Holding Hope: Simeon, Living Hope, and Advent Expectation

Devotional

Day 1: Hope becomes tangible when Christ is held.

Simeon’s story shows that hope stops being abstract the moment the promised Savior is placed in one’s arms; it is no longer a future wish but a present reality that brings peace. This passage calls the reader to recognize that the arrival of Christ answers the longing of Scripture and fulfills God’s promise to all peoples. Embrace the image of holding hope and let that settle your heart this Advent season. [32:37]

Luke 2:25-32 (ESV)
Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,
“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”

Reflection: When you picture the baby in your arms like Simeon, which longings in your life feel answered by Christ’s presence, and how might that change what you pursue this week?

Day 2: God hears suffering and promises rescuing deliverance.

The Exodus passage reminds the congregation that God sees affliction and moves to deliver his people; his rescue is both compassionate and active. This frees believers to stop building false hopes around comfort or control and instead rest in the promise that God is at work even when the path is hard. Consider how God’s faithful deliverance shapes what you hope in during seasons of struggle. [39:19]

Exodus 3:7-8 (ESV)
Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites.”

Reflection: What habitual comfort or control are you leaning on when trials arrive, and what is one concrete step you can take this week to trust God for deliverance instead?

Day 3: Prophecy assures the coming Messiah and salvation.

Isaiah’s promise of Immanuel anchors the people’s hope across generations; the sermon highlights that God’s timeline may be long, but his promise is sure. This truth helps the hearer resist cheap or immediate substitutes for hope and instead hold fast to the patient fulfillment God ordains. Let the historic promise of a coming Savior reorient your expectations for how God works in waiting. [46:45]

Isaiah 7:14 (ESV)
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Reflection: In what area of waiting are you tempted to invent a quicker solution, and how does remembering God’s long‑term promise (Immanuel) change your posture toward that situation?

Day 4: Resurrection births a living hope and inheritance.

Peter’s words make clear that the resurrection is the defining event that turns life from despair into a living hope, securing an imperishable inheritance kept for believers. Trials do not negate this hope; rather, they expose counterfeit hopes and refine true faith so that the believer’s joy is deeper and lasting. Rehearse the resurrection this week as the foundation for endurance and rejoicing. [50:51]

1 Peter 1:3-7 (ESV)
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Reflection: When trials expose what you truly hope in, what have you discovered about your heart, and what one practice will you adopt to re-root your hope in the resurrection this week?

Day 5: Live expectantly now, waiting for Christ's return.

Titus calls the church to let grace change present behavior while keeping the second coming as the central hope that shapes daily living. The Advent season is thus not merely remembering the first coming but also preparing for the blessed hope of glorification, which calls believers to renounce worldly passions and live self‑controlled lives. Commit to living in anticipation of Christ’s appearing so your choices reflect that future reality today. [01:06:39]

Titus 2:11-13 (ESV)
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

Reflection: What is one earthly desire or distraction you can renounce this week so your daily habits better reflect the reality of waiting for Christ’s appearing?

Sermon Summary

Advent invites us to reorient our hearts—to limit distractions and look to the arrival of Christ with hopeful expectation. Today I drew us to Simeon in Luke 2, a devout man who finally held in his arms the very consolation of Israel. He names that baby “salvation,” a light for the Gentiles and the glory of Israel. It’s the long-awaited resolution to the unresolved chord of the Old Testament. Jesus is the hope you can actually hold—hope that isn’t vague mood or seasonal sentiment, but a Person who fulfills prophecy and opens salvation to the nations.

But many of us still reach for the wrong hope—comfort and control—especially in a season swollen with pressure, purchases, and performance. Israel’s story in Exodus exposes how quickly a heart can want Egypt back when God’s timeline doesn’t match ours. Complaint is what grows when selfishness sits at the root of our hope. Black Friday can’t fill the ache. Walmart doesn’t sell what your soul needs. Only Jesus does.

Peter calls this “a living hope” through the resurrection—an imperishable inheritance kept in heaven for us, and we ourselves kept by God’s power. Trials aren’t wasted; they refine faith, reveal our counterfeit hopes, and burn them off. Our brothers and sisters who have suffered much—like Corrie Ten Boom—teach us that God’s promises can be trusted in the darkest places. This is why love and inexpressible joy rise in us, even though we have not seen Him. Salvation in Christ—not our performance, not our plans—produces that kind of durable joy.

So we practice Advent not to chase a feeling but to cultivate longing. We look back with gratitude that hope has come, and we look forward with hunger for the blessed hope—Christ’s return—when He makes everything right. Let’s lead our families to engage Scripture, pray, sing, and share this hope. Don’t outsource your formation to a devotional book; use it to open your Bible and your home. He paid the debt we cannot pay. Let’s live expectantly, renounce the lesser loves, and fix our eyes on the One who is our living hope.

Key Takeaways

1. Hold onto the Living Hope Jesus is not seasonal comfort; He is resurrection life. A living hope is durable because it’s anchored in a risen Savior, not in our shifting circumstances. Let the empty tomb, not your to-do list, define your expectations. Hope is personal before it is practical. [51:33]
2. Beware counterfeit hopes: comfort and control The heart naturally substitutes comfort and control for trust. When God’s timing stretches us, complaint exposes our idols. Repentance looks like surrendering outcomes to Jesus and receiving manna with gratitude. Cheaper hopes always demand more but deliver less. [42:09]
3. Trials refine and reveal our hope Hard seasons are not spiritual detours; they are classrooms. Fire doesn’t destroy true faith—it purifies it and melts off what cannot last. When money, ease, or approval burn away, Christ remains—and that remainder is your wealth. Suffering clarifies your center. [57:19]
4. Love and joy flow from salvation You haven’t seen Him, yet you love Him; you don’t see Him now, yet you rejoice. That is the miracle of salvation: joy rising from trust in a trustworthy Christ. Let assurance in His finished work quiet your inner scorekeeper. Love answers where striving fails. [60:50]
5. Live expectantly for Christ’s return Grace trains us to renounce lesser passions and live upright in this age. Advent is future-facing: we await our blessed hope, the appearing of our great God and Savior. Expectation shapes practice—what you long for determines how you live. Hope is readiness, not rush. [66:39]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[07:12] - Giving and Guest Info
[08:27] - Christmas Season Schedule
[09:08] - Advent Resources: The Missing Peace
[10:00] - Churchwide Prayer and Focus
[12:22] - Advent: Expectation and Dependence
[29:23] - Advent Beyond Decor and Mood
[32:02] - Reading Luke 2:25-32
[34:37] - Hope Held: Salvation for All
[38:28] - Living for the Wrong Hope
[39:19] - Exodus: Delivered for True Freedom
[42:57] - Consumerism, Control, and Complaint
[50:51] - Born Again to a Living Hope
[55:50] - Our Imperishable Inheritance
[66:39] - Waiting for Our Blessed Hope

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Luke 2:25–32 — 25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. 27 And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law, 28 he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, 29 “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; 30 for my eyes have seen your salvation 31 that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”

Observation Questions

What titles and images does Simeon use for the child in verses 29–32, and what does each image point to about who the child is? [32:37]
What detail in the passage shows that Simeon’s recognition came through the Spirit rather than only human expectation? How does that shape the certainty of his words? [34:07]
Where does the passage make the scope of this salvation explicit, and why would that statement have been surprising or important in its first-century context? [36:39]
Simeon says he can “depart in peace” after seeing the child. What tension does that phrase create with the fact that the world is still broken and waiting for final restoration? [35:32]

Interpretation Questions

How should a believer understand Simeon’s claim that the child is “salvation” when considering both the immediate birth and the future work of Christ? What does this say about hope being a person rather than a feeling? [32:37]
How does the Exodus pattern (God delivering his people but the people longing for the “comfort” of Egypt) clarify the human tendency to substitute comfort or control for trust during long seasons of waiting? [42:09]
What does the phrase “born again to a living hope” (1 Peter 1) imply about the relationship between resurrection, present suffering, and the believer’s expectation for the future? [50:51]
How does the promise of an “imperishable, undefiled, unfading” inheritance kept in heaven change the way one should interpret present trials and losses? [56:32]

Application Questions

Consumer goods and attempts at control cannot satisfy the soul. What is one concrete purchase or control-strategy you are tempted to lean on this season instead of Christ, and what would a first practical step look like to redirect that hope to Jesus? [44:32]
Trials often reveal where your hope actually rests. Think of a recent difficulty: what did that trial expose about your real hopes (comfort, control, approval, money, Christ)? How should that discovery change your prayer or action this week? [57:19]
Advent is meant to cultivate longing for Christ, not just create a mood. Name one simple family practice you can start this week (reading Scripture together, singing, praying, or telling the gospel story) to help your household long for the Savior. Put a concrete plan and time on the calendar. [09:08]
Love and inexpressible joy flow from trusting Christ’s finished work. What is one habit that keeps you focused on Christ’s finished work (Bible reading, hymn singing, a short testimony to memorize)? Commit to doing it daily for the next seven days and report back to one person for accountability. [01:00:50]
The blessed hope is Christ’s return, and expectation shapes practice. What is one area of life where living “expectantly” would change how you spend time, money, or attention right now? What specific change will you make this week? [01:06:39]
Repentance from lesser loves will look like small renunciations. Identify one “lesser love” (an idol of comfort, approval, or routine consumption) you will refuse this week. What will you do with the time, money, or energy freed by that renunciation? [42:57]
The gospel is meant to be shared without costing a lot of money. Who is one non-Christian you could invite into a gospel conversation or a simple Advent practice (a meal, a carol night, reading Luke 2) before Christmas? Make a plan and set a date. [49:14]

Sermon Clips

But really the challenge is when you get into an Advent spirit, a hopeful expectation of, as we look at it, the arrival of Christ, the first Advent. But, you know, it's the Advent of hope. It's the Advent of peace. It's the Advent of joy and ultimately in love. And you get Christ as the fulfillment across the board in all of that. But then also, here's the beauty in what we believe is that there's a second Advent. There's a second coming. That Christ is going to come and make everything right. [00:29:51] (37 seconds) #AdventHope

And so if we're doing numbers, we'll always go 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and then we'll get back to that one. It always wants to get back to the one. If you finish songs like that last one did on not the one, we get a little something in our heart goes like, no, no, finish on the one, because we've got to finish it, okay? And so if you ever hear like, oh, that song kind of wants to go on, what's because it ended on a five? And it does want to go on, but we want to close it. See, all of the Old Testament never finishes. [00:35:51] (33 seconds) #FinishOnTheOne

Like, that would have been, like, absurd to say in a thought of just, like, let's be pro-Israel first and nobody else because they're all pagans and they're all evil and they're, we don't want them at all. And on the front end, Simeon's going, this is the hope. This is salvation, not only for the Jew, but for the Gentile. That's great news for us. Why? Because most of you all are Gentiles. And he goes, this hope, this hope, this good news, this beautiful movement, this move for resolve is seen in this baby. Salvation. [00:36:54] (41 seconds) #HopeForAllNations

Sin has broken the world. That choice, that decision. And so the whole world hurts and is needing to be resolved. And that resolution hasn't come yet, right? Because why? For most of us who have gotten Christ, your life isn't perfect yet. You still struggle. There's still sickness. There's still heartaches. There's still hurts. So it's not complete. See, we're waiting and desiring on glorification. We're waiting on what? The second advent. Where Christ makes everything right and the whole entire world is made right. [00:37:56] (44 seconds) #AwaitingChristsReturn

I'm not going to waste all my effort trying to explain to you or talk to you about dinosaurs. I'm not. You can have all these like is the earth flat around? It ain't flat. Stop watching those people on YouTube. Somebody's going to come to me at the end and say it is flat. I don't really I don't think it's flat. I know this our hope isn't in the shape of the earth. [00:54:47] (32 seconds) #HopeBeyondDebates

And here's what you get in the beauty of verses 4 and 5. You ready? 1 Peter 3, 4 and 5. He says to an inheritance that doesn't fade away. Like he's leaving you something. Right? You may not be leaving your kids something. Sorry kids. Some bills and you know a couple baseball cards. God leaves to you in being born again into the family of God an inheritance that is imperishable. That's kept in heaven. And then he keeps you. Like that's why it would be extremely hard for you to lose it. [00:55:46] (42 seconds) #ImperishableInheritance

Do you realize how beautiful and good God is to us in that? This beautiful living hope that we have in this new life that is kept for usand then he keeps us and then we get to the part where trials and persecutions and sufferings come but they're not the end because they help to make our faith stronger refined and it also reveals counterfeit hopes that we have and burns them up. [00:57:01] (42 seconds) #TrialsRefineHope

so if all your hope is in moneywhen a trial or suffering comes it burns it upand then you're like okay I can lose all my money I can still have Jesus I'm fine or I can loseall of my comfort and it can be burned up and I'm still fine. I can lose anythingand if I have Christ who is in salvation for myself I have all that I need [00:57:44] (27 seconds) #HopeNotWealth

Ask a question about this sermon

Chatbot

How does Simeon model hope’s fulfillment and scope?

What counterfeit hopes do trials expose in believers' hearts?

Why is Christian hope anchored in resurrection?