Why no Room in the Inn - Part 2

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I'm so thankful that we devoted this whole month to Christmas.

Sometimes we just wait till the last week before Christmas and we bear other things in the early part of December.

This year we decided to take the whole month and you know I don't know when we made that decision, but it couldn't have been made more important time because all is going on in the world in these days and Christmas is so important. My wife and I have a little ongoing discussion about this. We decorate our house. Real early. We have palm trees up and down our driveway. We like them up in the early days of November and people bash me about that and I said, you know, this year we need Christmas more than we ever needed it in the past, the story of Christmas is the story that can get us through these difficult times because it's the story of a God who loved us so much that he did not even spare his own son, but sent him here to provide hope and light and love for all of us.

So whatever you do don't diminish Christmas because of the coded thing make Christmas bigger better brighter longer and light up the world around you with the message of hope that comes from the coming of Christ in Bethlehem today were to finish up what we started yesterday as we conclude our discussion of why there was no room in the end.

So with that in mind, let's get started. We understand life in terms of days and minutes and hours and months and years.

God, in his experience knows nothing about God does not live in time. God created time. God lives outside of time and God and his perspective.

Everything is in the present.

Everything is in the now.

It is only humans who are linear, we see things looking back and looking forward. God does not see that God sees everything in the eternal present in God who is eternal on that particular day determined for his eternal be to be confined for a few years in time some amazing thought in eternity becoming time God who internally existed with the father chose for a few years to come down and be confined in the boundaries of time that pressure us every day of our lives.

We know that pressure perhaps more during this season than any other time of year were mindful of schedules and times and events and parties and deadlines and when the stores finally close.

For the last time.

It's an eternal scar in the minds of men all over the country.

But God knew nothing that God lived above time lived beyond time. But on that night God was willing as the eternal son of God without giving up easy tonality to come and be born into humanity and for the years he walked upon this earth to live in the boundaries of time. Mike and the prophet who gave us the prophecy concerning the birthplace of Jesus in Micah 52 says it this way. Yet out of Bethlehem shall come forth to be the one who is to be the ruler in Israel, watch this, whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. Please hear me when Jesus was born in Bethlehem. He did not begin always been on one occasion as an adult, Jesus spoke to some leaders and he said astounding thing he said before Abraham was, I am. And they were they were confounded by that. How could he, Jesus, in his 30s been Abraham but they missed the whole point. What Jesus was saying was that before he was born in Bethlehem internally existed. Jesus did not come to begin his existence in Bethlehem. They came to begin his existence in having had existed for all eternity.

There never has been a time when Jesus did not exist nor will there ever be a time when he ceases to exist. He is the eternal son of God would listen to me, the eternal son of God determined for our benefit for your benefit for all of our benefit to come down here in his eternal being and confining his activities to the days and months and hours and years of time as we know it. What a magnificent occasion when deity invaded humanity and eternity invaded time and then thirdly not only to deity invaded humanity and eternity invaded time but royalty invaded poverty. How rich is God owns the cattle on a thousand hills wealth in every mine.

How much richer can you be created at all.

He owns it all. We may think we have a piece of the action but were just stewards for short period of time.

The ultimate owner of everything, and all the universe is Almighty God. If you believe you own some of it.

Somehow we need to connect in the next hundred and 50 years and see how you doing, because we only have it for short period of time and that goes back to the owner or back to the next steward. God owns it all owns everything in heaven is the place that is significant of his wealth and the Bible says to us in second Corinthians chapter 8 in verse nine that, because of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich he became poor for our sakes, that we through his poverty might become rich.

Wrap your mind around that verse for a moment that not only did deity invaded humanity and eternity invaded time by royalty invaded poverty on that day, the God who had lived in the unrestricted confines of heaven adorned in the royal robes of deity came to be born is one of us in a stable in a manger. He became poor since the Scripture that through his poverty. One day we might be rich measured word of creation was coming to talk with shepherds and fishermen on Galilean hillsides and shores and the light that once had blinded a wandering people in the wilderness was reduced to that little flicker of life in the rest of the baby. Heaven's throne was about to be removed and turned into a manger and the one who sat upon the throne would shortly no hunger and cold and will assume the life of a servant. God was about to be born. Mary Ann because he was willing to humble himself and become a man because he was willing to become a man, even to die because through his death we have life.

He was once in the throne room of heaven surrounded by the accouterments of wealth came to be born to a peasant woman so poor were Joseph and Mary, that when they went to the temple to offer their sacrifice. They had to bring a turtledove which was the least sacrifice. Anyone could bring to worship his birth. He found this is bad trough for the feeding of animals in his first cast the despised shepherds from the hillside.

Think of his wealth configures poverty came down here to be one of us and didn't start in the middle class nor in the upper class. He started at the lowest echelon of human experience, so that no one would ever feel that they were too insignificant to come and receive him as their Savior and then this magnificent occasion in this little verse of Scripture we read the beginning of our message is set off against the most amazing thought in the whole story the eternal one who invaded time deity who invaded humanity royalty who invaded poverty came to be born in the Scripture says there was no room for him in the in room for him. The eternal God, the wealthy one.

The rich one came to be born, and they could find no place.

As you know, because of Herod's decree everyone should go to their own town for a census. The little town of Bethlehem was overrun with aunts and uncles and cousins. Many times removed, the scene was a cross between a great family reunion and a business convention and even with the makeshift ends and hotels that have sprung up overnight. There just wasn't enough room for everyone to have a bad late coming travelers coming to Bethlehem would surely see the no vacancy sign flashing often on once again my friend Frederick Buechner who writes about this particular moment in history summarizes it, he said, is the time Junior for the birth of the Lord, the city of Beckley was literally bursting at the seams with all the people registering for census, Mary and Joseph dutifully headed off to Bethlehem, but when they arrived they found no welcoming no one willing to accommodate them. It was as if someone had hung out on all the ins and hotels. No vacancy sign in is the time drew near.

For the infant son to be born. The only lodging available was a stable, adjacent to the in some suggested think there were crowds in Bethlehem, just suppose they knew what we now know, what were the crowds of been like if they had known what we know that this one who was being born in their midst was the eternal son of God, you talk about no vacancies back in the 1800s woman by the name of Emily Elliott Sunday school teacher was trying to teach your children the real meaning of Christmas and she wrote the words to a Christmas Carol that we don't sing enough with the words go like this without its leaves die throne and by kingly crown went out to Mr. earth for me.

But in Bethlehem's home.

There was found no room for thy holy Nativity heavens arches writing when the angels sang proclaiming thy royal decree, but of lowly birth style come to earth and in great humility were into split screen images in our culture today. Put this up on the screen of your mind the Lord Jesus in heaven seated next to his father in royal regalia. A baby and the stinking feed trough born to a peasant woman surrounded by sheep and shepherds.

Only God could have written a story like that we would never in our wildest dreams have ever imagined. This magnificent story and this missed opportunity. Why was there no room in the I wrote a little book for Christmas called why the Nativity and one of the questions in the book is why was there no room in the space of friends.

If Almighty God could create a unique star from a distant galaxy to invite wise men from the East if he could do that. I mean, couldn't God find just one vacant room for his son to be born with Excel for God build a new hotel.

Whatever we don't know all the reasons but there's some things we can say the Lord of creation chose to enter this world quietly. It was my heavenly design that he came into the world, not in the relative comfort of the end. But in some farmers see the shed. A homeless birth was part and parcel of a homeless life when they many years later when Jesus was an adult. Someone had come to him and said, Lord, will follow you wherever you go. And Jesus said in Luke 958 foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. His words bear a touch of sadness the life of Jesus was a long road that began in the stable and led to the cross. And finally, of course, to an empty tomb.

Accepting humanity's rejection, even in his birth. Jesus sent a message of love to the world we would not afford him as much as a cramped closet. We had no room for him no time to stop and worship no interest in a peasant child with that same child for whom we had no room came here to find room for us. He would one day reserve accommodations for each of us would put our faith in him.

In the end that awaits us on the eternal shores of heaven and before leaving on the final journey Jesus when they said to his disciples, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also. Where is Jesus. Now he is in heaven making rooms for us who found no room for him.

He is the magnificent Savior of Christmas and he asked us now who listen to the story and experience it every year. If we will find room for him to still be too hard on the innkeeper. Plus don't be too judgmental on someone who was just in the course of life as he knew it carrying out the merchandising of his day.

When we apply that to our own hearts. We have to ask ourselves this question. We have room for him.

We have room for the one who left heaven and all that entails to come and be a part of us and ultimately to go to the cross and pay the penalty for our sin know it's a question we have to ask those who may never have trusted Christ in the first place.

But it's also a question we have to ask ourselves as Christians. I been so mindful of that this year we as Christians who are committed to Christ may be in church every Sunday. If we're not careful we can buy in to the intensity of lifestyle of our day get so caught up in the external things that there's never any quietness somehow God needs to send a spiritual snowstorm into our life to shut everything else out so that we can concentrate on the one who we say we love one of the favorite hymns of the young people of our church and of young people across the nation and I say this because there is a resurgent among young people to go back into the him to the old and fine hymns that have great lyrics and then give them a new tempo and new setting and then him is come, thou fount of every blessing. It was written by a man named Robert Robinson who accepted Christ into his life at the age of 17. Under the preaching of the great evangelist by the name of George Whitfield will Robinson was deeply in love with the Lord, and he entered the ministry to give his life to Christ and service, but Robinson was an honest man and he had to face up to the fact that while he had a great love for Jesus.

He wasn't a very dependable follower of Jesus, he would go off into long periods of sin and rejection that he would feel guilty and he would be broken about it. He would come back to the Lord will know what that's about the only many of us have been on that journey at one time or another. Perhaps some of you in the jury right now. You love the Lord, you know the Lord knows that you love him but somehow your life just hasn't measured up recently to all of the things you know are are part of your walk with Christ. What, that's the way this man was.

Sometimes he felt nothing at all for the Lord even though he knew that in his heart he had accepted Christ. One day he began to write out his thoughts about his life as you would write in a journal, and he ended up writing out the words to this him come out fount of every blessing and part of the words to the second stanza vet him go like this prone to wander, Lord, I feel it.

He was saying, Lord, I have this propensity to wander and get away from you. All of us understand that we know that even though we love God and worship Christ that we get caught up sometimes in the cultural pressures of everyday and they pull us away from the intimacy that we desire with our Lord. That's what he was going through. And he wrote all those words down over a period of time. He really got away from God to the point where he came to conclusion that he had sinned away the day of grace in his life, and the God wouldn't want anything to do with him anymore because of the way he was living and he was so terrified by it all and it was so internalized in his spirit that he just decided to run have to stop for a moment and ask about the intelligence of anyone who thinks they can run away from God, but this is what he tried to do he just ran. He just filled his life with travel and he would just go from one place to the next.

Barely having enough to sustain himself, but just wanting to stop long enough to think about what was wrong between him and God one day in his journeys, he found himself on a stagecoach, and there was only one other passenger on the stagecoach.

It was a young lady and you course, if you seen the old Western movies you know that in stagecoach you don't sit in rows facing the same way you sit together one person here one person her and and you have to sit looking at each other.

Where you going this young lady was so full of the joy of Jesus. She just couldn't keep quiet about it was the last thing the world that Robert Robinson wanted he did not want any of that if you ever been out of fellowship with God. You know you want to go to church you have your Christian theology Bible say away from the leave me alone while she could help it.

She was so filled with the joy of the Lord, she just bubbled over and over.

The trail he couldn't shut her up. Back in those days they used to have their devotional times, not only in the Bible but it looks and she had a book with her and she was reading this him and she said to him, Robert should look at this him that I found it's not so much to me and tell me what you think of it, and she turned around and gave it to him and it was the him he had written come out fount of every blessing prone to want, Lord, I feel it and she noticed the tears coming down his cheeks and she thought he had just gotten blessed by the him when in reality, Almighty God use the him to once again say to Robert Robinson. You may have walked away from me, but I have never walked away from in the message of Christmas is that very message came from heaven to be one of us. He loves us, he forgives us and welcomes us back no matter where we've been, what journey we've been on away from him. If he is our Savior and of God is our father. His arms are eternally extending outwardly to us, telling us to come home and I happen to believe that Jesus is the hound of heaven, and he will send a woman to a stagecoach with the right him at the right moment to bring somebody back to him who he loves as the sun ever crossed your mind that perhaps this message this moment is just for you. If you feel it in your heart is probably true.

Amen and amen. What a wonderful thing it is to preach the gospel at Christmas time is that's what Christmas is all about. It's the coming of Christ to be the Savior of the world know it's Friday so I need to encourage you to get the church on the weekend if your church is open and I hope it is and will be there for you on television, one where the other will see you over the weekend] on Monday, community church insignia Boston Jeremiah your story, San Diego, CA 92163 sided Jeremiah/365.50 is not fun to ministry program. Jeremiah 51.

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