A Sermon by Rev Angus Smith
Luke 2:7. There was no room for them in the inn.
The man who wrote this Gospel was Luke, a doctor by profession. It would seem that he came under the influence of the gospel through the Apostle Paul. But only the Apostles were enabled to teach and write infallibly. Christ had promised them that He would bring to their remembrance all things that He had ever taught them. And all these things were written under the supervision of the Apostles.
Luke’s Gospel is not a story he invented; it is what happened in history. He recorded the greatest event that ever took place – the Lord Jesus came into time. The God of eternity opened the curtain between eternity and time, and came into time. He took our human nature to Himself, so that He would work out salvation. Luke says, “There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias” (Lk 1:5). He is tying Christ’s coming to certain times in history. The enemies of the Word of God would say there never was such a person. But Luke makes use of history and says, What I am speaking of truly happened, in the days of a king called Herod.
He begins chapter 2 by saying, “It came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)” The enemies of the gospel used to say, This Cyrenius never existed. But evidence of his existence appeared. This taxing was really a census of all the people in the Roman Empire to enable taxation. Again those who delved into history found there was this taxing, or census, in the days of Augustus. Christ coming into the world was history. The whole of time revolves around that one incident, but the devil would blind the minds of men so that they would not know these things and would perish for ever.
We should like to think of two things: (1.) The place of Christ’s birth; (2.) The sad words: “no room for them in the inn”.
1. The place of Christ’s birth. Matthew quotes from Micah 5:2, “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting”. How did He come to be born in Bethlehem? We know it was foreordained, for the Lord foreordains whatsoever comes to pass; nothing is outside God’s foreordination. Even the fact of sin in the Fall of man is in the plan of God, although man fell by his own will.
1A sermon preached in Santa Fe, Texas in 2000.
Mary, we are told, was heavy with child. The child was about to be born, and yet a decree had gone out from the Emperor that every name had to be registered. Joseph, as well as Mary, really belonged to Bethlehem. They were descended from David, and Bethlehem was the city of David. For the purposes of this census, everyone had to go to his family town. Although Mary was as she was, Joseph and Mary had to go. That was Caesar’s decree. But what Caesar did not know was that the Lord Most High had ordered this so that Joseph would be drawn to Bethlehem, along with Mary. You see the plan of God in all of these things.
Difficult as it was for Mary to travel, they went to Bethlehem, and there the Child was born. God rules in our lives; there is a time to be born and a time to die, and it is the Lord who sets these boundaries in our lives. Men think that they rule in these matters. Men think that they can change these things, but it is the Lord who rules. He gives life and he takes life away. There comes a time when the silver cord must be loosed, when the pitcher must be broken at the well. This was the time that was set, and Christ the Son of God came into the world as a tiny child.
Think of it, a child that could not look after itself. This Child was God-man, but he took the likeness of sinful flesh, yet separate from sinners. He was weak, He had to be cleaned, fed, clothed, kept warm. He could not do these things for himself in His human nature. He had to be lifted; He could not stand on his own feet. Mentally he had to grow. He took His humanity from Mary; He was a real human child, although he was God. He took upon Himself these weaknesses of humanity, because he was there to pay the ransom price, so that His people might be saved from their sin.
All that took place in Bethlehem. Bethlehem means the “house of bread”. When you see Beth in a name in Scripture, it always means “house”. Many names in Scripture begin with Beth, but this was the “house of bread” because it was a very fertile area. Yet there was a deeper reason: the Bread of Life, the Bread that came down from heaven, the manna, was to be in Bethlehem. He came into the world as the only bread that can feed a poor, perishing sinner. And if we feed upon Christ, we will never perish; we will never suffer eternal death.
Some would keep him as a babe. But if Christ was only a babe, He could not save our souls. Christ had to grow up; He had to suffer; He had to die; He had to work out a complete redemption. We cannot stop at the cradle. We have to go to the Christ who has finished the work He was given to do and has gone to the Father. “I am the living bread”, He said, “which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever.” And the great question is, Have we ever fed upon Christ? Did we ever taste the sweet-
ness of this Saviour in our souls? There is nothing sweeter in the world, than tasting of Christ as a personal Saviour, whether you are a boy or girl, or a grown man or woman – whether you are young or old.
He was born, it would seem, during the night. And the shepherds, who were keeping their sheep by night, were informed. The world was in spiritual darkness too. This is a dark world. Young folk tend to think that it is a world full of happiness, and they promise themselves great happiness in the future. They are going to grow up and to have lots of money, a good job, a marriage and children and a home and cars, and everything else they could wish for. But that is not the true picture. The Word of God says that the world lies in sin, or in the evil one.
The devil seeks to call himself the prince of the world. He is a prince of darkness and rules over the minds and hearts of men and women in the world, not only in the places where there is no gospel, but even where the gospel is. We see the devil ruling over the minds and hearts of men and women, and there is a spiritual warfare. The Holy Spirit is blessing the gospel, and He is breaking into the darkness, so that the devil will be driven out of souls, and that Christ will come in and reign there. If you come to know Christ, you will know that you live in a world of darkness, where the devil will war against you and seek to ensnare you in darkness once more. If Christ comes into your life, you become a son or a daughter of light. He is light, and He shines into the soul, and you are in an alien world then. You realise that the world lies in darkness.
Jesus came into that world. We know it is in darkness because, in a very short space of time, Herod had every child of two years and under wiped out in Bethlehem. Up to two years, just to make sure that he would kill Christ, the One who was born the King of the Jews – as well as the rest.
When was this child born? The Word of God told the Jews where He was going to be born. The Jews knew where the Messiah was to be born; they knew too when He was to be cut off, because Daniel had foretold that. So they should have known that it was time to be on the watchtower, seeking for the coming of the Saviour. They should have known that! But when Christ was born, where were the great men of the land? Where were the priests? Where were the teachers of Scripture? They were not to be seen. Does that not show you the darkness of the human heart? These people had the Bible. Yet see the great darkness. They did not come. Yet when the Queen of Britain and Canada had a son, the whole world knew. But when the King of glory came into the world and was born as a child, the world was totally indifferent to what had taken place – even the people of the Jews.
We read here that, “while they were there, the days were accomplished
that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son” (Lk 2:6-7a). He was called her “firstborn son”. He was the eldest son of the family. He grew up in that family, and he had brothers and sisters. This shows the darkness: His very brothers and sisters did not believe in Him as the Messiah – not until He rose from the dead. Only then do we read about them believing in Him. Imagine being with His brothers and sisters, day after day, night after night, sitting on the floor with them, being with them as one who was caring for them as the eldest son, and yet they did not know Him! Does not that tell us much about the darkness of the human heart? Unless the Holy Spirit will open the heart, we will be left in darkness.
He was called the firstborn. The firstborn son had special privileges; he would have a double portion of his parents’ goods. But this firstborn was also the firstborn of God. God says of Him: “I will make Him My firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth” (Ps 89:27); and, “Sit Thou on My right hand, till I make Thine enemies Thy footstool” (Mk 12:36).
“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”. The manger is a feeding-box, where cattle and asses would feed. She laid the babe in that feeding-box. That is all we know. That child was wrapped up in swaddling clothes; that is, wrapping-clothes that went around the Child, and Mary placed Him in the manger. She must have been strong enough to get up and do that, and that was of the Lord.
2. There was “no room for them in the inn” – a most sad matter. When they went to Bethlehem, many others would have gone too, and the accommodation would have been taken up. There was none left. We do not know who owned the stable where the manger was. There was no place in the inn for the One who owned all things, the One who made all things, the Creator of heaven and earth, when He came into the world. That is how it is among men in the world. The inn is full. There is no room for Christ. And when you go through the world, that is how you find it. There is no room on the dance-floor for Christ, there is no room in the concert-hall for Christ, there is no room in the drinking-den for Christ. There is no room in any of these places for Christ. They do not want Christ. They will take others, but they will not take Christ. There is no room for Christ in the inn.
But we should like to come a little closer – to come to our own hearts – in speaking of “no room in the inn”. Is there room for Christ in our hearts? You might say, Well, I have a little room for Him. But when Christ comes into the heart, He demands the throne of the heart. He demands to come in as your Saviour, as your God and as your Lord. We read in Scripture that the Lord Jesus says, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear
My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me” (Rev 3:20). “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock.” And how long has the Lord Jesus been standing there? His head is wet with the dew of the night. How long has He stood at the door of our hearts, never having entered in?
We have been hearing the gospel; we have been reading the Word of God. We have been surrounded by prayer and teaching. And He has also knocked in other ways – in providence. Things have happened to us in our lives: there might have been sickness; there might have been accidents; death might have come into our homes. The Lord has knocked; He has knocked loudly on our doors, and He has said to us, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock”. It is not as if He is not knocking. It is not as if our conscience does not tell us that the Lord is speaking to us. It is not as if we never feel condemned in our hearts. It is not as if we have never read the Word of God. No. Then let us try and come as close as we can to the inn that really matters, to the soul of man. What really matters to your soul and to mine?
What about time? Did you ever give any of your time to Christ? You see, the most important thing you can do with time is to use it for the salvation of your soul. Nothing else matters compared to that – that your soul would be saved. There are those who say, Well, I am so busy; I just do not seem to have time to think of these things, to concentrate on these things. I get up so early in the morning, and I go off to work; I work so long; I work so late; I am tired and I go to bed and I sleep. There is just no time. I cannot manage it. My diary is full.
If there is no place in the diary for Christ, and if there never will be, better that we had never been born! Better that it had never been told among the neighbours: A child has been born to this house; that man and woman have had a baby. Better that the day of your birth had been taken from among the days. Better if you had never had an existence. Better had you gone from your mother’s womb, having never seen the sun, if you are never going to believe in the Lord Jesus in this world – if you have no time for Him.
But, strangely enough, people have time for other things. The devil comes and says, Give me your time for this. The world comes and says, Give me time for this. And you say, Granted. Yes, I will do that. Then your heart says, Give me time for this. Your lusts say, Give me time for this. And you say, Granted. And the Lord in Scripture says, “Son, [daughter,] give Me thine heart”. Give Me of your time.
There are some people who speak of killing time. I remember in the army, sometimes when the soldiers would be in the barrack room, they would take out a pack of cards and they would play card games to kill time. Have you
ever heard that? To kill time! What a fearful expression! Just to get through it in some way or other. We have half an hour; we have an hour; we do not know what to do with it; we will just kill it. We will occupy it with something; we will just kill it. Do people not realise how precious time is? If Christ will enter into your time, He will enter into the inn of your soul.
There are people who will tell you that the Lord Jesus has had mercy on their souls; they will say, I remember a time. They may have been on their knees, wondering what was going to happen to their souls. And as they were on their knees praying, the Lord came in. Or they may have been reading the Word of God; they were so confused that they did not know how they were. But then, when they were reading the Word of God, the Lord Himself met them, and the portion they were reading became exceedingly precious to their souls.
There were others who were listening to a sermon being preached, and all of a sudden, something from the sermon went through their hearts. Perhaps they were not listening; perhaps they were counting the panes in the windows, or counting how many people were present, or looking at their watches. And then, maybe they listened for a few moments; maybe they concentrated for a few moments and, during that time, the Lord blessed the preaching of the Word to their souls. It may have been something quoted from the pulpit that went like an arrow into their hearts. “Son, [daughter,] give Me thine heart”! And from then on, they could speak of a time.
Yet there are some people who have come to know the Lord but cannot speak of a time. They say, I do not know when this happened. I just do not know. But that does not matter. If you have come to know the Lord, there was a time. Although you cannot locate that time in your experience, these things will be revealed to the soul in eternity. Then the Lord will teach His own about these matters. And it is all precious.
When the Lord takes a soul from death unto life, it is not a process. It is a creative act. It takes place immediately, just as He created the world by the word of His power out of nothing – the world suddenly appeared. That was not a process. That was an immediate act. But when the soul can understand something about it, you say, There was a time when I came to know that the Lord was my Saviour.
I remember reading about Charles Haddon Spurgeon. He used to say that he was converted when he was about 15. He used to say it was a snowy day, and he could not get to the regular place of worship; so he went to one nearby, and he said the man preaching that day was a deacon. Obviously the man had no great grasp of Scripture, but still he was in charge that day, and he took the text, “Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth” (Is
45:22). He kept on repeating the text: “Look unto Me; look unto Me”. He did not seem able to expound it, and so he kept repeating it. But Spurgeon said, “I looked, and I saw, and I was saved”.
But when Spurgeon was an older man, he said to his congregation, “You remember how I often told you about my experience of salvation”. He added, “More than a year before then, I remember lying in my bed and having thoughts in my head and in my heart, which today I do not believe anybody could have unless he has grace in his soul”. So, you see, Spurgeon was not all that sure when the time was. More than a year before he heard that man preach, he had thoughts in his heart. And as a mature Christian he said, “I do not believe I could have had them unless the grace of God was in my heart”. When was the time? It does not matter. Our times are in God’s hands. What is important is the time when the Lord comes into the inn, when the Lord comes into the soul. That is all that matters in this world – that we leave this world as poor sinners saved by grace, looking to Christ, and that we go through the world seeking to glorify Him in our bodies and souls and in our families, in our work or wherever we are.
We now ask, Has the Lord Jesus come into our hearts? Do we love the Lord Jesus? Well, some might say, I love my wife, I love my husband, I love my children, I love my parents. That is not the question, but, Do we love the Lord Jesus? Scripture tells us that, if anyone does not love Christ, he is accursed. That is very, very solemn. Say you love a person and you say, But it is surely not sinful to love my wife or my husband above everyone else – or to love my father or mother above everyone else. Yet it is sinful if you do not love the Lord above them – and above our children. He does say, “Honour thy father and thy mother”. But He also says, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength” – with the totality of your being.
We are commanded to love God. That is the sum of the commandments. Do not speak of keeping the Ten Commandments if you do not love God. You are deceiving yourself. You are sinning constantly against God unless your heart has been given to the Lord. “Son, [daughter,]” He says, “give Me thine heart.” He demands it; He has a right to it. Yet you say, I cannot love Him. God says, That inability to love Me is sinful. And you are accountable for all of your sins, and all the inability that is caused by sin. You are accountable before God. Many would blame God; many would excuse themselves, but God says that He will not take their excuse. It is caused by sin. He commands us to trust in Him with our whole heart. He demands the heart, He demands the chief place. That is how we must understand God. He must have the chief place in your heart. And Christ demands to be our God.
Perhaps you are saying, A day will come when the door of the inn will be opened. The day will come when I will trust in Christ. The day will come when I will find time. That is a promise you give to yourself. It is worthless. The promises God gives are precious, but the promises you give yourself are worthless. There are millions in hell who have promised themselves that one day they would come to Christ. There are millions in hell who have wept under the gospel. They have been afraid of hell, afraid of eternal destruction.
Remember, we harden under the gospel. I know men and women in general do not really believe that, but it is the truth. Although the gospel is the most precious thing you can have, you harden under it. You hear it; you might be softened in your heart; you might say, That is a serious matter; I will have to think of that seriously. But the years pass, the tens of years pass, we become old men and old women and go to our deathbed, where we promised we would seek Him. But I have been preaching since 1955 or so. And I cannot – I dare not – say that I have seen a man or a woman turning to Christ on their deathbed. That is my experience, whatever the experience of others may be, and it is a terrible thing. Yet I have seen some who were Christians before that proclaiming that they knew Christ – who had been keeping their light under a bushel, hiding their light.
Do not promise yourself that you are going to do something. When the Holy Spirit of God begins to work, you are not to say, When I go home, I am going to think of these matters. It does not matter who is present or where you are, it must be now, because this is the most important thing that can ever be: there must be room in the inn for the Lord Jesus Christ.
You might be saying to the Lord, I am sorry, but I cannot think of these matters just now; I have other matters to see to. But are these matters more serious or more important? “No room in the inn.” The inns in hell are full: full of devils, but no Christ. And in this world, the inns are full: full of the lusts of the heart, full of sin, full of the world, but no Christ.
I read of a museum, where a shelf of jars had a notice which said, “These jars make up the chemicals and the gases found in the body of a man of 140 pounds weight”. No, a man is a soul as well as a body. He is going to eternity. The inn of a man’s heart must have an occupant. If you do not have the Lord as your God, you have another god. If you are not ruled by God, you are ruled by the devil. You may deny that, but the apostle Paul, by the Holy Spirit, teaches that those who worship idols were really worshipping the devil without knowing, because man is deceived. Why will you perish? Do not enter eternity saying to the Lord, “No room in the inn”. May you be among those who say, “Come in, Thou blessed of the Lord!” May He dwell in your heart to all eternity! May you know Him as your Saviour!