You turn again to the passage we read concerning the birth of Christ in Luke chapter two. Draw your attention to one verse in particular there. We read that, came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was that while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.

She laid her babe, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in a manger, in a cattle trough, in a filthy stable. The King of Glory, when He entered this world, was laid in a cattle trough at His birth, because there was no room for them in the inn. No room. There was no room for the Son of God, Jesus Christ, at His birth. This world had no room for Him. They had no room for him at his birth. There was no room at the inn. There was no room in the world for him. In his life or at his death. There was no room. No room at the inn. No room in this world for Jesus Christ. And by nature, there is no room in our hearts for Him. None whatsoever. We have no room, no time and no care for the Son of God, the King of Kings, the Lord Eternal. No room.

Jesus came unto His own. He was born a Jew. He came unto his own the Jews who had the scriptures, who had the history, who had the priesthood, who had the temple, who had all the promises concerning the coming of Christ the Messiah. They had all the prophets that pointed to his coming. They had all the priesthood, all the worship, all the ritual of the law which pictured Him and His coming and His death. They had every sign pointing to His coming and when He came unto His own, His own received Him not. There was no room at the inn for Him. There was no room amongst the Jews for him. When they heard him come preaching the gospel of the kingdom, they cast him out. They tried to stone him, they rejected him. He was rejected at birth. rejected in his life and his ministry and rejected at his death they cried out crucify him crucify him and when he was crucified all men departed from him even his disciples were scattered there was none by his side he was alone Men passed by and reviled and mocked and scoffed and said, if he be the son of God, let him call angels and bring him down from the cross. They derided him and said, he can't be God because there he is dying. Where's his power? Where's his glory now? They had no room for him. Just like you and just like me by nature. We have no room for Jesus Christ. No room at his birth. No room in his life. No room for his death. No room for his gospel.

At his birth there was no room in the inn and no room in this world for him. Herod, the king of the Jews at the time, on hearing of the birth of this child, the king of the Jews, when wise men came to visit him, when the child Jesus was around two years old, when he heard that Christ had entered this world, he sought to slay him. He made a decree to slay the firstborn children of the right age up and down the land. Many were slain, blood was shed in Herod's attempt to slay Jesus Christ. Yet God preserved him. in his ministry, the Pharisees, the scribes, the Sadducees, the Jews, hated him, rejected him, reviled him, tried to stone him, and ultimately, in the end, created a mock trial, and found him guilty of false accusations, and led him away to be crucified.

in His ministry, those that heard Him, those that saw His miracles, those that heard His words. They came to Him when He healed them of their sicknesses. They came to Him when He fed them, when He fed the 5,000. They came to Him when there was material gain to be gained from Him. But when they heard His gospel, and heard the truth of Christ from His own lips, many were offended.

and went away saying, this is a hard saying, who can bear it? They rejected him, they cast him out, they had no room for him and his gospel. He said to the 12, will ye also go away? Will ye also go away? Do you have no room? And Peter, by the Spirit of God wisely said, to whom else shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we know and are sure that thou art the Christ, the Son of God. Thou hast the words of eternal life. To whom else shall we go?

At his death, he was betrayed. Betrayed by one of the twelve. Betrayed by all men who ultimately had no room for him. They cried out, crucify him, crucify him. Away with this man. And at the cross as he hung, between two vile, wretched criminals. As he hung before the people suspended between earth and heaven, men passed by and reviled him and mocked him and spat upon him and derided him. They had no time for him, no room for him.

And we do the same. Every time his name is preached, every time the gospel comes our way and we close our ears and turn our backs and shut our hearts to him, we do the same. We've no room for him. If he is God, why doesn't he do this? Why doesn't he do that? He was just a man. That's why he died. If he was God, he'd have had all power to do all things. Why didn't he come down?

So many, because they weren't there at the time and because they cannot see him, say, well, I can't see God. And I can't see Jesus Christ, so I don't believe in him. The psalmist writes in Psalm 14, the fool have said in his heart, there is no God. Despite all the evidence, despite the creation which demonstrates His eternal power and Godhead, despite the witness of the scriptures kept and preserved over thousands of years unto this day, despite the preaching of the gospel and despite our own conscience within that God has given us to know that we are created beings answerable unto him we try to hide away and we make no room and say in our hearts there is no God we can't see him therefore he isn't he cannot be because i cannot see how blind we are

Others say, well I cannot believe, I will not bow down to a God that allows such suffering and tragedy in this world. And we blame God for the consequence of man's sin and rebellion. For when God created the world it was perfect, all was good, there was no death, there was no suffering, there was no illness, there was no tragedy. He created a perfect world and put man in it. And because we rebelled against him in Adam and said, we will not bow down unto God, we will go our own way, sin entered and death by sin and every tragedy and every illness and every consequence ever since. And yet we love to blame God for what we've brought upon ourselves.

Some go as far as to say, I cannot worship a God who's self-centred, who demands glory. They describe God or the idea of God as being narcissistic. He's self-centred, he thinks of himself, all men must bow down to him. And we use this in our own self-centered, glory-seeking desires. That men should praise us. And men should praise our own wisdom and our own understanding.

Being the ones who are guilty, we blame God who is perfect. For God is not self-centered. And God does not need our praise and our honor. He is self-sufficient and eternal. He lacks for nothing. He always was and always will be. He does not need you and He does not need me.

But He deserves praise. because of his perfection, his glory, and his love towards sinners that deserved his wrath. And yet he gave his son to deliver them from judgment. He deserves glory. He deserves praise. And we rob him of what he deserves.

God's glory is seen in saving sinners. It's seen in His Son, who gave Himself for those He loved, who gave Himself for those who had no room for Him, who gave Himself for those who cast Him out and said He is not. I won't worship him. I have no time for him. I have no care for him.

He gave himself for people like you and I who hated him. He created us. He created this world. He created all that we have. He sustains us. He sustains this world. And though this world hates him and rejects him and had no room for him and took God's son and crucified him, God loved a people in Christ. Chosen before the foundation of the world.

And he sent his son into this sin-sick world, the darkness of this world. He sent his only begotten son into this world that had no room for him. And he gave his son to those that hated him. and they took him and they pierced him and they slew him and he laid down his life and took their rebellion and took their hatred and took their opposition and unbelief and bore the wrath of God against it in order that he should save them.

Oh what manner of love is this? that God in Christ should lay down his life for others. He is worthy to be praised and none else is. We crave praise as men. We crave the love and adulation of others, though we are vile and undeserving. And we deny God's praise that is rightly due unto him. though he gave his son for the vile and the undeserving.

Yes, Christ loved his own. He loved a multitude of sinners when they hated him. He gave himself for them when they hated him. In the parable in Luke 19 we read, his citizens hated him, the king, and sent a message after him saying, we will not have this man to reign over us. And you and I have said that in our hearts from our birth. We've no room for him, we will not have him reign over us. We'll go our own way, we'll do our own things. It's my life, I'll live it.

So he gave us life and he gives us the strength to do whatever we may do. We may go off like the prodigal son and take our father's inheritance and go and spend it on wanton living and say, I'll live my own life. But it's a father's inheritance we've taken. We spend his money on our own indulgence until we die. Or until God, by grace, brings us to an end of ourselves, to the point where we cry out, I've nothing. I've wasted everything. I'm vile and I'm wretched. I need grace. And we return to the God of all grace.

But by nature, We hate him. Christ loved his own when they hated him. As Paul writes in Romans, for when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly, the ungodly, the undeserving. for scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

What a gracious God this is. He made a world in perfection and mankind went his own way and rejected his maker and defiled this creation and rebelled against God. And when God sent his son, he had no room for him. God commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He died for those who hated him.

Yes, we say in our hearts, we have said and we continue to say in the darkness of our sin, away with this man. We will not have him to rule over us. Crucify him, crucify him. We have no room for the Son of Glory, no room for the Son of God, no room for Jesus Christ, no room for the Gospel. And in our hearts we've taken nails and nailed Him to the cross, we've pierced Him. We've closed our ears, we've closed our eyes, we've closed our hearts. We've no room. Come hear the Gospel of Christ. No! Another day, I've got things to do. I've not got the time. We've no room. We've no room for Christ, no room in our hearts, no room in our lives, no room in our time, no room in our affections, no room whatsoever.

But how much room we have for everyone else. How much room we have for others. How many idols we willingly receive into our house, into our homes, into our lives, into our hearts, into our affections? How many idols we gather up and worship? You say, I'm not like those of old with their idols. I don't make an idol in my house to bow down to. Yes, you do. All your heart's affection, love and desire Outside of Christ is an idol that you worship. And this day and age and generation is not shy to speak of idols and to name things idols as though it's trivial. They speak of their pop idols and their rock idols and their film star idols and their sports star idols. They speak of idolizing this one and that one. I've idolized this sportsman from my youth. Oh, they're so wonderful. They were my idol. I wanted to be like them.

How many idols we bow down to? Well, listen to this man. Well, listen to this man sing and his thoughts and ideas. Well, listen to this film star act. We'll listen to the thoughts and the wisdom of this presenter or this writer. And we idolize them all. And we've plenty of room for the vilest of men. The darkest wisdom from man. We've plenty of room for it. We say we've got no time for God, but we've plenty of room for idols. We've plenty of time for worship. It's just another God and another idol and another worship that we bow down to, that we engage in.

In Psalm 12, it reads, the wicked walk on every side and the vilest men. are exalted. Our hearts put many on a pedestal. Many things, many people, many ideals, many ideas. We worship so many things as the wicked walk on every side and the vilest men are exalted.

But it's not just in the world that there's idols. Religion is full of it, and the world is full of religion. You may say, well, I go to church. I'm in this church or that church. But have you room for Christ? Just in Exeter, around here, there are countless churches. the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of England Churches, the Methodist Churches, the Brethren Churches, the Free Churches, the Baptist Churches, the Community Churches. There are synagogues, there are mosques, there are spiritualist places, there are Christadelphian places, there is Scientology. There's churches left, right and centre, and religion left, right and centre. And men do have time for religion. You may have, you may not have, but many go. And many worship what they think is that which is right and will lead to heaven. But there's no room in their religion for Christ and his gospel. No room whatsoever.

There's plenty of meetings. They may have a Bible even if they're a Christian professing church. There's plenty of talk. There's plenty of worship. There's plenty of singing. But there's no Christ. There's no Christ and him crucified. There's no gospel. Oh, they take his name. They read the Scriptures. They claim to. But you come with Christ and the Gospel and preach Him as the Scriptures declare Him. You preach the truth of His sovereign mercy and grace unto sinners. You preach the truth of His sovereignty as the Son of God and they've no room. We don't want that here. He's cast out.

Just as it was when He came unto His own, the Jews. They had the Scriptures. They weren't even defiled. They were the Scriptures given unto them at that time of God. They had to worship as God had prescribed. And yet they couldn't see Christ in it. And when Christ came, they rejected Him and cast Him out. There was no room.

Your heart is probably full this day. But is it full of Christ? Or is it full of idols? Yet Christ gave himself for those who hated him. Those who saw nothing in him to be desired, no beauty in him to desire him, nothing that they should seek him for. as Isaiah prophesied. He said, who shall believe our report? He said, who hath believed our report? We preach the gospel and they've no room for it. They shut their ears to it. Who believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?

So many go another way. For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground. He have no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see him, when we shall see Christ, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed him not.

When Christ came, man saw nothing in him to desire him. They cast him out. And when the gospel comes to you and I, we see nothing in it to desire it. We cast it out. As I said, there's plenty of religion in this world. But there's plenty of that so-called Christianity, which has nothing to do with Christ. And there's plenty of other religions that totally reject it.

These religions may appeal on the surface to the flesh. We may consider the religions and say, well, there's Christianity, but there's also Hinduism and Buddhism and Islam. And we may see Islam and see it as a strong religion. and see a fleshly appeal, we may see how Christianity is mocked and derided. Because true Christians are meek and quiet and do not respond. As Christ was silent when men mocked and derided him. We don't answer back. But how strong Islam appears, that religion of fear. Because when you mock Mohammed, when you mock Islam, because there's a response, because people are put to death, few raise the hand against it. And how strong it appears, and how appealing that is to the flesh, because no one wants to be amongst those that are cast out.

Yet Christ came as one for whom the world had no room. He was cast out. He was outside the camp, and if you're ever to find him, you'll have to go outside the camp, outside religion, outside the world and its ways and its wisdom, to find him. crucified, alone, but to find the Saviour. Consider Christ. We have no room for him by nature. There was no room for him at his birth, no room at the inn, no room in Herod's kingdom. He'd put him to death if he could. There was no room for him in his life and his ministry. All sought to destroy him. The Jews sought to stone him to death. There was no room for him in this world. He had nowhere to lay his head. Jesus said, the foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the son of man have not where to lay his head. There was no room for him. He had none of this world's pleasures or riches. No home. He passed through, he was rejected and cast out. And he was cast out at death. And all passed by, wagging the tongue. No room.

And yet, this one, for whom we have no room, this one has room for sinners. who hated Him. He came to those who hated Him. He loved those who rejected Him. He died for those who pierced Him and nailed Him to the cross with their sin and rebellion. He has room for sinners. room for the wretched like you and I, room for the rebellious, room for the hateful, room for the unbelieving. From the cross, when all rejected Him, when all reviled Him, when He hung there dying with a mob, a crowd that laughed and mocked Him, He cried out, Father, forgive them. for they know not what they do. Father forgive them for they know not what they do. Oh that he should pray that prayer for you and I. When we with our rebellion have shut our ears and had no room for him. Oh that he should not leave us to ourselves But as we reject Him, and as we hate Him, and as in our hearts we nail Him once more to the cross, O that He should look upon us in love and say, Father, forgive them. They know not what they did.

On one side of Him was a thief. On the other side a thief. They both spat in his face. They both laughed at him and mocked him and derided him. They were both guilty sinners, guilty of death. They were both dying the death that Christ was dying upon a cross. And yet one's heart was changed at that very moment. And he ceased to mock and he ceased to scoff. And he said to the other, We rightly suffer here, but this man, this man has done nothing wrong. We die because we're guilty, but this man was innocent of any charge. And he said unto the Lord, Lord, remember me when thou dost enter thy kingdom. And Christ turned unto him at that hour and said, today, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. Oh that God would turn our hearts that had no room for his Son and look upon us and say today thou shalt be with me in paradise.

Because Christ came into this world to sin us Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. He came to sinners. He came unto the blind and touched their eyes and made them to see. He came unto the deaf. We don't hear. We hear the gospel preached. Words go through our heads and out the other side. We cannot hear inwardly. We're deaf by nature. but he came unto the deaf and made them hear. There was a day when I was blind and the gospel meant nothing. I saw no beauty in Christ. There was a day when I was deaf and I heard but I never heard. There was a day when I was lame and I thought I walked but I never walked. There was a day when I was a leper from head to toe, filthy, vile and rejecting God, when Christ came unto me and touched me and made me whole. He made me see. He made me hear. He gave me faith. He made me walk. He washed me in his blood and he made me live. Once I was blind. But now I see. Yes, Christ came unto this sinner. He comes unto sinners like you and I. Has he come to you? He came unto sinners and it was said of him, this man receiveth sinners. They condemned him, the Jews condemned him. He receives sinners, he sits and eats with them. These people we'd cast out. Vile people. Yet he comes to sinners to save. He had room for sinners at his table. And he has room today for sinners.

He is the king who prepares a banquet, who prepares a marriage feast and calls out and sends out into the wayside to summon those in to come to his banquet. Christ gave himself for the church, for sinners. Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. He gave himself for sinners. In Titus 2 we read, he gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works. that he might redeem us from all our iniquity. In Galatians 1, Paul writes of Christ who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world according to the will of God and our Father. He gave himself. So much room has he for sinners that he gave himself for them. He laid down his life for them. He suffered the rejection of this world from the womb to the grave for them.

Paul writes in Galatians 2, he loved me and gave himself for me. What had Paul done for him as a Jew, as a Pharisee? He tried to cause havoc in the church. He persecuted the church. He saw these Christians as being against the scriptures, against the heritage of God, against his religion, against God. He sought to put them to death. And despite all that he did in his own blind wisdom, Christ loved him and gave himself for him. Christ had room for Saul then, Paul. He loved him when Saul hated him. He loved Saul as Saul stood alongside as Stephen was stoned and consented to the stoning of Stephen. He loved him as he persecuted the church. He gave himself for him. In spite of all that Paul did and all that Paul was. In spite of the fact that, as Paul said, Paul was the chief of sinners, the worst. Because he persecuted the Church. Because he sought to hinder the Gospel of Christ, to silence the Gospel of Christ, to cancel the Gospel of Christ. To get rid of Christianity, to get rid of Christ. To stop it before it ever grew. Yet Christ loved him and gave himself for him. He gave himself.

And as Christ hung in the place of sinners, crucified, hanging in the darkness, As God laid upon him the sins of all his people. As God made him who knew no sin to be sin. As God made him a curse. As God poured out the fires of his wrath upon him. As he was cast out by men. And abandoned as it were by God the Father. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me as Christ hung alone upon the cross in a world that had no room for him? He cries out, as it were, as recorded in Lamentations. Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Is it nothing to you that he gave everything for sinners? for those that hated him. Behold and see if there be any sorrows like under my sorrow. Is there any man in history who's been cast out like this man? Who's suffered like this man? He bore the iniquity of a multitude. He died the death of millions. God himself, God the Father poured out his wrath upon him. No room. No room for a sinner. God judged his son because he was made sin. Because he bore sins, because he was made to be guilty. And justice must be poured out upon the guilty. There's no room in the kingdom of God for a sinner for sin. So God slew his son. And his son took that sin away. And when he paid the price for every sin, every transgression, and when he'd taken that sin away in his own flesh as the scapegoat, when all was washed away and blotted out, he was able to rise up victorious in righteousness, united to his people, victorious over sin, death and hell.

But in the midst of his sufferings, he said, is it nothing to you or you that pass by? Yes, in the midst of his sufferings, in his travail, in the torment, in his agony, Christ loved his own who had no room for him. Though they hated him, Though they despised him in their hearts, though they'd cast him out, though they had no room, he loved them. As we nailed him to the tree, as our sins pierced him, As our unbelief cast him out, he looked up to the Father and cried, Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.

Did he say that for you? Did he pray that for you? He has room for wretched, rebellious, hateful sinners who have no room for him. He has room for sinners. Has he room for you? Oh yes, he's room for sinners. He said to his disciples that he must go to the cross and die, and then he must go to prepare a place for them, to prepare a place in glory and inheritance. He prepares mansions for them in heaven's glory. He prepares a place for his people. He prepares a room for them. He's room for these he loves, for those that hated him by nature. He's room. He has room aplenty. His grace, His mercy knows no bounds. He has eternity for them. He has eternal glory for them. An eternal kingdom, a heavenly kingdom for them. He's prepared a place for them. He's room aplenty for sinners.

What mercy! What grace, what love, what compassion, what long-suffering. Day after day, week after week, when the gospel's preached and we shut our ears and we have no room. He loves his own and he loves them to the end. He has room. Come unto me, he says, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Come unto me. I have room for you and I will give you rest. Turn from your labour. Turn from your working for salvation. Turn from your own wisdom, your own will. Turn from the burden, the heavy laden burden of the law and your sin and your condemnation. Turn from it all to me. Just look unto me and I will give you rest.

Micah writes, who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity? What a God, that in a world that had no room for him, he has made room for sinners in glory to come. This world had no room for God. Your heart by nature has no room for God, but eternity has room. For countless sinners in Christ for whom he died, he has room. And he says unto that people scattered throughout this earth, every one for whom he died, for whom he shed his blood, he says unto that people wherever they are, look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. For I am God, and there is none else.

Yes, Jesus Christ, that babe laid in that filthy manger in Bethlehem, where there was no room in the inn for him, no room in the world for him, no room in religion for him, no room in the hearts of men for him. That babe, that Jesus who was crucified upon the tree, says this day, Look unto me, and be ye saved, or the end of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else.

Oh, may He give us grace to look unto Him. May He open the blind eyes. May He shine the light in the dark hearts. May He make room in our hearts for Him. and cause us by irresistible grace. When we could not, when we would not, when we had no room, may he by grace look unto us and touch us and give us faith and make us look unto him and be saved. Amen.