So Lord, may you graciously help
me, I'll turn your prayerful attention to the chapter that
we read, Luke chapter 2, and reading for a text this morning,
verse 7. Very linked with the hymn that
we have just sung, that dear Uncle John has just given out.
The crowded in like sinner's hearts, oh, ignorance extreme. Luke chapter 2 and verse 7. And
she brought forth her firstborn son, that is Mary, and wrapped
him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because
there was no room for them in the inn. That's Luke 2 and verse 7. In this account that we're given
of the birth of the Lord Jesus, there's such a range of opposites,
extremes as it were. Extreme humility and poverty
and yet a tremendous greatness all at the same time. And it's
really important in each of our hearts, which is it to us? Is it nothing to us or is it
truly great? You see there was these two extremes.
There was those who it was nothing to We lodged him with the beasts,
and there were others who he meant everything to. Is it nothing
to you? I want to just look at two verses
in Isaiah 52 which seem to give the two verses that come next
to each other that give the two stark contrasts. and truth about
the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah 52 verse 13 and 14. They're next to each other. They're talking about the same
thing. And yet you couldn't really get two more opposite verses.
Isaiah 52 verse 13. This is the God the father speaking
of his beloved son. Behold my servant. When Jesus came to this earth,
he was the servant of Jehovah. He was doing his father's will.
He came at his father's request. He delighted to do his father's
will. Behold, my servant shall deal
prudently, and he shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. deal prudently, that means he
shall accomplish his work. He will not come with a mission
and then fail that mission. He will fulfill, as it were,
his requirement to come to this earth. That's verse 13. He shall be exhorted and extolled
and be very high. But verse 14 is talking about
the same person, about the same mission. And yet you couldn't
really get more opposite. And many were astonished, astonied
at thee. His visage, his facial expression,
was so marked more than any man, and his form more than the sons
of men. And you see, both of these vast
differences are true of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. He
was both exalted and extolled, and exceedingly high, the King
of kings and Lord of lords, the one who created all things for
his glory. But at the same time his visage
was marred more than any man, and there was an astonishment
in the Saviour. That was written 700 years before
the Lord Jesus came and it was exactly fitting to what the Lord
Jesus would do and his birth was no different. Of course it
went on through his life and even obviously at his death it
was also true. How there was something exceedingly
glorious and yet It was naturally the worst scene that you could
imagine, of shame and misery and hatred going on at the cross. Well, but when we look at this
then, 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. that as James was with you yesterday,
he was looking in the morning at Mary, that mother of the Lord
Jesus, that gracious, humble lady that cared for the Lord
Jesus and who carried him in her womb, and how she was able
to sing that song of praise, as James went through, the Magnificat,
in Luke chapter 1, when Elizabeth, you see, was possibly the first
human being that had spoken to Mary after the angel. We don't
know whether she conversed with anybody back in Nazareth before
she went to the hill country, and Elizabeth encouraged her
in the Lord. She encouraged her that that
which was inside her was of the Holy Ghost. She believed her
story, as it were, and she confirmed that it was true, and as it were,
that encouraged Mary, see, and when iron sharpeneth iron, and
we can encourage one another, and then, as it were, the worship
flows. And there was a song of worship
that Mary was able to say, with the encouragement of Elizabeth,
saying, and blessed is she that shall believe it, for there shall
be a performance of those things which were told her from the
Lord. So Elizabeth encouraged her. And then we have Mary's
Magnificat, as it's often referred to in the beginning word in the
Latin. But she sings this song of praise,
of how God had, my soul shall magnify the Lord. Well, that
was a great blessing that Mary enjoyed. But I suspect when she
sung that Magnificat, or when she was saying those things,
she had yet to walk more things out. And I want to trace that
out in the experience of God's people. That yes, there are those
times we come to and we worship, and it's right that we should.
And yet, you see, it's got to be walked out. You see, there
is a practical godliness. We are to walk it out in our
lives. And Mary needed to walk that
out with all the trouble that there was with Joseph, misunderstanding
what she'd done. You see, she had been honourable
and right, and she'd been the handmaid of the Lord, and she'd
done what God had told her to do, and yet she was falsely accused.
And Joseph was seeing how he could finish the relationship,
not if, but how. This was a trial for Mary. But
you see, whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. and God loved
Mary and Mary was going to walk out a Christian pathway and it
was not going to be always easy. There was going to be these great
things, the angel had visited her, a great thing, told her
that It's the same as what it was told to Mary herself. Similar
to what Isaiah said, he shall be great and shall be called
the son of the highest and the Lord God shall give unto him
the throne of his father David. Does an idea of a stable come
to mind when you read that? Does the idea of a manger come
to mind? Does the idea of having no room
for them in the inn come to mind? But you see, it was all part
of the same thing. This is our God. He's so great, and yet he
humbled himself, made himself of no reputation. And you see
in the pathway of God's people that we are to know, you see,
these great things, that we are sons and daughters of the Most
High, traveling to the king's palace, as it were, in heaven.
And yet, here below, we are to walk day by day, to have troubles
and to have difficulties and to struggles. Mary knew it. And
Mary might think, well, you know, we're giving, as we read, there
was this sudden edict that went out that they should go to their,
for purposes of taxing, they should go to their hometowns.
Well, of course, it had already been prophesied that Jesus would
be born in Bethlehem, but Mary was living in Nazareth. And just
at that time, you see, God calls that to come, that she should
travel on that, just as she was nearly ready to be delivered,
have to travel all that way, the difficulties of it. This birth that had been, as
it were, foretold for something like 4,000 years, you see, that's
right in the Garden of Eden, Genesis 3. And I will put enmity
between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed.
It shall bruise thy head, this is spoken to Satan, and thou
shalt bruise his heel. So here we have the first gospel
promise that the seed of the woman would bruise the serpent's
head. That serpent that Eve had union
with and listened to and did his dictates in eating the fruit. And yet this one that was going
to come to put enmity was going to put a separation between us
and Satan. You see if you're in union with
Satan you're not in good hands. You're in union with one that
is going to spend eternity in everlasting burnings. You don't
want union with Satan. And that's why this Lord Jesus
Christ came with that mission to break that union, that pact
there is between Satan and all of the human race in and of themselves
after the fall. But he's come to break that union
and to make another union so that we may be wedded to another
husband, to the Lord Jesus Christ himself. But so this is the great
work that the Lord Jesus came to do. So he's so great. And then Mary, you see, she carries
this little one. And just at that time, she has
to travel all this way. And she brought forth the firstborn
son, wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger,
a place where animals would feed from. the Lord of life and glory. It's a wonderful, it picks up
in that hymn that we've just sung. The crowded inn, like sinners'
hearts, O ignorance extreme, for other guests of various sorts,
had room, but none for him. And may that be as we gather
together and in our lives, have we room for the Lord Jesus Christ? Do we see our need of him? Or
are we like the crowded inn, got time for everything and everybody,
but no time for him? No, we don't need him. The scribes
and the Pharisees, we don't want this man to reign over us. They
don't want this one. But you see, there is, though,
that people that saw him to be such a blessing. And as we gather
then together around the Word of God and consider the things
of God, consider the coming of the Lord Jesus. What is he to
you? What is he to you? And she brought
forth her firstborn son, wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and
laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in
the inn. And yet, you see, this very fact
of him being put in a manger, that was the sign that was to
be given to the shepherd. Do you think of it? Mary, as
she put her baby in that manger. Was it not strange to her? Did
she not think? Is this really the Christ child
that I'm having to put in a manger? And in our lives, you see, as
we walk by faith, we come to those places and we think, if
God's really in control, is this really the path I've got to walk?
But you see, it was the right way. She was doing the right
thing. She was following what God had
told her to do. And yet we see that God was working it all,
you see, and there was a purpose in it. to show that you see there
was a picture here of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, which
followed him through his life. He was despised and rejected
of men. Right at his birth he was, wasn't
he? In his ministry he was. At his end he was. Despised and
rejected of man. A man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. And are we going to distance
ourselves from him? Or are we going to say, this
is my beloved and this is my friend. He came to do this for
me. He came to do this on my behalf. He left heaven's glory to come
to this earth to be my redeemer. to pay back, to pay, to redeem
me back from the hand of the enemy, from the hand of Satan. Well you see, there was then
this very lowly thing of putting Jesus in a manger. It might seem
a beautiful scene to a nativity scene, but really it was difficult
for a mother to do that. A mother that cares for her baby,
to have delivered a baby, not even in a place where humans
would normally live. And you see this is a picture
of how he was despised and rejected and yet at the same time you
see there's a two contrasts. There were in the country shepherds
abiding in their field and lo the angel of the Lord came upon
them and the glory of the Lord shone round about them. Do you
see here's the glory of it, Yes we have a very humble birth of
the Lord Jesus in such humble circumstances and yet we have
heaven opened with angels coming down and declaring it. The vast
differences. What do we see it as, glorious
or nothing? You see, as we walk the Christian life, we are going
to walk through difficulties. And yet by faith, you see, we
got to see that actually there's something glorious. And that's
what we need to walk in. Mary needed it. Mary needed it
because these weren't easy times for Mary either. They were glorious
times. She was greatly blessed, but
it was still difficult for her. So there was these angels that
came and spoke of the glorious coming of the Savior and spoke
such gospel truths. for unto you is born this day
in the city of David a saviour which is Christ the Lord. A saviour. He'd come for a purpose. He didn't
come to sightsee. He didn't come to just have a
look around. He came with a mission of mercy. And as we pointed out
from that scripture 700 years before, behold my servant shall
do prudently. He shall accomplish his mission.
And ultimately, and that's the thing you see, And that's what
we need to grasp hold of in our experiences that what verse 4,
13 and 14 are both true in Isaiah. He shall be exhorted and extolled
and be very high. That is ultimately true of Jesus. It is given a name which is above
every name. The name of Jesus, every knee
shall bow. He is truly great and yet He
came for the purposes of our redemption, to be despised and
rejected of men. day by day, we still have to
have troubles. We walk through difficulties, we walk through
darknesses, and I think this was a dark, difficult time for
Mary in a sense. She had these shepherds come
in, saying that they'd seen the angels, and they were full of
praise at this time. Wonderful. We read in verse 20,
and the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God. They were full,
as it were, of this. They had seen the angels. They'd
seen these things. They were so amazed and thankful
for the Savior coming. But in verse 19, you see, we
have, but there's a but there. But Mary kept all these things
and pondered them in her heart. We don't read that she's quite
in the same frame as she was. in the chapter before, where
she said, my soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit rejoiceth
in God my Savior. There was difficulty she was
walking through. Why are there so difficult circumstances
if this was the real thing? And you see, she kept them quiet.
She meditated on them. And she thought about them. And
you see, we have to Isaiah has that word, you see, of encouragement
when we walk through difficulties. In Isaiah 50, verse 10, it says,
Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice
of his servant? She had obeyed the voice of Jesus,
of God. She had said, Behold the handmaid
of the Lord, be it unto me. As you say, she was willing to
go along, as it were, to do what God had told her to do. Who is
he that feareth the law, that obeyeth the voice of his servant,
that walketh in darkness? There was dark times, there was
difficult times as well for Mary. walketh in darkness and hath
no light. Let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon
his guard. But it wasn't all darkness for Mary. I don't want
to misrepresent the word of God. There were some bright times
and the Lord's people know times of blessing, times of rejoicing,
times like Mary can say, my soul doth magnify the Lord. But there's
other times when so many circumstances come into their pathway and they,
it becomes a question mark. Is this really right? Is this
really the way? Surely this foreshadows what
was going to take place some 33 or so years later when the
disciples gathered and they were traveling on that Emmaus road. And all the events had just taken
place. The Lord Jesus Christ, Mary herself,
had witnessed her son dying on the cross. a sword shall pierce
thy own heart also', Simeon told her at the birth of Jesus when
he came to the temple. And she did experience it, and
yet the kindness of the Lord Jesus to provide somebody to
look after her, even John, the beloved disciple. But those disciples,
they saw what had happened at Calvary, and to them it had put
a big question mark. Is this really the Messiah? If it's like this, is this really
the Messiah? And you see, so many of the things
of God are, His ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts
are our thoughts. And in your life, there may be
points you come to, you've rejoiced in God your Saviour, and yet
you've come to this point and said, is this really the way? Is this really the way? But you
see, as Jesus preached to them, without them knowing it was Him
preaching, He spoke to them, ought not Christ to have suffered
these things and to enter into his glory. He preached to them,
and their hearts burnt within them. Then they saw, he pieced
together the bits in the Old Testament that all pointed to
a suffering Messiah. That the idea of a suffering
Messiah wasn't a mistake, it was exactly what the Old Testament
had been pointing to. And it had been them that had
been, hadn't really worked that out, hadn't really understood
And so often, you see, it's a lack of understanding. But you see,
he spoke to them and expounded unto them in all things the things
concerning himself. And their hearts burned within
them. And they realized that the fact that he had died such
a shameful death, such a cursed death, was an evidence that he
was the Messiah, not that he wasn't. And you see, it's a wonderful
thing when you see that the things that Mary was able to ponder
and think about, that all her things that seemed so strange
to her, she was able to look back and realize These are evidences
that it was the Messiah. This is what it was said. It
was said back in Isaiah that many should be astonished at
thee and his visage was so marred more than any man. And of course
John picks it up beautifully in his gospel and saying these
words. He was in the world and the world
was made by him. Everything on this world was
made by him. and yet we lodged him with a
beast. He was made in the world and the world was made by him
and the world knew him not. He came unto his own and his
own received him not. The Jews, those religious authorities
that should have welcomed him, they rejected him. Yes, there
were the few, there was the Zacharias, there was the Simeon, there was
the Anna, there were those that delighted, there were the shepherds
that came, but for the most part, he was rejected. But the wonderful thing is, but
as many as received him, they then gave him power to become
the sons of God. even to them that believe on
his name. The thinking of this world is to reject such a one.
It didn't fit as a great messiah. They didn't want this sort of
messiah. But this was the true messiah. This was the only one
that could save them from their sins. This was the only one that
could break them from the league that they had with Satan. And
this is the only one that can do you real, lasting, and eternal
good. What? Think ye of Christ. You
see, do we see him as being glorious, as being precious, or is he nothing? And she brought forth her firstborn
son, wrapped him in swaddling clothes, laid him in a manger.
Not a place where you'd normally lay a baby. And yet that became
a very sign to the shepherds. You shall go, and when you see
this baby lying in a manger, you know that it's the real one.
Because if you said, and go to a place and see the baby lying
in a cot, you say, well, every baby lies in a cot. Not special. But it was special that it was
laying in a manger. that was the sign and they came
you see and saw these things and and and they rejoiced they
rejoiced in God and so may we be amongst those who who rejoice
in the work of God sometimes we have a difficult times but
may we be able to focus on this one who saved his people from
their sins and say this is my beloved And this is my friend. The world laugh at him, the world
reject him, it doesn't fit with their plan. But actually, this
one is precious to me. and he came and all this humiliation
was entirely necessary so that he could be one of us and he
could empathise with us. We have not an high priest that
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. We have one
that understands what it is to be rejected, to be despised,
so that we might love him. May the Lord add his blessing.