you know another time they were walking together and joseph said i'm awfully tired i wish i was home well guess what they were home see when he went to school to learn his alphabet the teacher said say out and jesus said out and then they said say bet and he says not until you tell me what else means and so the teacher raised up an arm to strike him and then jesus paralyzed his arm and there are dozens of stories like that now how do we know 100 true that those things are not bible and that they're not true and the answer is from john chapter 2 verse 11 john chapter 2 11 talking about turning the water into wine calls it the first miracle jesus did so we know he was 30 years old before he ever did any miracle so all of those stories about uh the only thing we need to know is right here when he was 12 years old now why did luke give us this particular event we know that he submitted to his holy father god and was about his business and we know he submitted to his parents and you realize that's the two tables of the law being rightly related to god being rightly related to man that's one thing we need to know what about those 30 years i know this he was rightly related to god during those 30 years and he was rightly related to man during those 30 years verse 49 it says why is it that you were looking for me did you know not know that i must be about my father's business house entrance it's amazing you read the different commentaries how come one says business and one says house one says interest because in the original language it's blank did you not know that i must be about my father's and so the translators gasped and said must be business something well no he found the temple must be house and so they just filled it in you'll notice in most translations that it's in italics and when it's in italics that means that it's not in the original language and that's how you know but he was just saying do you not know that i must be about my father's my father's everything my father's will my father's business my father's house my father's people my father's everything that which concerns my father and so all we really need to know about the first 30 years is that he was perfect rightly related to god rightly related to man and his heart was set on his father's glory business interest house people everything concerning the father some say when you read luke chapter 2 this 12 year old jesus you've got to remember that these are the first recorded words of messiah think about that first thing jesus ever said i must be about my father's technically that's not true can you remember when he spoke before this it's recorded in hebrews chapter 10 strange verse hebrews chapter 10 verse 5 it says when he came into the world he said you mean jesus said something when he came into the world as a according to the bible he did hebrews 10 verses 5 to 7 and when he came into the world he said now listen to what he said sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire but a body thou hast prepared for me in the volume of the book it's written of me i come to do thy will oh god that's first thing he said say did mary hear him say that i don't think so did joseph hear him say that i doubt it i don't think the shepherds heard it i don't think the wise men heard it but i know he said it at least that's the transcript of his heart that god gives us when he came into the world he said a body thou hast prepared for me i come to do thy will oh god and now at 12 years old he just says it again i'm concerned about my father's about his business and about his will now why did luke uh after he gives this great chapter on the greatness of the coming of the son of man great in his coming great in those to whom he came great in the results of his coming why did he end with this story about the lord jesus i think the answer is this he comes humbly he comes to the humble and to the seeker he comes to bring joy and to bring contentment and to bring peace and to identify us with a rejected savior and to bring overflows and i think he ends with this because it's warning i said what's he warning up jesus come and i think the message at the end here is when the son of man comes be careful that you don't lose him be careful that you don't leave him behind and he gives this great story uh i think the saddest verse in luke chapter two i don't suggest you go on looking for the saddest verse in every chapter but in luke chapter 2 verse 44 oh this has touched my heart it says they supposed him to be in the caravan they went a day's journey thinking jesus was with them and i thought in my own heart i wonder how many days journey i've been thinking he was with me when he really wasn't it's such an easy thing to do now one of the things that makes this thing so subtle is where did they lose jesus and the answer is they lost him at passover they lost him at one of the most religious holidays or series of holidays of the entire jewish year passover was the time of worship they tell us that they would the psalms of ascent during passover that's psalm 120 to 134 it was a time of worship and because everybody was commanded to go it was a time of fellowship and reunion a couple of weeks ago i was away and i asked you to pray for me as we had our bible conference we had about 150 people gathering and i if you haven't been to one of these you might consider coming sometime it's such a glorious time we fellowship we sing we pray we enjoy the lord we just relate to one another wouldn't it be a terrible thing after a weekend we had three solid days of meeting old friends and renewing acquaintances and sharing the lord would it be a terrible thing to leave that place and leave the lord behind say oh yeah but i remember the hymns i remember the prayers and i remember the testimonies but where's jesus see that's what happened to them and i think it's an amazing thing uh that they left the lord jesus behind here later on we're going to read well actually we're not because it's in matthew uh but when jesus was when they were warned to take jesus to egypt they're killing the babies and there's uh hysteria and and they're running to egypt they didn't lose jesus in egypt in days of persecution they lost jesus in religious days they lost jesus in time where you think you'd be able to hang on to jesus luke ends this wonderful chapter warning us it's wonderful when he comes but it's possible to get preoccupied with other things and to leave the lord jesus behind now of course when i talk about losing the savior i'm not talking about in an absolute way you know he's promised he's never going to leave you he's not going to forsake you i'm talking about they lost his company they lost the sense of his presence they lost his sweet fellowship now look please at verse 48 and 49 when they saw him they were astonished mother said to him son why have you treated us this way behold your father and i have been anxiously looking for you and he said to them why is it you were looking for me did you not know that i had to be about my father's business okay uh mary's upset a little bit here with the lord jesus she felt like she had been mistreated by her son and you see she had a relationship with jesus and based on that relationship she expected certain things now we can understand how any parent would think about a 12 year old who stayed behind and was missing for three or four days son you should have said something you should have at least informed us i know it's hard when you study a chapter like this because you know we're so spiritual we don't want to charge jesus with any kind of infirmity we want to blame mary and joseph for all this and yet you read it with a parent's heart and you just have to maybe he could have at least had a social courtesy to say i won't be coming along with you and so on so whether i don't know what your approach is to uh looking at these things whether jesus had should have informed them or if mary and joseph were to be blamed because they shouldn't have been anxious or whatever the principle is there don't get all wrapped up in that kind of controversy and miss the principle the principle is this mary don't forget mary continues to be a picture of the church so when you see mary put yourself in there because the principle touches us and the principle is this jesus has a relationship with mary jesus also has a relationship with god the relationship jesus has with god is greater than the relationship jesus has with mary jesus has a relationship with me and because of his relationship with me i expect certain things from him i'm related to you sometimes i feel like i'm exempt from sir i'm a christian i'm exempt from that trouble i'm exempt from that trial i'm exempt from that particular hardship or that disease because i have a relationship with him he says yes ed but i also have a relationship with my father and his interests transcend my relationship with you and sometime it looks like as mary blamed him why did you treat me this way lord and the answer is always my father's god my father's pleasure the higher purpose and we need to understand and and luke closes is reminding us yes we have a relationship with him but his relationship to the father transcends that and whatever comes into our life he's always about his father's business i want to give you one other little thought on this and we're not finished with the 12 year old story we'll pick it up here next time but notice in verse 49 or 46 they found him in the temple and then verse 49 did you not know that i had to be about my father's business or in my father's house uh what you have here let me tell you a little story uh what you have here in different words is exactly what you have in the song of solomon are you familiar with my favorite book in the old testament song it's a love story of two worlds it's a love story on the level of earth that describes our love story uh with the lord and in that book the bride was completely intimidated by the greatness of her groom he was so wonderful and she was just nothing and all through the book you see this poor bride struggling with a low self-image and constantly self-depreciating cutting herself down the groom on the other hand is trying to say i love you because of who you are finally the groom came upon one figure of speech garden and he says you're my garden and i just love my garden and i want to enjoy my garden and finally it hit her he says you don't have to try to continually make yourself attractive you're already attractive to me because you're my garden and it finally dawns on her in chapter four and she says finally she says uh i he's i'm i'm his garden and uh uh all i care about now i don't care come north wind she says come south wind whatever wind that blows blow across the garden and let its fragrance be pleasant to the nostrils of the groom then in chapter five she loses her groom he's gone she doesn't know where he is and she runs out into the street and she asks the daughters of the where have you seen him and they said well describe him for us and so that's where you get this great he's all together lovely he's the fairest of ten thousand and she begins to describe him and then they say to her where is he and she says he's in his garden of course and the next chapter they're walking together in the garden as soon as she meditates and remember of course i know where he how could i lose him he's in his garden well in the new testament you have exactly the same thing garden has changed to temple what is the temple you brothers and sisters you're the temple of the lord they lost him where was he he's in the temple he's always in the temple he's always in the garden and when you lose the lord where are you going to find him take a good look he's right down in there you just think you lost you lost his presence you lost the sense of it now we're not finished with this there's more about this but luke ends with this great warning see the chapter two is christ is coming and with his coming he's going to meet the secret he's going to bring joy contentment fullness peace he's going to identify you with him he's going to bring overflow don't lose him don't forget and over and over again as you go on in the lord you know it you know it more than i do i was always taught to sit at the feet of gray hair and to listen and those who have walked with the lord you know how many times you've had to retrace your steps as mary had to retrace her hers and you always find them in the same place he's with his people he's always doing his father's will he's about his father's faith well we'll leave it there and pick it up next time comments or questions i just had one about don't you think that maybe the reason i mentioned this specific incident in jesus life when he was 12 is because the age of 12 is so important in a jewish boy's life because that's when he's bar mitzvahed so that he becomes a man of his spiritual responsibilities of his own and this whole thing and all of a sudden here he is in the temple with the scribes and the so forth asking the questions and everything because it's sort of a special point in his life at that time too i don't know yeah well that's an excellent point yeah and why they would mention the 12 years and the whole thing and that's true that at 12 that's exactly when all of a sudden there he's in a special relationship now with his father because he's reached a certain age and even though he's always with him and some say because of that he was not responsible to inform his parents because of that age also some have suggested because the temple was also not only a picture of us but a picture of heaven that a lot of memories came back to him because he remembered the glory of the father before and when he went into that temple supposedly for the first time he recalled all of that when he was with the father but thank you for bringing that up that's a good point about his age other comments or questions yes well certainly he knows because he's on this but people that are that have died or are the background and i have a friend who's deaf and he's dying but here's the thing that god how much faith does it take not very much and sometime only the lord can see it god hasn't allowed us to look into the book of life oh he's known god has given us a will he's it's there's mystery in it and i'm not pretending i i understand it all i just leave all that with him yes i can't you know they've been they've been answered i don't know if i chose lillian or she chose me you know i don't know it's he said he's chosen us and uh if i chose him it's because he drew me i hope you're right and i'm wrong let's bow before the lord yes father we thank you so much for this picture this wonderful results of your coming we know lord that you do bring joy and fulfillment and peace over for us we work this in our hearts we pray and give us the grace never to leave jesus behind as we embrace our religion thank you that you're going to work it in us bring us back again we pray that we might meditate on your precious word we ask in jesus name