A SAVIOUR WHO IS CHRIST THE LORD
David C Brown
Luke 2: 1-21
This is a wonderful passage; it is the best thing you are going to hear tonight: the word of God is read out, the Scriptures. The Son of God has come in. Perhaps the second best thing is the hymn you have just sung (Hymn 188), a spiritual man having gone over that thought and the wonder of it. I would seek to say a few words as to Christ, as to this wonderful event, the most wonderful thing that has happened in the history of mankind. That covers the whole event, the whole of that perfect and beautiful life that there was. Think of what was here; what is this that we are speaking about? God Himself has come in, to come near, to be with men. Matthew brings in that beautiful name for Jesus, “Emmanuel, God with us”, Matt 1: 23. This is what we are seeing, “God with us”. The hymn changes a little what is in Mr Darby’s original poem, in which he says -
Come now and view that manger -
The Lord of glory see,
A houseless, homeless Stranger
In this poor world for thee –
J N Darby ‘Man of Sorrows’.
It is for you that He is here. Think of that One having come in. We view that manger; what a beautiful scene! We have spoken earlier today about the Lord Jesus coming into restriction. Think of that, God Himself, the Creator of the universe, the One who made all these worlds, who knows about them, who keeps them going, “upholding all things by the word of his power” (Heb 1: 3), and there He is - in a manger. That is a feeding trough for the cattle; that is what He was in. The world did not have a place for Him; it says, “there was no room for them”. It has often been pointed out that it does not say there was no room in the inn, “no room for them”. Is there room now? Is there anyone here who has a heart that does not have Jesus in it, who is prepared to give Him room today? Will you give Him room in your heart today? The world is still the same; it still has no room for Jesus. You could say it has less and less room for Jesus. Maybe it is a cause for a so-called celebration, but if you spoke of Him at that celebration, what would the world say? Do they want Him? No, the world does not want Him. He needs a room, He needs a place in this scene, and He needs that room to be in your heart, for your heart to be opened to make room for Jesus. Is there anyone here who has not opened their heart to Jesus? He is calling; He is desiring: He wants that room today.
And if He has a place in your heart - and I know that He has a place in the hearts of very many here, how thankful we are for that.- does He have the first place? Does He have the first place? Our brother Mr John Gray of Saltcoats wrote the poem in which he speaks of the heart:
Except, Lord, the door of the
throne-room’s still closed
from My Heart, A Selection of Christian Verse
Is Christ in the throne room of your heart? Or have you given Him just a little bit of space in your heart, a little bit of space in your life, or a big bit, or almost all? Does He have control there? There was no room for Him when He came into this scene, and someone wrote about that, saying of this world,
And, as at first, still lodge Him in a manger.
Anonymous – 16th Century
The world has not changed.
The background to all this in the chapter is very interesting because it speaks about this man Caesar Augustus, the ruler of the world at that time, probably one of the greatest men in history. He desired a census; he wanted to get a numbering of all that belonged to him, to show the greatness and the grandeur of his power. And the world is still the same, and its rulers are still the same; they want to accrue to themselves the fame and all that is attached to being a ruler. Augustus was, in the world’s scene, a successful man; I think he said that he found Rome of brick and left it of marble. Think of that, there was a man who could do so much, could bring peace, could bring a kind of peace in this scene, or relative peace. And there are men on this scene, and there will be a man on this scene who will say, ‘I am going to produce peace’, and for a time it will be true. But all is to come down; all that pomp and glory is to come down, to be absolutely shrivelled into insignificance in comparison to the majesty and the glory of the One who is that Babe in the manger.
Has He eclipsed your view of other men? Has He eclipsed your view of what is great in this world? Because He must. Think of that, in His smallness, in His willingness to come into restriction, He has the features that the world does not value. We have already spoken of these. Think of that, the wonderful, morally beautiful features that the world does not value, but God values; and the believer values. Have you come to get a true valuation of things, because we all have an attraction to Caesars of the world; there are powerful persons, and persons are attached to them, and persons are attracted to them. That is what is natural to us. Perhaps it is not rulers that attract you; there are other persons who may attract your view and your attention, and they become your heroes, and they are all going to be brought down in insignificance compared to the glory and the majesty of this One, who we see here, in restriction; there He is, a Child in a manger. Why is He there? It is God come in to come near to you. Why has God come in to come near to you? Because of your need. What need am I speaking about? Well, in one sense I could say, the need is your need to have a Saviour because you are a sinner. On the other side I would say, the need is to have a Man to satisfy your heart. He will do that; He will be that. He has come in, and cost what it might, He has secured blessing, salvation, redemption, and He came in for that purpose.
But not only that, He has come in to satisfy your heart. And nobody else will. Not only that, He will satisfy your heart eternally, not just for this time or this scene. How do we have a Man that is able to satisfy our hearts eternally? Because He satisfies God’s heart. Think of God’s heart as satisfied by this One. So we think of heaven’s interest in this scene. What a marvellous time it was; these angels had honoured God, they had served God, from the time of their creation to this, and they served God without once wavering from the perfection of their service, because they are beings that have not fallen. They could not accomplish redemption for you, and they had never seen what they saw in this passage in Luke. They had never thought of the marvel of the fact that God would come in, and God would come in to bring in what there was for the accomplishment of His own pleasure. How wonderful that they should see Him; He “has appeared to angels” (1 Tim 3: 16), angels seeing their God for the first time, and here in the form of a Babe, and you can see how the whole of the heaven is opened up in acclaim. There was one angel here who had come down as a messenger, but the other angels were breaking forth in their jubilation, that God had come in, in this way, to bring in what there is for His own pleasure, and to secure what is greater than He will have in angels, redeemed persons, persons who are attached to the Lord Jesus, persons whose hearts are satisfied by Him. I would not say that the angel’s hearts are not satisfied by Him; I have no doubt they are, but what He is looking for is in man. And because of His interest and His concern and His desire for man, God Himself has come in in Christ. The Son of God has come here; One who is God in His Person has come into this scene and into such smallness and restriction, so that He should be able to be a blessing to you. Of course, His incoming in itself did not bring in redemption; that required that way that He had to go; the way that began at the manger is the way that ended at the cross and it was inevitable that it should be so, and your blessing depended upon it entirely.
We see how blessed it was that He came in, walking in this scene, doing what was good, securing what was for divine pleasure; He broke down what was contrary. Hymn 189 speaks of it -
Disease, and death, and demon,
All fled before Thy word
All that affected mankind, and still affects mankind. What blessed scenes there were when the Lord Jesus was here; what joy it must have been for persons when disease or death or demon fled before Him. How blessed it was, but He has not in mind simply to relieve men, He has not to simply take away what there was that was affecting mankind immediately; He was going to go to the source and to the root of what it is, and that is a matter of sin and sins. So that the announcement is, “to-day a Saviour has been born to you in David’s city, who is Christ the Lord”.
What a range of glories belongs to this Person, but He is presented first to you as a Saviour; you need to know Him first in that way, as a Saviour. He is always a Saviour, not simply saving from disease and death and demon, however wonderful and blessed that is, but saving you from your sins, saving you from judgment, the judgment of God upon sin, saving you from an eternity away from God. That is what He has come in to be, a Saviour to the uttermost, a Saviour from all that might distract you, take away from God. But He needs to be in your heart. I have asked about your heart; your heart remains the question and the issue. This scene here has affected the sentiment of many, and still affects the sentiment of many in the world. It gives some good feelings in relation to God’s thoughts and so on without it affecting their heart, but the issue is your heart, and the sin that is in your heart, and because you act as a sinner. A Man has come in in glory and beauty and perfection, as a contrast to a whole world and scene which requires a Saviour because the sin in the heart of man has acted so that they go forward as sinners, and act as sinners.
Have you thought that the first child born grew up to be a murderer? It has characterised this scene, murder, murder that ended up, that culminated in the murder of this blessed One, this Saviour. It is man that is responsible, and you are responsible as a sinner, because it is your sins that brought Him to the cross; it is your sins. In part at least, each one of us has been a rejecter of Jesus - thank God for everyone where the grace of God has broken them down so that they have trusted in Jesus and have given Him a place in their heart - but still, it remains true that there is in your heart what is against Jesus, what is contrary to Him, because you want your own will, you want your own way. Think of Jesus in perfection, perfection even as a Babe here in the manger. Mr A J Gardiner said about Him, ‘at every stage of human growth, God had perfection in Jesus’,. He was a perfect babe, a perfect boy, a perfect teenager. What age are you? Up to that age of thirty three and a half you can think of Him; there was a day when Jesus was the same age as you today. Then He was cut off in the midst of His days (Ps 102: 24), of course. Have you thought of that, that there was a day when Jesus was your age? Those who are younger: there He was in perfection on that day, as a child, as a boy, as a teenager, as a young man. Then cut off, in the midst of His days. But perfection in every day. And as for ourselves, what have we been? From a babe onward, from the very smallest we were, that activity of will, self-will, was in us.
What is sin? A different principle from anything whatever that was acting in Jesus in His life: “in him sin is not”, 1 John 3: 5. That principle is in you and it is in me and it causes us to act as sinners, and it causes us to act in a way that is contrary to God and it causes us to have a desperate, a dire need of a Saviour. And there He is; God says, ‘I see your need, I see the need of mankind, I am going to provide for it’. Had they asked for a Saviour? I do not know exactly whether they had, but He says ‘I am going to give you one’: “a Saviour … who is Christ the Lord”. He is One whom God can anoint, One of whom God can express the fullness of His approval. But if He is to be a Saviour, He has got to take the issue that is on you and on me and bear the sins; He is not going to overlook one of them. If you are a believer, you may have forgotten some of your sins; no doubt you have. The sins you have committed you may have long since forgotten. But if you have trusted in Him you can say, ‘He bore them’. He did not forget them; He never overlooked one of them. He knows my sins far better than I know them, because He bore them, because He took every one upon Himself. He has come in, “a Saviour … who is Christ the Lord”. But there He is: we can present Him as a Saviour. This is the beginning of the pathway that has got to end at the cross, but at the cross He was going to take up every issue that was against you.
All the handwriting set out against me,
Christ took up at the cross to efface;
He took on what is contrary to me:
I am saved by His wonderful grace!
Colossians 2 verse 14 speaks of this: all those words of condemnation.
What a wonderful Person we have to present, not for your sentimentality, not for anything like that, but for your heart. And that requires that you have to move. Here, these men were out on the fields; they were doing their duties; there is nothing to suggest they were particularly bad men. In fact, the world would perhaps think that they were good men; they seem to be peacefully doing their duty. But they needed a Saviour. And immediately the word came, and the gospel, in the light in which it could be was presented to them; what did they do? Did they wait until tomorrow? Will you wait until tomorrow? They did not. You may not have tomorrow. They went immediately. “Let us make our way then now … and they came with haste”. If you do not know the Saviour, make haste. It is not a matter that you can leave until you say your prayers tonight. It is not a matter that you can leave for a moment. Now is the time, now is the day of salvation, now is the time of the gospel. If you have not opened your heart to Him, do so now. The word is to you, “now”. How blessed that everyone, everyone who turns to Him, is going to be welcomed. There is room in His heart for you. I trust that there is room in your heart for Him, but I can tell you that there is room in His heart for you. The heart of God is toward you, and the heart of Christ is towards you; how blessed it is, the room there; He will embrace you, He will receive you as you come in haste, as you come as a repenting person. And I think that we are entitled to read that into this passage, repenting persons, persons who saw their need, saw the greatness of their need, and moved from their own scene, moved from depending on themselves, moved to Jesus.
Have you done that? Because you need to, and you need to do it now. Now is the accepted time. How blessed it is when they come to this scene, how blessed it is when they come to this scene and they see the Saviour. You might say, ‘Well, that is just a babe in a manger’, but what a scene, what a scene of glory, what a scene of blessing. Because He has come in, He is going to take up everything; and if He is “a Saviour … who is Christ the Lord”, if He is presented by God in that way at His birth, you can be assured the work will be accomplished. And the work has been accomplished, it has been accomplished in glory and perfection. And many can say, He “is Christ the Lord”. He is God’s Christ; He is the Lord.
I understand that you are reading Luke’s gospel here. And Luke’s gospel is very often, and very rightly, associated with grace. You see the grace of One who came in; how blessed it is that He has come in in grace, the grace that secured you, the grace that would reach you, come to you where you are: He has come to you where you are. You needed someone to come to you where you are, and He has done that in grace. But not only that, you will find in Luke’s gospel, time and again there is reference to this One as ‘Lord’, as “the Lord”. And also, only in this gospel, there are references to Him as “Master”. And that means He is entitled to take control of your life. You may not accept Him as Lord; you may want to do your own will like you have always done, all the earlier years of your life. He is entitled to that place as Lord, and He is entitled to that place as Master. Have you submitted to Him? That is part of it in the gospel: you have to submit to Him. You have to acknowledge Him as Lord. That, of course, is what comes out in Romans 10: 9, “if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised him from among the dead”. Have you done that? Have you accepted Him, accepted the glory and majesty that are here, this One who is Christ the Lord? You need to, you need to be subject to Him. All of us who have trusted Him, no doubt are conscious of the many times when we have slipped away, slipped away from the full enjoyment and blessedness of what this is. He is still your Lord; He is still there ready, and He is ready to wait to take you into His service again. If you have slipped out of His service, He is ready, graciously but authoritatively, to take you into service again, to keep you under control and to be that blessed One who is Christ the Lord.
Well, what is the result? What is the result if there are persons who have done this? What is the result as the gospel goes out? It is inevitable that there is going to be glory to God. And I would trust that there is glory to God from the hearts of many here tonight. Do you give glory to God as you hear this passage read? The One who has come in, come so close, the One who has blessed you so much, He has come in this nearness so that there is a response. “And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all things which they had heard and seen, as it had been said to them”. He would desire that from you. God has the right to two things from you, it has been said, obedience, so that is when you come to know Him as Lord, and praise, JND Collected Writings vol 7 p252. He is entitled to your praise. But then, He does not work exactly on the line of entitlement: He just magnifies Himself in all His beauty and glories to your sight, so that you are induced, you are drawn in, you are constrained to that service of praise to Him. I trust that everyone has had part in that too. You know Him, if you have trusted in Him you know Him as Saviour; have you praised Him? We all sing the hymns; we all sing together, but we know the hymns, and are we praising Him? Are we praising Him or just singing? Is it really your heart going out to Him? I trust that it is. I would admit sometimes my mind drifts off somewhere else, but we need to be there engaged in praise, that God should be glorified, that there should be a result from the gospel in that this One is praised.
How wonderful these things are, and I have only drawn from a few things in this passage; how blessed it is, God has come out in this way. I trust you have answered to it. Think of the glory of what can be announced, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure in men”. God Himself glorified, “on earth peace”. You do not see it outside, you do not see it in Augustus Caesar’s world, but there is peace there, there is peace in the hearts and souls of those who have received the Saviour. “Good pleasure in men”: God does not have pleasure in what is outside; He does not have pleasure in what is in a scene that continues on its lawless way. But He has good pleasure in those who gather to the name of the Lord Jesus. He has good pleasure in those who remember the Lord Jesus in the breaking of bread. He has good pleasure in those who walk faithfully to Him. I trust you belong to that company. If not, make haste.
May the Lord bless the word.
Preaching of the glad tidings in Kirkcaldy
31st July 2016