NO ROOM FOR CHRIST. You will find my text this afternoon in the 2d chapter of the Gospel of Luke, a part of the 7th verse: "And they laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn." For four thousand years the world had been looking for Christ. Prophets had been prophesying, and the mothers of Israel had been praying and hoping that they might be the mother of that child, and now He has arrived, we find that He is laid in a borrowed cradle. "There was no room for them in the inn." He might have come with all the grandeur and glory of the upper world. He might have been ushered into this world with ten thousand angels— yea, legions upon legions of angels might have come to herald His advent. He might have been born in a palace or a castle. He might have been born upon a throne if He had chosen to, but He just became poor for your sake and mine. He passed by mansions and thrones and dominions, and went down into a manger. His cradle was not only borrowed, but almost everything that He had was borrowed; it was a borrowed beast He rode into Jerusalem on; it was a borrowed grave they laid him in. When the Prince of Wales came to this country, what a welcome he received; there wasn't anything too good for him. When the Prince of Russia came to this country I saw him as he was escorted up Broadway, and cheer upon cheer went up all the way. New York felt honored that Prince of Wales during the they had such a guest. The past few months has been in he has been receiving there! to do him honor. When the Prince of Heaven came down, what kind of a reception did He meet with? There was no hallelujahs from the people; He found that there was no room in Bethlehem for him; there was no room in Jerusalem for Him. When He arrived at Jerusalem, not only the King but all Jerusalem was troubled. When the wise men told Herod, "He is King of the Jews, for we have seen His star in the East," not only the king upon the throne, but all Jerusalem was in trouble, and every man that had been looking for Him seemed to be troubled, and the whole city is excited. The king sends out and commands all infants under a certain age to be slain. No sooner the news comes that He is born than the sword is unsheathed, and follows Him you may say to Calvary. And has the world grown better? Is not this world about like that little town in Bethlehem-there is no room for Him? What nation wants Him to-day? Does this nation want him? Suppose you should put it to a popular vote, I don't believe there is a town in the whole Republic that would vote for Him. Does England want Him? England and the United States are perhaps the most Christianized countries on the globe, but I don't believe there is a town in England or in this country that would vote for Him. In fact I might say, does the Church of God want Him? We have got the forms, we are satisfied with them, but we deny the power. I am ashamed to say that there are many of our churches that really would not want him. There would be a different state of things in the Church of God to-day if Christ should come. A great many church members do not want Him; they say, "My life is not right." There are very few families in the whole City of New York that would make room for Him. They would make room for the greatest drunkard in New York, rather than make room for Him. Don't think the world is better if it don't make room for Him. If He should go to Washington do you think they would make room for Him there? If a man should get up in Congress and say, "Thus saith the Lord," they would hoot him out; if Christ should go there they would say, "He is too good, he is too honest, we don't want Him, we don't want honest men." When it comes to a real personal God the world don't want Him, the nations of the earth don't want Him. Does France want Him? Does Italy want Him? O, my friends, there is no room for Christ, yet it would be a glorious day if there was room for Him. I believe the millenium would soon be here. When He went to Decapolis He found a man there filled with devils and He cast out those devils, and the men of Decapolis came out and besought Him to go out of their coasts. Take what you call the fashionable society of New York, is He wanted there? They will talk about this church and that church, they will talk about Dr. So-and-So, and the Rev. So-and-So, and talk about the Bible in schools, but when it comes to a real personal Christ and you ask them, "Do you want Christ in your heart?" they say, "O, Sir, that is out of taste." I pity the man or woman that talks in that way. Is He wanted in commerce? Is He wanted on 'Change? If He was, men would have to keep their books different. Commercial men don't want Him. You may ask the question, "Well, where is He wanted; who wants Him? Where is there room for the Son of God; who will make room for Him." I wonder if there is anyone here that ever had that feeling for five minutes. I think I have had that feeling for a day. There are some who wonder how people can commit suicide. It's no wonder to me. When men feel that there is no room for them, that no one wants them, when they feel that they are a 66 burden to their friends, and a burden to themselves, why it drives them mad. I remember one day when I felt as if no one wanted me. I felt as if there was no room for me. For about twenty-four hours I had that awful feeling that no one wanted me. It seems to me as if that must have been the feeling of Christ. His neighbors didn't want Him; those Nazarenes didn't want Him; they would have taken Him to the brow of the hill and dashed Him to the bottom; they would have torn Him limb from limb if they could. He went into Capernaum, they didn't want Him there. Jerusalem didn't want Him, there was no room. To me, there is one of the most touching verses in the Bible, in the closing part of the 7th chapter of John. I believe it is the only place where Christ was left alone: 'Every man went to his own house, and Jesus went to the Mount of Olives." I have often thought I would like to have met Him upon that Mount. He was on the Mount alone. There was no home for Him in Jerusalem; He was looked upon as a blasphemer; some thought He was possessed of devils; and so He was left alone. You could have seen Him under an olive tree alone, and I imagine that night you could have heard Him crying to God for His own. And perhaps it was on that memorable occasion or a similar occasion when He said, "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not whereon to lay His head." Thanks be to God there was a place. I have often thought of that little home at Bethany. It says that Martha received Him into her house. It was the best thing that Martha ever did; and do you think she ever regretted it? Little did she know that her loved brother was soon going to die when she made room for Jesus. Ah, it was the best thing that Martha and Mary ever did when they received the village carpenter, the despised Nazarene, into their home. He used to have to walk down to the city two miles to Bethany, but there He always found room. But look again, look in that home where Lazarus comes home sick. Some think his occupation was that of a scribe, that he was a writer, and one day he came home weary; perhaps he had headache, and fever seized him. One of the leading physicians of Jerusalem is sent for, and the third or fourth day he tells the sisters, "There is no hope for your brother, he is dying, he cannot live." And when all earthly hope had failed, and they had given up, then the sisters sent for Jesus. Those two sisters sent a messenger, perhaps one of the neighbors, off from Bethany; perhaps he would have to go twenty or thirty miles away, on the other side of Jordan, for they heard that Jesus was there. They did not have papers in those days to tell them where He was, and if there had been papers they wouldn't have reported His meetings. There wouldn't have been a paper that would have taken the pains to report his meetings. They instructed the messenger to say, "Him whom Thou lovest is sick." That was enough. What a title to have to a man's name? -what a eulogy to have to a name. And when the messenger came and told the message, he told Him that him whom He loved was very sick; and the Lord Jesus turned to him and said, "I will go. Take back word to those two sisters. The sickness is not unto death, but I will come." And I can see those two sisters. are to find out what his success had been. say?" and the messenger answers, sickness was not unto death, and He would come and see Lazarus. I can imagine Mary turns to the messenger and says, "I don't understand that. If He were a prophet He would certainly have known that Lazarus is dead, for he was dying when you went away, and he was already dead when He said the sickness is not unto death. Are you sure 66 How eager they "What did He Why, He said the |