No Room at the Inn — E.A. Johnston

The Peace Celebrated in Christ's Birth

As we celebrate this morning the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we rejoice in the mercy of the Almighty for the gift of His Son and the salvation that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. The gift of peace is what we celebrate this morning.

When Jesus was here in His earthly ministry, He said to the storm-tossed waves, Peace, be still, and there was a calm, all was peace. When Christ comes into the heart of sinful man through the new birth, there is this peace, this unspeakable peace within.

When you are saved, you know this peace, friend. In Romans, the Apostle Paul speaks of this peace in chapter 5 and verse 1, which states,. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

And in the Gospel of Luke, when the shepherds who were abiding in the field beheld the angel, and with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, who praised God, saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, a good will toward men.

Jesus Christ is indeed the Prince of Peace and good news to men. The title of my message this morning is No Room in the Inn. My text is taken from the Gospel of Luke chapter 2 and verses 1 through 17.

You may turn in your Bibles now as we prepare our hearts to give thanks for the gift of peace, the gift of grace in the person of Jesus Christ. Let us pray. Great God Almighty, how great is Your name!

You are worthy to be praised. Your name is above all names. Your name is holy. Thank You, Heavenly Father, for the gift of Your precious Son, Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. Thank You for the grace of saving faith.

Thank You, Lord Jesus, for Your cleansing blood and the forgiveness of sins. We lift up Your name this morning, O Lord, for You are the Lord of glory, the King of glory. All honor to Your holy name. Amen.

The Birth of the Savior in Bethlehem

Dear brothers and sisters, I count it a great privilege to be reading you this passage today, for it speaks of our dear Savior's birth. And 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. And all went to be taxed, everyone into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be taxed with Mary, his espoused wife, being great with child.

And so it was that while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.

This shall be a sign unto you, ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.

And they came with haste, and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. As we turn our attention on these events spoken of here in Holy Scripture, we turn our hearts to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Cultural Rejection of Jesus at Christmas

We do not do as the world at this season and worship a Santa, nor do we worship presents received. Satan is very crafty in keeping the world's eyes off of Jesus at Christmas time. The majority of holiday songs on the radio make no mention of him at all.

Christmas is just a time for fun and gift giving, seeing family and friends. Even the word Christmas has been removed from most major retailers. It's just now a holiday season. I would like us to turn our attention to verse 7 this morning in regard to there being no room at the inn for Jesus.

This is still true today. In America, there is no room for Jesus in the public schools of our land. He was kicked out in the early 1960s. In America today, there is no room for Jesus in our government.

He is no longer tolerated in the halls of legislature and in our judicial system. In fact, we as a nation have systematically legislated Jesus out of our land today altogether. If you even try to pray in his name, you will be an object of intolerance in today's tolerant society.

In America today, there is no room for Jesus in our society. There is room for Buddha. There is room for Mohammed. There is room for Confucius, but not Jesus. There is room for religion in America, but not the God of the Bible in the person of Jesus Christ.

But listen, friends. Christianity differs from other world religions. Buddha lived, died, and was buried. Mohammed lived, died, and was buried. Confucius lived, died, and was buried. Jesus lived, died, and was buried.

But he rose again. We serve a resurrected Lord. Christianity was never built on a coffin lid. But there is no room for Jesus in our land today. Even in our military, there is no room for Jesus. Just recently, I read a news item that declared the U .S. Navy announced this week that it will remove two nativity displays from dining halls at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base because they were offensive to some troops who complained.

Jesus is still an offense today. There is no room for him, even in our nation's military. I wonder what would happen if America was attacked with a nuclear weapon that destroyed several of our major cities and wiped out several million of our inhabitants.

Would we look to God to help us then? Would there be room for Jesus in the land then? Will it take a sudden and catastrophic disaster to turn this God-hating nation back to the God of the Bible? Would our military leaders become so desperate that they would once again invoke the name of Jesus to come to their aid?

I would hope that this nation would turn back to the God of the Bible without such a devastating catastrophe occurring. But it looks as if this nation is hell-bent on eliminating Jesus Christ from existence from the corridors of our government to the offices of our corporations.

There seems to be room for everybody except Jesus Christ. Is that not true? I remember years ago, I was in the public library with my little six-year-old daughter and there was an offensive poster on the wall in that lobby of the library.

It was a photo of two women kissing in an embrace as it advertised a local theatrical production. I approached the head librarian and said, I'm sorry, but that poster is very offensive to me. I have my little daughter here and I'm a Christian and that poster should not be prominently displayed in this library.

I have a big problem with it because my daughter is being exposed to that at her age. The librarian said she could do nothing about it and if I wanted to pursue the matter to contact the city's head librarian and I could take it up with her.

Well, the next day I made several phone calls until I located that head librarian and I voiced my concern to her. She said she was sorry and she didn't realize the poster was up in the lobby and she called that particular library and had the poster taken down.

But that was over a decade ago. I doubt seriously I would have any impact today on such demand. Jesus is the offensive thing in our society now. Everything else is accepted and tolerated but Jesus Christ.

The Lordship of Christ in the Church

There is no room for him in today's America. And sadly, I fear that there is no room for Jesus in many of our churches in the land today. Oh, they will make room for the baby Jesus, the harmless babe in the manger.

They will make room for the Savior Jesus, his saving benefits of forgiveness of sin and heaven. But few churches in the land at this hour will make room for the person found in verse 11 of our text today, Christ the Lord.

If you try to preach the lordship of Jesus Christ, even in our seminaries today, you will have a fight on your hands. There is no room for the Lord Jesus Christ with all his rights and claims upon a follower of his.

If you try to make room in the churches today for his lordship, you will hear many good church members scream. We will not have this man reign over us. Today's Christianity makes no room for the Lord Jesus Christ.

No room for him as Lord. He's not welcome in many church circles as Lord. In our churches today, we have made room for the world to come into our sanctuaries. We wanted to reach the world, so we let the world in and we pushed the Lord Jesus out.

We have made room in our churches for worldly entertainment, but we have no room for the Lord of glory. There is no God consciousness in our sanctuaries today. We want to sit and rule on the throne of our lives, and we have no room for him as Lord of our lives.

There was no room at the end for Jesus when he was a baby. There certainly isn't any room for him now, as he is a reigning Lord in glory. If you want this Jesus, if you want to know that peace which was spoken of earlier, for if you do not have that peace, you are not truly saved.

Salvation Through the Prince of Peace

Jesus said, peace I give to you. To possess peace, you must possess him. He made peace with God on our behalf by hanging on a scandalous cross and shedding his precious blood for our rotten sins. But if you want this Prince of Peace, you must come to him where he is.

And he is sitting at the right hand of the Father. He is sitting on a heavenly throne as Lord. And he earned that right by way of a bloody cross. He is Lord. He is Lord. But there is no room for him in many of our churches today as Lord.

Oh, they will take him easy enough as a Savior, but they will stay far away from his Lordship in their lives. But if he is not your Lord, friend, he is not your Savior. If he is not sitting on the throne of your heart, you are unsaved.

You see, friend, when a person comes to Christ savingly, something happens. Self is dethroned and another is enthroned there. The Lord Jesus Christ, knowing the peace of salvation and the forgiveness of sins, is being united savingly to a living Lord.

Do you believe that? It's true. The gospel is good news. It guides us in the way of peace and into that straight way that will bring us to peace at last. Jesus is the way of our making peace with God.

Jesus is the gospel. And Jesus hangs out his welcome sign to come unto him in this way of peace. This is demonstrated throughout the word of God. He woos. He invites. He compels you to come in and to know this peace with God.

Do you have this peace, friend? Do you know the Prince of Peace, the Lord Jesus Christ, Christ the Lord? I will close this Christmas message with the following comments from the beloved Bible commentator, Matthew Henry, who wrote the following comments on Luke 2 7 about the babe in the manger who is our peace.

Here now are his words. Christ was born in an inn and in receives all comers. And so does Christ. He hangs out the banner of love for his sign. And whoever comes to him, he will in no wise cast out only unlike other ends.

He welcomes those that come without money and without price.