I was reading a while back about Christmases of a hundred years ago, and apparently people were complaining that Jesus had been pushed out of Christmas. I don't know what they'd say if they were here today. And not only do people push Christ out of Christmas, but many people today have a job to unpick what is reality and what is centering around what people have made up of the season. And things were not that different when we come to the readings that we've had this evening from the New Testament. When you read about the time that Jesus Christ was born, there was not many that were waiting for the Lord Jesus. Most people were either confused or they were ignorant or they were very much like when I was talking to the young ones, they were asleep. concerning the things of the Lord Jesus. I want to leave you with a very simple thought this evening and that is the words that we have in the Gospel of Luke chapter 2 verse 7 where it says there, there was no room for them in the inn. There was no room for them in the inn. And I want to ask a question tonight. Well, you do ask the question, do you have room for the Lord Jesus Christ? We want to see what that really means. And I want to see, too, that things are no different today than what they were really in the time of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, you might say, well, I'm sure we've heard sermons on that before. And I'm sure you have. And you've heard at least one from me, although you'd have to have a good memory, perhaps, to remember it. But you see, eternity hangs on this. Imagine, your eternity hangs on this. Where we spend eternity hangs on what we do with the gospel, the good news that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. Because if little turned on this, I wouldn't be here, I'd be at home watching telly. I'd be sitting by the fire. What's the point in coming if there's nothing in this? If there's nothing in this, why did Almighty God, the creator of the heavens and the earth, send his only begotten son into the world to be spat upon and have the beard torn off his face if it didn't really matter? As we heard in the carol, it's all about the cross. So, you know, in one sense, when Mary and Joseph were looking for somewhere to stay, and I guess you couldn't do what you do today, you can't kind of book it ahead on your computer or whatever, you just turned up and hoped there would be a room. And with the census going on, everyone flooding into Bethlehem, they were not going to be surprised that there was no room at the inn. But actually that established a principle and a pattern for the Lord Jesus Christ's life. The fact that there was no room at the inn was no mere accident. The Lord never had a home of his own, did he? When you read through the Bible, he lodged with others at Bethany. He didn't have a home of his own. He didn't leave anything tangible behind except his coat, and they gambled for that. He didn't ever have any transport, did he? When he needed transport, he borrowed an ass. He didn't have a tomb of his own. He borrowed the tomb. And that wasn't a bad idea because he only wanted it for three days. So that was quite a good thing, but he never had a tomb, did he? But as one Christian song says, but the cross he bore and the crown he wore were his own, were his own. You know, throughout his life, he was reviled by the world, even by his own nation. It says he came to his own, but his own received him not. So let's develop this a little bit further. Four headings tonight. First of all, I want you to notice here in the story that there was no room for Christ in the world in general, if you like. The people at the inn were no doubt busy with their business. No one noticed a pregnant young girl coming in with her husband. And I suppose maybe it was out of the kindness of this innkeeper that he found them room in the stable. Many years ago, when I was in secular employment, I did a lot of work down in Hastings, or St Leonard's-on-Sea, I think it's next door to Hastings. And we used to do a lot of work in a hotel there called the Royal Victoria Hotel. And it was a rundown sort of place that had had better days. But one thing they cherished was a letter inside a glass case that said, Queen Victoria stayed here. And it was a letter saying, thank you from the Queen. If you went along the coast a bit further, I stayed in another hotel and there was a plaque in the porch that said Tony Hancock stayed here. They were proud of the people that stayed there. You see how this innkeeper, he missed a trick there, didn't he? The creator of the heavens of the earth stayed here. He didn't perhaps do it on purpose, he didn't know. There's a lot today who don't know. They know about gifts, they know about Santa, they know about all the things that we see around us, but they don't seem to know that Messiah has come, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save us. Not in a general sense, like we put salt and pepper on our food, but as an individual, that we must know him individually for ourselves as our Saviour. And when you look into the world today, there is still no room for the Lord Jesus. You know, people rush around at this season and busy with so many things, but they miss the important thing, the Saviour of their souls. You say, well, has anything changed in over the 2,000 years? Yes, it has. Jesus has not only been born, we look forward now, he lived, he died, he rose again, he's ascended into heaven, he's coming again. We're a lot further forward, aren't we, in these things? The Lord has raised up men to preach these things for over 2,000 years. He has his people to witness to the truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And yet does it make much difference? People still have no room for the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not going to speak at great length tonight. I'll move on to the second point here. Do you notice there was no room in government for the Lord Jesus? We've just read about The wise men that came, they followed the star, the star that God gave them, and they came to the place we might say is natural, they went to the palace. Well, they had to go to the palace because that's where the star led them, but they also went to the seat of government, didn't they? And Herod didn't want to know. Surely that was the place where he should have been welcomed. He was the Messiah to that land. but they didn't receive him. In fact, King Herod, he was the most wicked man. If you read in history, he had his sons killed. And when it got later in life, he had certain key people rounded up and put in prison. And he says, when I die, no one's going to weep for me. But he says, when I die, you kill them and they can weep for them. Imagine the depravity of that man to think and to do such things. Are we any different today? We think some of the evil things that are going on in the world. Any room in government? We see all the debates that are going on in government at the moment with Europe, our own country, and they're trying every which way as it were to find a solution to problems that appear to be insurmountable. Would there be anyone who would say as they met together, well let's pray about this. it wouldn't even enter into their heads to do that. And yet the Lord has promised that if a nation would honour him, he will honour them. There is no doubt solutions there that they've not even thought of. And half of those solutions they wouldn't need if they followed the Lord. There is still no room for the Lord Jesus in government. Indeed, the governments of any political persuasion encourage us now, don't they, to live in a pluralistic society, when any way to God is right, when the scripture tells us there isn't any way, there's only one way, and that is through the Babe of Bethlehem, the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, it's a case today that if the Lord Jesus was here and he was to enter into politics, which he wouldn't, he would not be allowed to join the Labour Party or the Conservative Party or the Liberal Democratic Party. He might get into the DUP on a good day, but he wouldn't be able to get into any of the other parties simply because of what he believed. There is no room in government today for the Lord Jesus Christ, just as there wasn't in that time when Jesus was born. Thirdly here, there was no room for the Lord Jesus in the religion of the world at that particular time. And it's the same today in what I would call the professing church, isn't it, the church at large. Christ Jesus didn't come to the religious leaders, did he? Who was his birth announced to? The lowly shepherds. the wise men who lived hundreds of miles away, but probably had access to some of the Old Testament scriptures, particularly as Daniel had lived there for some years and had no doubt protected them. These were people of knowledge and also humility, but the religious leaders didn't want to know. As I said to the children, when it came to going to Herod, where is he that's been born King of the Jews? Herod had to say, well, where is he supposed to be born? And instead of the religious leaders at the time saying, well, Micah tells us they had to look it up and find it. They didn't know. It should have been at their fingertips. They should have been waiting for the Messiah. Where is he? We must go. We've been speaking about the coming of Messiah, the one who will save his people for hundreds of years. We have our scrolls of Isaiah. We have our scrolls of Micah and all the other prophets. It points us to the Messiah. And he's here? We must get there. We must see what deliverance has come to the land of Israel. But they didn't see it. They had no room for the Lord Jesus. They've got their own religion. They're very comfortable with that. They were making a nice living at it. They've made up their own rules and regulations. Notice I chose my words carefully. No room in the professing church. That is those who claim the title of Christian. but do not love or serve the Lord Jesus. That's not a particular denomination. I'm not here to particularly promote Baptists, Methodists, or anything else. It's not a matter of the banner that we have outside. It's how we are with the Lord Jesus Christ. Are we believing in the Bible? Are we serving him? Do we know him as our savior? We see and hear almost daily in the media, if they want a religious view, somebody will be put forward to give that view. Almost certainly, he or she will not be a Bible-believing Christian. And the view that they will give will not be the view that we would give from Holy Scripture. There is no room for the Lord Jesus Christ, even in much of that which calls itself the church. There are those who deny Christ's divinity. If Christ is not God, then this is nonsense. How could he come into the world to save us? If it was not of a virgin birth, it would not be true. His saving work is why he came. He didn't come just to be an example of how to live nicely. Lots of people could do that to a certain extent, but he came into the world to live in my place because I can't live nicely. He came to die on the cross, a death that no other could die. The perfect sinless Son of God, the creator of heavens and earth, hangs naked. It's all about the cross. There was no room for the Lord Jesus Christ and there still isn't today. Universities, we see some of that in the media, don't we? Christian organisations are not allowed to be represented in many of our universities today because it offends some of the other people that are there. When at one time it was the Christians that actually started the universities. Some of you belong to the Gideons and we've had discussions about hotels that no longer want the Holy Scriptures in their rooms. No room for the Lord Jesus. So no room in the world in the inn, no room in government, the palace, no room in the church, in the temple. Where was there room? Where was there room? Well, there was room with those that believed. Of course, Mary and Joseph believed, they'd had angelic visits, but it was still a great leap of faith, wasn't it? We discussed this on Tuesday, we were looking at the life of Joseph and his young man with a young lady there and all of a sudden she's found pregnant and it wasn't me, so who was it? That's the natural reaction, isn't it? And according to the scriptures, and he was a man of God. He was a just man. He could have had a stoned. He said, I don't know what to do. I might have a put away privately. He was a kind man. And then the angel comes to visit him and says, no, this is Messiah. And he believes, he believes. And it was evidenced by their actions. Then there were those who had a direct revelation. There was a shepherd's lower state, There were the wise men, wise men who sought the Lord. There were those who were waiting for the Savior. There weren't many, there's a few named. There was a man called Simeon and there was Anna, elderly people who knew the Old Testament Scriptures and somehow knew that he was coming soon. And Simeon had that promise that he was not going to leave the temple until he'd seen the Messiah. He'd had that promise given to him. And they bring the baby in at eight days old in the fulfillment of the law. And he says, mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Those were the people that were watching and waiting. Those were the people who found room for the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, it wasn't a secret that he was coming. It was heralded in the temple. It was read in the prophets. People either didn't bother, they were too busy, or had their own agenda. and maybe it's the same for us today. His word is clear, isn't it, of how he came, why he came, what he did and what he continues to do. There is no more simple truth than this, that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life. We need a bit of application here, don't we? What can we do with these things? It's all right telling us about what happened all those years ago, and you've tried to tell us that it's not really any different today, but what about us sitting here in this room? Because we can't really influence Europe and the Prime Minister. We can pray, certainly, in that sense we can influence, but we can't actually go up to them and say, well, this is what you should do. They won't take any notice of us. We can't go to the heads of groups of churches and say, you should be preaching the gospel. You can say it, they won't take any notice of us. Application then. Those who claim to be Christians tonight, we need to make room for the Lord Jesus. You say, well, no, we're Christians, we already do that. But do we? Do we? However much you love and serve him, we need to go on to know him more. The Lord Jesus said, behold, I stand at the door and knock. This was at the heart of the believer in Revelations three. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and will sup with him and he with me. We're Christians, we need to make room for the fellowship with the Lord. We are so busy with our lives, not just at Christmas, but throughout the year, we need time and space for the Lord Jesus Christ. it's sad how many Christians don't have room for Christ. We want him to save our sin, we want him to take us to heaven when we die, but there's still some no-go areas in my life. Maybe it's a relationship, maybe it's a place, maybe it's an activity, could be anything. But that's not Christianity, that's not what Christ died for. He says, I come that you might have life and you might have it more abundantly. Those of you who may be reading Maureen Wisey's book, I've only just started to read it, but you know there's some amazing things in there of what Christians have gone through in blessing of revival but before they were revived there were some horrific situations. I just read one example in there that comes to mind where a man was sent to the far ends of I think Siberia and his family just didn't hear from him. They wrote letters and never heard anything from him and that was it and he was tortured and all the things that happened to him and after 10 years he was released and he came home and and his wife let him in because at that particular time there were often people looking for food and she let him in and he had a meal and he asked about her family. She didn't recognise him. After 10 years of being in prison, why? Because he believed what I believe and what many of you believe. That was the price he paid. He made room for the Lord Jesus We're busy doing this, that, and the other. When we live for him, as the scripture says, we should live for him. We may find such difficulties, but my friends, those are the things that count for eternity. Those 10 years he spent in prison will be worth more than, well, if I lived to 70 or 80 years, or that we need room for Jesus. You know, he comes that we might serve him and serve him all our days. And then there may be some here tonight, you say, well, I've been through a good few Christmases. I know the Christmas story pretty much. I can kind of separate Santa from Jesus. I know what's real and what isn't. But have you come to know him? Can you say tonight, Jesus Christ who came into the world is my saviour. I've sought him to forgive my sin, my breaking of his law, and I'm trusting in him alone and what he did. One hymn, I don't think it's technically a carol, but it says, room for pleasure, room for business, Room for Christ the crucified, not a place that he can enter in the heart for which he died. Room and time now give to Jesus. Soon will pass God's day of grace. Soon thy heart be cold and silent. Soon will pass this time and space. I wonder what the innkeeper will say on the day of resurrection when he begins to realize. He might not have done anything wrong in the sense if he didn't know that was the Lord Jesus. What about Herod? What about you and me? How will we stand on that day? Because that's why Jesus came into the world, that we might stand that day and see him as our father, our friend and our saviour. And the scripture says, what are we to do about that? We're to seek him. We're to seek him with all our hearts. Those wise men, they came, they followed the star. They sought him until they found him and they worshipped him. And we're to seek him. We're to follow the word of God. We're to follow the preaching of the word. We're to follow all that he has given us in scripture until we find him and we can say, my sin is forgiven. on the cross he died for me. You see, although he came to his own, that is to Israel, his own received him not, but he says, to such as did receive him, gave he them the power to become the sons of God. So tonight, do what Mary did, ponder, treasure these things in your hearts. Be like Mary and Joseph, believe his word. Be like Simeon and Anna, waiting for the coming of the Lord. And I pray you may be able to come with the words of the hymn that we sing in a few moments. Oh, come to my heart, Lord Jesus. There is room in my heart for they. You say, I can't quite get there. Then you seek the Lord that he might enable you to do that. We can't do it in our own strength, but by his strength and his strength alone, we can come to know him. That's what it's all about. May the Lord so help you for his name's sake. Amen.