Room For The King-Luke 2:7

Room For The King-Luke 2:7
SUBJECT: ROOM FOR THE KING.
TEXT: Luke 2:7
A. B. BARRETT. This is one of the most pathetic, saddest, statements in the Bible. Mary brought forth her first son and there was no room in the Inn. Isn't that sad? She and Joseph came to the city of their fathers to pay their taxes, in com­pliance with the law of their times, and now this expec­tant mother seeks quarters where her baby might be born and there is no room in the Inn. They were poor people— so poor that they had to offer two turtledoves in sacrifice, in lieu of the requirement of the law; and of course the Inn was filled with the people who could pay their bills. Joseph and Mary, though royal blood was flowing in their veins, could find no room in the Inn, hence they had to take up their quarters out in the stable; there the Holy Child was born; there he was wrapped in swaddling clothes, camel blankets, horse blankets as we would say, and laid in a manger, because there was no room in the Inn. The Saviour must have grown up under the impression, re­ceived from his mother in early youth, that babies are not wanted in this world; and I like to think that this is one reason, at least, why Christ said "suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me, for such is the kingdom of heaven." I am glad that he was just such a Saviour as that he would place his hands upon their sweet, tender little heads and bless them. I suppose this is one reason why the Saviour placed a little child in the midst of his disciples one day and said "except ye turn, or be converted, and become as this little child, you shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven"—just as meek and humble and pure as this little child, or there is no room for you in Heaven. Isn't that serious? No wonder Fie said "it were better for you that a millstone had been hanged about your neck and you had been drowned in the depths of the sea than to have caused one of these little ones to stumble." I want to tell you, friends, about the most terrible thing you can do in this world is to cause one of Christ's dis­ciples to stumble—to fall away into sin.

Even today, do you know, a baby is about the most unwelcome thing that comes into this world? If you don't think I am correct in this, take, your Sunday daily and read the want-ads—"apartments to let—no babies wanted", and if you happen to be so unfortunate as to be the parents of little folks you will find it difficult to rent suites of rooms, or apartments, or flats, in which to dwell. (I under­stand, however, there is one man in Nashville who has created quite a sensation by erecting some apartments and advertising that no one can rent rooms unless there are children in the family. I rather like that fellow.) And isn't it odd—isn't it strange, that there are so many people in the world who care so little for children? Who have no love and forgiveness in their hearts for the little folks? I have been in homes where there were children and I re­ceived the impression that they were a nuisance; that their own parents were embittered against them; were anxious to shove them off, and get rid of them. I saw on the train the other day a man and his wife and two children, the older child being afflicted—abnormal in some way it didn't seem to be bright. Of course it couldn't help it; it had come from its parents, but it was fretful and nervous, and the father very impatiently threw the little thing over on the seat, as if he wished it would die right there. Oh, my blood did boil! Somewhere back there somebody had sinned and caused the abnormality of that child. How the father of that child could treat it that way was beyond me.

I want to tell you something—some day the same Christ who said "suffer little children and forbid them not to come unto me, for such is the kingdom of heaven", THE SAME CHRIST, will face us in the judgment and ask us why we were so cruel, thoughtless, and unkind to little children. I cannot understand how a Christian man or woman can abuse a little child, and I believe the Saviour feels the same way about it, because when He came into the world there was no room for Him. HE WASN'T WANTED.

Just think what a mistake they made that day; just think how near heaven had come to that hotel, and just think what a distinction, what an honor, it would have been for the Holy Child to have been born in that hotel! I don't doubt that many a Jewish mother had prayed that she might be the mother of the Holy Child, and now Mary has been selected as the one of all the earth who should be the mother of God's child, and when the time comes for him to be born into this world there is no room for him. But you say "if they had known it they would have acted differently." They did know it. God had been telling them about it for thousands of years. The prophets had been foretelling this—the very air was charged with the feeling that some great event was about to take place. And as we say "there is music in the air; there is music everywhere," so there was this feeling, this intense feel­ing in the minds of the people that God was about to bring some great thing to pass, and when it came to pass they found no room for the child of God, though they had been looking for him for thousands of years. You remember Matthew gives us, in the second chapter of his gospel, an account of the birth of Christ, and shows that the scribes were quoting prophecies in proof that they knew what they were talking about. "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the King, be­hold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, 'Where is he that is born King of the Jews?' for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to wor­ship him. When Herod the king heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, in Bethlehem of Judea; for thus it is written by the prophet, and thou Bethlehem in the land of Judah; art not the least among the princes of Judah; for of these shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel. Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also."

Yes, they did know they had the messages of the prophets, and they quoted them readily enough in answer to Herod's inquiry as to the time and place of the birth of the Holy Child, but when he was born there was no room for him. When the Prince of Wales visited this country we received him with open arms and gave him such a wel­come as no man had received. He was wined and dined from one end of the country to the other; he visited the public institutions of the country; he hunted big game on our western prairies; he went back home, and we were none the wiser as to why he came. There was abundant room for the Prince of Wales, but when the Prince of Peace came there was no room for him, and do you know I think often times, in fact, too often, our hearts are just like that Inn. There is no room left for Christ in our hearts. Just think of the hearts back there that had no room for him. Take the whole Roman Empire, if you will— there was no room there. Herod said he wanted to wor­ship him, but he was a hypocrite; he really wanted to kill him. The King of the Jews is born into the world and Herod, a petty Roman King under the Roman Emperor, is afraid there will be an insurrection, or rebellion, and he will lose his job, rather than do that, he will kill that baby, and to be sure he kills the right one, he issues a decree that all male babies shall be put to death; hence there is weeping and lamentation in that whole city that day. Oh, just think how those mothers wept—how their hearts bled for their precious babies. What if the Emperor of Ger­many had conquered this country; issued a decree that every male child under two years of age would be put to death at a given time; men had gone about over this land cutting their throats and throwing them into ditches by the Wayside—you tell me there would not have been weep­ing in this country? That was the way it was there; it was because there was no room for Christ that those babies were murdered by the cruel hand of a man who was so jealous of his position and so fearful lest he should lose his job that he was willing to kill those precious babies, hoping thus to destroy the child for which there was no room in this world. (You know Josephus tells us Herod was so unpopular among his own people that fifty of the leading citizens of his realm were put to death, to be sure that there would be weeping in the land on the day of his death). That is the kind of a man he was—he found no room for Christ in his kingdom; thus it continued through­out his ministry. They despised and rejected him; did everything they could to do away with him, and so his own people, unto whom he had come as the lost sheep of the house of Israel, joined hand in hand with the Romans in their nefarious plan.

Seven hundred and thirty years before he came, Isaiah had said he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; he was despised and rejected of men, and he was killed. You know the Jews said that he was a blasphemer and he ought to die, because he said he was God. Of course they knew the Romans wouldn't take cognizance of a religious charge, because courts refuse to sit in judg­ment on church polity—if it is shown that the proceeding is legal they pass it by; so it was then; hence, in order to have him put to death, they changed the indictment against him and charged him with saying that he was king; thus usurping the authority of the Emperor of Rome. Of course they expected the Romans to put him to death for that. Pilate saying that he was innocent of the blood of this just man, washed his hands and said "see you to it". So' he consented for his name to go down on the records of time as a moral coward. The people said "away with Christ, we have no King but Caesar"; hence they carried him out there and crucified him. As those cruel nails went hissing through his quivering flesh, they jeered and sneered and spat upon him and hung him upon the tree of crucifixion, the most shameful death they could put him to, saying " i f thou are the son of God come clown from the cross", but that same loving, tender heart that had so often been made sad among his own people, having come to seek and save what was lost and having been re­jected of his own, yet loved them and cried out "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." It was there he bled and died, because there was no room for him. They said the world isn't big enough for him and us—somebody must get out. We have the power, and might makes right with the mob, you know. So we will put him out; hence they killed him. Have you never stopped to think how few houses Christ visited during his ministry and public life? How many can you name? There was the home of the apostle Peter, then there was the home where the guest chamber was prepared for the supper; and, of course, we think last of all of the home of Lazarus and Mary and Martha. They must have been people of ordinary circumstances. There is no evidence that they were well-to-do people; but I am sure very fine, tender, thoughtful people; that must have been a sweet home, a clean home, in which it was a delight to the Saviour to find rest and refreshment. Yes he loved Lazarus and Mary and Martha. When Lazarus was dead you know, they thought first of their Friend; they sent for him, and he came and wept with them that- wept. As he stood weeping, some of the jews said "be­hold how he loved him." There was room for Christ in that home, but not in many others. I am sure the Saviour longed to meet a Shunammite and his wife, such as you read about in Kings. There were Elisha and his servant Gehazi going about doing good to the people, and there was a great woman, great in her hospitality and great in the simplicity thereof, who said to her husband "behold this is a holy man of God, which passeth by us continually. I propose that we build a little room up there on the wall, put a bed in there, a table, a chair, and a light so that when he conies, weary and foot-sore and tired from the dust of the highway, he can turn aside into our home and rest." Therefore they did it and Elisha appreciated that thought so much that he wanted a blessing to come upon that home; he called the woman in and sought to recom­mend her to the King or his officers, but she said "I dwell among my own people," just so simple in her hospitality— she didn't feel that she needed to be honored above any of the others of that country—it was their custom to show hospitality.

I have gone to places where I would have been glad to have met a Shunammite and his wife. I conducted a meeting in a Texas town once, and if you will pardon a personal reference, I will say that when I reached that Texas town, a town of several hundred people, where there was a large, wealthy congregation with elegant resi­dences—I didn't say homes, mind you; I said residences— and they informed me that they were sorry, but it wasn't convenient for any of them to entertain me during the meeting, one old brother living out a mile from town said "we will be glad to have you stay in our home". So I went out there and spent the two weeks of the meeting in his home. It was a home just like that of Lazarus, Mary and Martha, just as clean and wholesome and fine. I don't think I ever stayed at a place I enjoyed more than that simple home, but you can imagine how much less I thought of that church; incl you can imagine I didn't feel like going back there next year when they asked me to return, because it WASN'T CONVENIENT—there wasn't a home open in that town. Isn't it strange that sometimes people claim to be Christians and find there is no room left in their homes for Christ and his servants? I wonder why! I wonder why it is so today, that there are so many homes that have no room left for the King? I have gone about over the earth a little bit and have found it that way. I am sure the other preachers can give you the same experiences. I could give them to you by the score if I had time, but I give you this one to show you how far we miss being such folks as that Shunammite and his wife, or Lazarus and his family. We are nice folks of a sort, polite in that cold, distant sort of politeness that says "how-do-you- do, Mr. Barrett?" Yes, we have a great deal of that in our church life that is very reprehensible, we are too nice to say brother and sister—that sounds sissy to us; we must say Mr. and Mrs. and so on. Do you think that is the spirit of Christianity?

I just shudder sometimes to think how far we have missed the heart and soul of the Christian religion, be­cause we leave so little room for Christ in our homes. I have gone to homes where they have informed me, "Brother Barrett we never discuss religion in our home. We found that we couldn't agree and we decided that we wouldn't discuss the Bible. That is an unwelcome sub­ject in our family circle." Think of the home without God and without Christ and without the Bible! That is the reason we don't have the homes we formerly had. That is the reason so many homes are filled with the popular movie magazines and pictures of the favorite movie actresses and actors; that is why, when they bring a table up into the preacher's room to use in his study, he opens the drawer and. finds a deck of cards, instead of the Bible; that is why so often we don't find the mem­bers of many families at church; that is why in the homes we find music and dancing, such as I have found even in the homes of elders of the church of Christ not a thousand miles from here, not here though; I said a thousand miles from here. That is why so many people get restless and embarrassed and want to leave when you talk religion. I have studied not to be a bore; not to unduly press religious matters; I don't try to embar­rass my friends with religious discussions, but where I find it desirable and opportune I make it a point to say something for Christ, I would be ashamed not to; I'd feel like a slacker if I should refuse to speak a word for Christ as opportunity presented itself, but I have gone where the daughter would go into the parlor and play a fox trot or some other kind of trot; the son would light a cigarette and go off to town; the father would remember that he hadn't watered the cow or pigs, and he would leave; then the mother would say, "Brother Barrett we don't agree on religion; consequently we have decided to say nothing about such matters in our home", and so I write a sign and put it over the door "there is no room for Christ here."

Worldliness has driven Christ out of this home; it is like that Inn over there in Bethlehem— "there is no room for the! King here." Then I go on down town, sad and lonely, wondering what we are coming to; " I pass by the movies where I see the most obscene, vul­gar pictures, advertising a show, as Peacock Alley or some such stuff like that; then the Christian people stream into that place, followed by the people of the world, of course, and I put up a sign over there "No room for Christ here"; then I come to church and see so many of the members of the church are absent, and I know where they are. ' I go on down to visit in those homes; I come unexpectedly into a home and find the young lady of the home enter­taining with tea. which means progressive set back, pitch, smut or some other popular game in which a prize is offered, and I put up a sign "no room for Christ here." Then I go on to a school building; go into the house, where I find the teacher teaching those children that they came from monkeys, (I wonder if the parents I have just visited hadn't, they act so like monkeys), ft is difficult for me to keep from believing that maybe they do have monkey's blood in their ancestors back there. But then I remember that the Bible says "let us make man like God; in the image of God made he him; I remember that Paul refers to Adam as the first man; then I believe my ances­tors were created in the image of God and I thank God I am a man and not an animal. Then I hear that there is no such thing as sacrifice, as we have been taught; they laugh at anybody being unselfish and making a sacrifice, because of his love for anybody else; I hear that there is no such thing as the hereafter; we are only mortal; we have no spirits or immortal souls within us; materialism is the thing of the day, when we die that is the end of us; and of course there is no hell or eternal life. Such things are just tales that have come to us from the Dark Ages, consequently the Bible is just a myth, like Uncle Remus' tales for the amusement of the women and children; the men are not interested, and so on; and I write a sign and put it up over that school house "no room for Christ here." Thus I go from one public institution to the other, the great normals and colleges and universities of the land; I put up sign after sign "No room for Christ." And so I am sad, but of course I'm dealing with human nature and I know we are fallible and are going to make mistakes and all that, but, finally, I go to a church, where I think, now surely there will be. an abundance of room for Christ and I shall expect to find the whole church alive, given over exclusively to Christ, but then when I go inside and begin to read the Bible and I begin to tell the people about what Christ said, they call me narrow and non-progressive, a crank, etc.. demanding that I come alive and be progressive like the folks about me. You know the children of Israel were the same way. They said to Samuel "you are old and your sons no longer walk in your ways, now we want a king like the nations about us." The thing grieved that man of God and I can see tears coming down his cheeks. I can see him in his old age falling down upon his face and crying out in agony of his soul to God; then I hear God saying "Samuel they haven't rejected you; they have rejected me. Now let them have a king, but tell them what will happen, how they will be carried away into bon­dage; how their sons and daughters will be servants in the homes of their masters, and all the indignities that shall be heaped upon them." And he told them, but they said "we want to be progressive and have a king like the nations about us." They selected Saul, who later confessed that he had played the fool, because he had sinned, and finally he committed suicide, for he didn't have the nerve to face his enemies; then came David, who sinned and didn't follow God, but he called for mercy, repenting in sack-cloth and ashes. Of course God heard him and for­gave him; then come Solomon, the wisest man the world has ever known, with his idolatrous influence. Of course everything went to pieces. His kingdom divided, ten tribes were lost and two tribes carried into captivity; therefore they were scattered, and are scattered, even until today, to the four corners of the earth. It is because they had no room left, and that is the most fearful calamity with which we are confronted today. Not only in social life, but in educational, civil, and religious life as well. As we come to this Church and try to teach the truth somebody gets his feelings ruffled: stabs the church; sneers and knocks it before the world, and exposes it to the open attack of its enemies. He thus retards the progress of the work for which Jesus died. People like this are in the way; they are a disgrace to the cause; they crucify Christ afresh; put him to open shame, and trample beneath their feet the blood of the covenant where with they were sanctified. You say no Church of Christ ever acted like that! We have one right here in the New Testament, "And unto the Angel of the Church of the Laodiceans write: These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot; I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou saith, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me i(old tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and, anoint thine eyes with eye salve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love. I rebuke and chasten; be zealous therefore, and repent. 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. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne. even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." Do you know God much prefers that a Church shall be cold as an iceberg rather than lukewarm? A Church that has turned to ice can be located; it has gone to the Devil, whole heart and soul; on the other hand, a Church boiling hot, wide awake and enthusiastic for the salva­tion of souls; whose members are always at the post of duty; who will come to the services and sing and pray and pay and do every thing that Christians ought to do, to carry on the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ, is awake and will not let any opportunity of saving a soul pass by. God says I prefer that you would be as cold as an iceberg, rather than lukewarm." If you want to nauseate a patient, don't give him ice water or hot water, but lukewarm water; it will make him sick. So that a church stiff and distant and dignified, you know—boasting of its past, taking pride in its riches, is sickening to the Lord, and he says that he will spue you out of his mouth. Such a Church feels that because it is rich and needs nothing, it is independent of God, so independent that it has no room left even for Christ. So a church like this says to Christ, there is no room left for you here, stay on the outside.

I asked a woman one time if she wanted to go to Heaven and she said, "not now," I have my car, my friends and my home, and I don't want to go now." Of course, when she grows old and is disappointed in life, having become a burden to those whom she once served, she would then rather go to Heaven but not now. That is our attitude toward heaven and when we sing "How I long to be there", we don't mean it; we are just doing it to be nice. Can't we wake up? Can't we realize that we need to open our homes and our hearts to Christ? Can't we take God's word as a lamp unto our feet, and as a light unto our pathway? Christianity is not a popular club in which to pretend that we are religious; it is a reality, a life to be lived every day. You can render such a service now that in the years to come men will call you blessed, because your life was a benediction to them. What a life to live, making room for the King, opening to him our hearts, our very souls. Christ says, "Behold I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear my voice and open to me, I will come in and sup with him, and he with me." Preachers sometimes quote this language and apply it to aliens, but it was spoken to church members; such as had excluded Christ, because there was no room left for him in his own church. Our Lord is now speaking to us, asking that we make room for him in our own lives as we live them in our homes, in our shops, our educational institutions, and in our congregational activities. Will you not make him your Guest? If it were announced that the King of England is going to visit this city and the Committee on entertain­ment should ask you to entertain him in your home, you would be beside yourself with excitement. Oh, what a cleaning up you would give your place—the parlor, the guest's room, the dining room, and even the back yard would all be cleaned as never before! The whole place would shine like new silver, because the King of England is to be entertained there! Then after he had made his visit, you would see that every paper in the country should have a picture of your home and yourself with the King; you would write to your people in Arkansas and California, tel­ling them of the great honor that had come to you; you would tell it to your grandchildren and instruct them to tell it to the generations to follow. What a distinction! But here is the King of glory who seeks admission into our homes and we have no room for him. Christ would be the Guest in your house, but you say you prefer to go to the movies, rather than entertain him. "Just stand aside Lord, I am too busy making money, having a good time, to be bothered with you." There is no room for Christ in such a life. O, the pity of it!

I am sometimes astounded that God's mercy is so long suffering. That was the astonishment of Paul's life, fie could hardly understand how his goodness was ex­tended to him, who was chief of sinners; how he could send him upon such a mission of love, preaching the un­searchable riches of Prince Immanuel. No wonder that he loved God so; and when he came to the end of his life, no wonder that he said "I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed; and I am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I have committed to him against that day." This is why he could say "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course." He knew that he had wrought well; hence he did not fear for the future. But the secret of his wonderful life lies in the fact that he made room for Christ in his busy life. To take such a Jew and make such a preacher out of him, a preacher of the most wonderful gospel that has ever been preached in the world, is marvelous. We thank God for such a life. Won't you make room for the same Lord and King?

If there is any person in this world who ought to make room for Christ it is a woman. Just think, ladies, what Christ has done for you. Read history if you would know what was the position of woman before Christ came. I have had atheists say there is nothing to Christianity, and I have told them that if they felt this way about it, they ought to go to Africa, or some such dark continent, and rear their families under such conditions; but they are always unwilling to do this, for they know the benefits of such a land as this. So I say that women ought above all others to appreciate the Christian religion. It behooves us all alike to make room for the King, if for no other reason than that he has gone to make room for us. You know he said in John 2:1-3 : "Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe in me also. In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." Isn't that wonderful?

One of the saddest features of Christ's life was his loneliness. He was misunderstood, misrepresented; his motives impugned, because his enemies did not understand and appreciate him. Yet in all that loneliness and sadness, he loved them still; while they were his enemies, he died for them, as for its. This is the most wonderful love the world has ever known. Standing there, he said, "I am going to the Father, and I am going to prepare a place for you." Men would not let Christ have room in the world; they killed him, and put him out of the world, but he asked the Father to forgive them, for he loved them still; and the angels hovering about the great white throne of God rejoiced when they turned from their sins to God. Christ loved them out of the pit, drew them unto himself, that where he was they might be also. This is the way your Lord loves us all; and there is an abundance of room for everyone in the Father's house. It is there that we shall eat of the tree of life, whose leaves are for the healing of the nations; then we shall drink of the fountain of life that flows out from the throne of God, and sing the song of Moses and the Lamb. Christ calls us his brethren, and assures us that we shall go with him upon missions of love in other realms. O what a Saviour! I would that I could say something that would cause you to fall in love with him. "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth." If you are guilty of sins, let's get them out of your life by the blood of Jesus. Do not make the mis­take that Darwin made, He tells us in his autobiography that as a young man he loved poetry; then he turned away from literature to science; and after spending the matur­ing years of his manhood in this field, he turned again, in the evening of life, to poetry, but he found to his dismay that he had no taste left for his first love. Even Shake­speare, his favorite author, was a bore to him! Is that not a sad story? While your heart is tender, and before the evil days draw nigh, won't you turn to God and live? Won't you come to Christ and love him even more than Darwin loved Shakespeare? Make him your friend, take him by the hand and go hand in hand with him to glory. A little girl went to church one day, and when she returned her mother asked her what the preacher had talked about. The child replied that he had talked about a man who went walking with God; that they walked and walked, until they looked back over the way they had come; and God said, "We are so far from your home, just come and go home with me." The preacher had been preaching about Enoch that day—the man who had walked with God. and he had taken him. Walk hand in hand with God now and he will take you to the home where no tears are ever shed, for there is no death there. Only peace and happiness are found in God's house. Won't you make Christ your King? Why not turn to him today and say, "Lord I want you to be my Friend?" Then you can say, I am not my own, for I have been bought with a price. The Lord will take your life and use it for the glory of God and the sal­vation of many souls; and bring you finally to that home of where there is ever an abundance of room.