THE KING’S BUSINESS
623 say, “Index, judex, vindex.”— A. T. Pier son. Them e: Christ Crowded Out. T ext : Luke 2 :7. I ntroduction . The crowding out of Christ fi;om the homes of Bethlehem is not only historical, but typical. It typifies the reception Christ has always been meeting, being refused even standing room in many a human life.. I. What Is Meant By Christ Crowded Out? 1. Not necessarily unbelief and open opposition. II. Why Christ is crowded out. Because of ignorance of the Giver, and what He has to offer. I . 1 Ignorance of the Giver—Christ. (a) A wrong estimate o f His great ness in view of our comparative littleness. Christ will make room if we give Him a foothold. (b) A wrong conception of Christ’s holiness as contrasted with our own sinfulness. Forgetting that Christ came to save sinners. 2. Of what Christ has to offer. (a) Of the, gospel—That it consists of narrow, restricted, and prohib itive ideas. (b) That all it calls for is giving up, instead of taking in, (c) That religion is something ab extra -instead of being part and parcel of human life. III. The Blessings that tom e from Mak ing Room for Christ. 1. The question of sin is settled as to its guilt, power, and punishment. Christ can be admired, believed, and yet not received as Master. Christ appeals to the intellect, affections, sensibilities, and will, only to find them all crowded. Room for every other applicant; but none for Christ. 2. Because of preoccupation.
any witnesses of their dastardly outrage against their brother’s liberty and their father’s peace. “They said one to another,” as by a simultaneous working of the retrib utive law in their own breasts, “We- are verily guilty,” etc. It is to be noted here that all the factors unite that enter into natural penalty; this makes the mission of this text the more' obvious and impressive. I. Memory'. “We saw the anguish of his soul-” 1. The recalling power of memory. (Twenty years recalled). 2. The minuteness of detail. “He besought us,” etc. 3. The peculiar persistence of mem ory; effort to forget only deepens impression. II. Conscience. “We are verily guilty.” Conscience is a compound faculty, the result of the joint working of a sense of rightness and a judgment of right and wrong. 1. The sense of obligation always fol lows the judgment. 2. Conscience is a whole court in itself: judge, jury, witnesses, sheriff, etc. 3. Remorse is its merciless sheriff and executioner. III. Reason. “Therefore is this distress come upon us.” Here the punishment, as the logical out come and reasonable penalty of the crime, is justified. 1. Reason is a faculty which inquires as to the reason of things. 2. It instinctively justifies a deserved punishment. 3. It will ultimately vindicate the just judgment of God. From all' this .follows an inevitable con clusion that, in the persistent attempts to evade the plain Scripture doctrine of retri bution, men are resisting, not only the teaching of revelation, but also the testi mony of their own inner life. Were there no divine penalties attached to evil doing, man has in himself, as the Latins used to
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