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They can turn in your Bibles 
to Luke, chapter two. Luke, chapter two, we're going 
to look at the glory of Christ in this state of humiliation 
tonight and in Luke, chapter two, we have that glorious account 
of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. The angels announcing 
to shepherds and the angels singing that glorious hymn to Christ, 
the Savior. Now, just before we read as a 
as a brief introduction, when theologians speak of Christ in 
his states, they speak of three states of Christ, his pre-incarnate 
state, His state of humiliation and his state of exaltation, 
his state, his pre-incarnate state, of course, refers to that 
time prior to his first advent. Jesus speaks of this when he 
when he speaks of the glory that he had with his father before 
the world was. John wrote of this in the beginning 
was the word and the word was with God and the word was God 
Isaiah seven centuries prior to John Saw the glory of God 
when he looked up and he saw the Lord of hosts With the train 
of his robe filling the temple high and lofty and he pronounced 
that curse upon himself Woe is me for I am undone that is Christ 
in his pre-incarnate state. Christ in his state of exaltation, 
we know this well. That's his state beginning or 
inaugurated with his resurrection, including or concluding to his 
ascension, continuing to his ascension, and still continuing 
this day throughout history up until this time. and ongoing, 
where he rules and reigns, conquering his enemies, subduing hearts 
unto himself, Christ in his state of exaltation. Well, we'll look 
at the state that falls between those two states this evening, 
Christ in his state of humiliation from his birth to his death upon 
Calvary's tree. Well, we'll read Luke at chapter 
two, beginning at verse one and finishing at verse fourteen. 
And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from 
Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This 
census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. 
So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph 
also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into 
Judea to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because 
he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with 
Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was that 
while they were there, the days were completed for her to be 
delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, wrapped him 
in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there 
was no room for them in the inn. Now there were in the same country 
shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock 
by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord 
stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, 
and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, 
Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great 
joy, which will be to all people. For there is born to you this 
day in the city of David, a savior who is Christ the Lord. And this 
will be the sign to you. You will find a 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 honor of peace, 
goodwill toward men. Well, let's pray. Our Father, 
we praise you and thank you again that we can come into this place 
tonight to worship you. God, we just pray that you'd 
be with us yet again. Help us to enter into worship 
rightly and biblically, Lord God. We just pray that you'd 
help us to love your word, to love the Christ to whom it points, 
God. And we just pray that we would leave this place having 
met with you in your word and having been the blessed beneficiaries 
of the activity of the Holy Spirit, exhorting convicting, encouraging 
and edifying Lord God, we just pray that your people would leave 
this place singing the praises of this Christ who came into 
the world, sinners to save. And it's in his name that we 
pray. Amen. What we find in this in this 
passage, the angels of God singing what Spurgeon called the first 
hymn of the incarnation. the first hymn of the incarnation. They had not yet sung the praises 
of Christ coming into the world to save his people from their 
sin. This is the angels singing again the first hymn of the incarnation 
and to both the untaught and the top leader or both to unbeliever 
and to believer. It is amazing What arouses or 
who arouses the praises of these angels? It is not one who entered 
into the world with trumpet blast. It is not one who entered into 
the world with might and power. It's not a geopolitical ruler, 
but rather it is a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in 
a manger. And that's one of the aspects 
of the glory of Christ in his state of humiliation that we 
will get to. But I want to look at four things 
from the text before getting to the glory of Christ. in his 
state of humiliation or in the incarnation. And first notice 
the timing of Christ's incarnation, the timing of Christ's incarnation 
versus one to three. And it came to pass in those 
days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the 
world should be registered. This census first took place 
while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, 
everyone to his own city. It's a nice thing that we have 
Luke here including in his narrative political rulers of the time. It was a practice to date events, 
to date narratives, to date histories by attesting to or testifying 
to political rulers, governors of that time. And Luke does this 
here also. Why is this a comfort to us or 
why is this important to us? Well, it's good as we read through 
the pages of the Old and New Testament to see that this actually 
took place in time and history. The Bible doesn't have the flavor 
of once upon a time. The Bible doesn't have a flavor 
of fairy tale. These were not cunningly devised 
fables. that they believe, but rather 
this was true history. And Luke gives us that here in 
verse two, in chapter two at verses one to three, he does 
it again in Luke chapter three. Now in the 15th year, verse one 
of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor 
of Judea, Herod being Tetrarch of Galilee, his brother, Philip 
Tetrarch of Iteria and the region of Trachonitis and Lysanias Tetrarch 
of Abilene. Luke Luke isn't giving to us 
once upon a time, there was this great fellow named Jesus. No, 
he is attesting to true, true divine history, true redemptive 
history as he is writing to us this narrative of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. And we ought to put this up. Truly, we do put this up 
against any historical document because it is God breathed. And 
it is fully, it is fully able to reveal all of those things 
which God has given to us. It is trustworthy in all it affirms 
concerning all things. And one of those things is history. And not only is this or not only 
did this take place, we could date it. We'll just say generally 
2000 years ago. But not only does this take place 
at a time in which that Luke gives to us, but this is in the 
fullness of the times. This is in God's appointed and 
accepted time. Remember what Paul writes in 
Galatians 4. When the fullness of the time 
had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under 
the law. So all of those, all the providential 
movements of God had come to a point, had come to a head now, 
where the long awaited one could come into the world to redeem 
his people from their sins. Secondly, we notice the place 
of Christ's incarnation, the place of Christ's incarnation, 
verses four and five. Joseph also went up from Galilee 
out of the city of Nazareth into Judea to the city of David, which 
is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage 
of David. I'll just continue verse 5 to 
be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with 
child. So we have this taking place. 
Yes, in the place of David's, David's ancestry or David's heritage. But not only that, and more importantly, 
we have it taking place according to prophecy. Remember Micah 5, 
2. Bethlehem, Ephrathah, was little 
among the thousands of Judah. And the prophet says, out of 
you, or from you will come the ruler, the one to be ruler in 
Israel, whose goings forth are from old, from everlasting. So 
we have prophecy coming to fulfillment here. The one to be ruler in 
Israel, the one from everlasting, has now come, or is shortly to 
come, to come into the world. Thirdly, we'll get to verse seven 
in a moment when we get to point number five. But thirdly, the 
purpose of Christ's incarnation, the purpose of Christ's incarnation 
at verse eleven. Verse 11, For there is born to 
you this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. The purpose of Christ's coming 
in the incarnation was to be a Savior. Salvation had come 
upon those who sat in the region and the shadow of death light 
had dawned. Christ did not come into this 
world. Very often this message isn't very often preached in 
August. It's usually preached in a winter 
month when it might or might not be snowing around the 25th 
of December. What I'm trying to get at, though, 
is that Christ did not come into this world in the incarnation 
in order to provide for an annual holiday. Christ didn't come into 
this world in the incarnation so that spiritually ambiguous 
people could deck the halls or make figgy pudding or frost up 
the windows or feel really, really neato inside when they give gifts 
to other people. Christ Jesus came into this world, 
sinners to save. He came as a savior who is Christ 
the Lord. Deck the halls with boughs of 
holly is not a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. 
This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that 
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And it's a blessed 
reality that we can that we can when I was preparing for this 
sermon, it's always a weighty thing to preach. For those of 
you who don't preach, it's a weighty and a heavy thing to preach. 
And very often when one is preparing to preach, the subject matter 
can can hit you. And I don't want to get into 
feelings and anything like that, but it's a heavy thing to come 
to the incarnation of the son of God and to try and to try 
and type out notes for a sermon. If you know where I'm going, 
it's it is an amazing thing that we have that we have the God 
of heaven and earth. We have the covenant Lord. We 
have the second person of the Blessed Trinity as a babe wrapped 
in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. It is a heavy, heavy 
thing for the proper response to Christ's incarnation, the 
proper response to Christ's incarnation. Notice the angels here. Notice 
what the angels sing, verse 13, 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, goodwill toward 
men. We need to understand something 
here. First off, this this glory to God in the highest is being 
rendered to God by the angels because of Christ. This isn't 
just a general praise. And mind you, praising God generally 
is good. Praising God for, you know, praising 
God because he is God is a glory is a thing that we ought to do. 
And it is right and necessary. But the angels here in verse 
14 say glory to God in the highest. Why? Because of everything that's 
taking place around their praises. That being Christ is born in 
the city of David and he is a savior and he is our Lord. Glory to 
God in the highest and honor of peace. Goodwill toward men. They this is a quote from Spurgeon. And just to get secondly, something 
of the meaning and the importance of what we're reading here with 
regards to the angels singing the praises at the birth of Christ. 
This is C.H. Spurgeon. They were present. 
Speaking of the angels, they were present at the creation. 
The morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted 
for joy. They had seen many a planet fashioned 
between the palms of Jehovah and wheeled by His eternal hands 
through the infinitude of space. They had sung solemn songs over 
many a world which the Great One had created. We doubt not 
they had often chanted blessing and honor and glory and majesty 
and power and dominion and might be unto him that sitteth on the 
throne, manifesting himself in the work of creation. I doubt 
not, too, that their songs had gathered force through the ages, 
as when first created, their first breath was song. So when 
they saw God create new worlds, when their song received another 
note, They rose a little higher in the gamut of adoration. But 
this time, when they saw God stoop from his throne and become 
a babe hanging upon a woman's breast, they lifted their notes 
higher still and reaching to the to the uttermost stretch 
of angelic music. They gained the highest notes 
of the divine scale of praise, and they sang glory to God in 
the highest for higher and goodness. They felt God could not go. It's 
a wonderful statement from our brother, and we need to note 
here that when they sing glory to God in the highest, we already 
noted they are praising God for Christ, the Savior. But when 
they say and on earth peace, goodwill toward men, this they 
didn't have primarily in their minds that nations hopefully 
wouldn't war against one another and that people would be really 
kind to each other. Those are good things. But the 
angels were praising God for the fact that Christ would be 
our peace. They probably had in their minds 
that Romans 5 1 declaration of Paul. Therefore, having been 
justified by God, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus 
Christ. That sort of peace, the goodwill 
towards men is God towards men, not men towards each other, although 
we ought to be kind to one another according to the will of God, 
according to his word. Nevertheless, the angels aren't 
praising for the prospect of national peace, international 
peace. They're praising God because 
of Christ Jesus and the peace that he would bring. And that's 
why the angels sing their praises. Glory to God in the highest for 
Christ to come in the fullness of time to redeem his people 
from their sins. And it's good to note here that 
a hymn of creation, a hymn sung for creation is a right and a 
necessary thing. But a hymn sang for redemption 
is something that is higher still, because Christ came into this 
world to save his people from their sins. And that is the pinnacle 
of angelic praise. Fifthly, and lastly, and hopefully 
what we will spend the majority of the rest of the time on the 
manner of Christ's incarnation, the manner of Christ's incarnation. It was a lowly entrance from 
heaven to earth. Verse seven. of Luke 2. And she 
brought forth her firstborn son, wrapped him in swaddling clothes, 
and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in 
the inn. I'm certainly not alone in this, 
but that is an amazing statement in Holy Scripture. When we consider 
everything we know about who Christ is, Christ, Christ, Jesus 
is of the same substance and equal in power and glory as God 
the Father. There are three persons in the 
Godhead, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. And these 
three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and 
glory. We already noted Isaiah chapter six. And just in just 
in case you don't really believe that Isaiah saw the glory of 
Christ, he really did there. That was Jesus Christ that Isaiah 
looked upon in Isaiah six in the year King Uzziah died. He 
saw the Lord high and lifted up, seated on a throne. The train 
of his robe filled the temple. Angels, angels in their flight 
had to look away, but not just look away. They had to hide their 
eyes from the glory of Christ. And now we read of this same 
one whom the angels had to hide from. And he 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 end. It is an amazing fact in this narrative that Christ 
Jesus came into this world to save sinners. And this is how 
we find our Christ and our Lord entering into time and history. And one of the things I mean, 
I wanted to introduce each of these points by saying from the 
scriptures, for example, for the first one, we see that Christ's 
humiliation consisted in being born. Many may not marvel, may 
not marvel at that because we esteem ourselves too highly or 
we attribute to ourselves more than we ought to. Like, oh, that's 
not much of a downgrade because we're so wonderful, because our 
world is so great. Christians may not say that, 
but generally speaking, well, yeah, he came to earth. It's 
great down here. Look at everything we have. Look at how great we 
are. When we think of, though, when 
we're well taught in what the Bible says concerning man, concerning 
the fact of his depravity, concerning the fact of his guiltiness, his 
vileness, his wretchedness, considering how we actually know the world, 
you just have to turn on a television or read a newspaper to see how 
bad it really is. There is nothing new under the 
sun. It was bad when Christ entered into time and history. It is 
an amazing thing. It is not a low and an unheavy 
thing or a small thing, but rather an amazing thing that Christ 
Jesus, the God of heaven and earth, was manifested in the 
flesh, that he was born, that he came into this world in such 
a manner. When we read or we see the humiliation, 
while some might not say that's an act of humiliation because 
they see wrongly our world, we can see the great humiliation 
that it was in passages like Philippians 2, 5 to 11. Please turn there. We've gone 
there many times before to see this very thing, the amazing, 
the amazing dissension or condescension of Christ. And if anybody ever 
asks you, where does the Bible speak of the condescension of 
Christ? You could go to Luke two, seven, 
but but to give something of the weight and the force of his 
condescension, a good place to go is Philippians two. Starting 
at verse five, let this mind be in you, which was also in 
Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider 
it robbery to eat to be equal with God, but made himself of 
no reputation, taking the form of a bond servant and coming 
in the likeness of men. It's an amazing statement. Who 
being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be 
equal with God, but made himself of no reputation. It speaks to 
the voluntary activity of Christ, but it also speaks to his deity. Another way to read or to understand 
this is Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, did not consider 
equality with God something to be held on to, but came in the 
incarnation or made himself of no reputation. taking the form 
of a bond servant. That is great humiliation and 
high condescension for God to be manifested in the flesh and 
to dwell among men. I was last last year in December, 
there was a carol sing up in August in the community where 
I live. And there's a invitations went out prior to it a few weeks 
prior. Everybody was to gather in the park. You got your hot 
dogs and your juice boxes and somebody, a band there, a piano 
and a guitar, I think. And we were singing hymns. And 
it was nice. It was organized by the local church. people gathering 
around, believers and unbelievers, enjoying some food and hot chocolate 
and and singing, singing, singing hymns. Well, we got to sing. There were some, you know, some 
some of the secular songs that were sung, but we got to sing 
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing. And if 
anybody knows the lyrics of this song, it's a wonderful, wonderful 
song. And the hymn is rich with grand 
theology. And I was thinking to myself, 
and I wasn't thinking judgmentally, but I was thinking about how 
many people here are actually rolling these truths around in 
their minds. Are they are they reverberating 
things that they have some, you know, since they were one years 
old, one year old, or are they actually considering the theology 
of the hymn veiled in flesh? The Godhead see pale incarnate 
deity. That's what we sing of. And that's 
what we're getting here in Luke to veiled in flesh, the Godhead 
see. Hail the incarnate deity and 
we're to do that when we see a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes 
lying in a manger. We don't put off worship until 
he has died, until he has risen again the third day and ascended 
to the right hand of the majesty on high. We have the angels as 
examples. Glory to God in the highest and 
honor of peace. Goodwill toward men. Second, 
from the scriptures, we see that Christ's humiliation considered 
consisted not just in being born, but being born in a low condition. being born in a low condition, 
he condescended in the incarnation being born of a woman. But that 
condescension also featured dwelling in a lowly place, dwelling in 
a place of low means in poor surroundings. Ryle puts it this 
way. He was not born under the roof 
of his mother's house, but in a strange place and at an inn. When born, he was not laid in 
a carefully prepared cradle. He was laid in a manger because 
there was no room in the end. We see here the grace and condescension 
of Christ. Had he had he come to save mankind 
with royal majesty, surrounded by his father's angels, it would 
have been an act of undeserved mercy. Had he chosen to dwell 
in a palace with power and great authority, we should have had 
reason enough to wonder. But to become poor as the very 
poorest of mankind and lowly as the very lowliest, this is 
a love that passeth knowledge. Consider what consider what he 
said here again. He says he says had he chosen 
or sorry before that had he come to save mankind with royal majesty 
surrounded by his father's angels. It still would have been an act 
of undeserved mercy. He didn't he didn't come that 
way. He didn't come with all the might surrounded by his father's 
angels. He didn't come with royal majesty. But if he had, it still would 
have been an act of undeserved mercy. We didn't deserve that. 
However, Christ came, we didn't deserve it. And secondly, had 
he chosen to dwell in a palace with power and great authority, 
we should have reason enough to wonder. Wonder still in on 
amazement that the God of heaven and earth would descend from 
the praise of angels to come and dwell in our lower world. 
That still would have been amazing, but to come, but to become poor 
is the very poorest of mankind and lowly is the very lowliest. 
This is a love that passive knowledge. When Paul wrote, for your sakes, 
he became poor. He really meant that. For our 
sakes, he became poor. He didn't enter in with trumpet 
blast and with parade, but rather as a babe in swaddling clothes 
wrapped in a manger. And how is this glorious? This 
is glorious because he came to do this for us as we move through 
all of these points. Why is it glorious? Because it's 
glorious and it's amazing and it's and it's mouth dropping 
because Jesus Christ came this came into this world to do this 
for guilty sinners. Third, from the Scriptures, we 
see that Christ's humiliation consisted in being under the 
law. We read from that verse, Galatians 
4, 4, or I noted it when the fullness of the time had come, 
God sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law. Yes, 
Christ came and he was in the incarnation. He was subject to 
the civil magistrate of the day or the civil rule of the day. 
The Roman emperor, the imposition of the Roman Empire, was in that 
region. And he was he was, in a sense, 
subject to that. But more importantly, and more 
to the point, he was subject to the law of the father. We 
see this throughout, for example, the gospel of John, throughout 
the gospel accounts. It is my will or my will is to 
do the will of him who sent me. My need is to do the will of 
him who sent me. And what is that will? Well, 
part of that, of course, is to adhere perfectly to the law of 
his father. We read that we read something 
of that if we would have read further in Paul's hymn to Christ 
as to God in Philippians 2. It says this and being found 
in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to 
the point of death, even the death of the cross. So part of 
Christ coming into the world was an act of obedience, an act 
of obedience to his father. And we have spoken theologically 
about this using two words, the active and the passive obedience 
of Christ. And this isn't just theologian 
speak. And, you know, it's something 
that should only be spoken by men with abbreviations after 
their name. These are wonderful things that 
we should know and that we should understand. Christ, in his active 
obedience, perfectly fulfilled the law of God in every spot 
and measure. He perfectly fulfilled the law 
of God. It was his need to do the will of his father, and he 
did so perfectly. Christ's passive obedience. is 
not that he was somehow inactive in that obedience, but rather 
it was a permissive or a voluntary act of taking upon himself the 
wrath of God, the penalty of God that was due for transgression 
of the law. He didn't transgress the law. 
We did. And so he took the penal sanctions 
for our violating the law upon himself. So Christ, the third 
point is that from the scriptures we see that Christ's humiliation 
consisted in being under the law. And this is a point where 
we ought to rejoice still, because Christ was obedient, not for 
his own sake, but for the sake of all those whom the Father 
had given to him. Christians for us. He was obedient 
actively and passively in the definitions of those terms for 
guilty sinners. So we rejoice. Yes, Christ was 
born under the law when we read the Shorter Catechism and all 
these definitions and how they characterize Christ in his state 
of humiliation, it shouldn't just be if we do this in the 
household, the repetition or verbalizing something that was 
just read to us. We memorize it to be sure, and 
it's a good exercise, but take it in and roll it around and 
rejoice in Christ Jesus as that one who did the will of his father 
on our behalf. Fourth, from the scriptures, 
we see that Christ's humiliation consisted in being subjected 
to the miseries of this life. Christ's humiliation consisted 
in being subjected to the miseries of this life. According to Isaiah 
53, he was what? A man of sorrows and acquainted 
with grief. According to Psalm 22, and in 
fact, this is Jesus in his messianic declaration, he says of himself, 
I am a worm and no man. I am a worm and no man and despised 
by the people. This is Jesus, the one who was 
the subject, the object, the one who was the praise of angels 
in his pre-incarnate state. I am a worm and no man, a man 
of sorrows and acquainted with grief. We see in his own earthly 
ministry before his disciples how he describes the manner in 
which the son of man lives and dwells. The foxes have holes, 
the birds have their nests, but the son of man has nowhere to 
lay his head. Again, if we if we ever read through the scriptures 
and we and we stop there and we reread it in its context, 
we read what's going on there. But don't just don't just skip 
past that. Take a sip of your coffee and 
cross your legs. That's an amazing statement. 
The Son of Man, unlike the foxes who have their holes and the 
birds who have their nests, unlike those animals who have places 
to rest, the Son of Man, the one of Isaiah six, the one the 
angels had to hide from, has nowhere to lay his head. He came 
in. He came into that state of humiliation. And it's glorious 
because He did that for us. The Son of Man had nowhere to 
lay His head as He carried out His mission in saving His people 
from their sins. We get to the Gospel of John 
and we read that He came to His own and His own did not receive 
Him. Turn to Luke 4 for a moment. 
Again, Jesus attesting, not somehow bemoaning or somehow complaining 
or somehow grumbling, or rather John referring to Christ's manner 
of living in the lower world. He came to his own and his own 
did not receive him. That's in the gospel of John. 
But we're going to read from Luke chapter four just to see 
something of Christ undergoing the miseries of this world or 
being subjected to the miseries of this world. And it is an amazing 
thing. Luke chapter four. And this is 
Jesus having just having just stood up to speak from the scriptures, 
he closes the book and he applies the scripture to himself, saying 
today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. Verse 22, so 
all bore witness to him and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded 
out of his mouth. And they said, is this not Joseph's 
son? He said to them, you will surely 
say this proverb to me, physician, heal yourself. Whatever we have 
heard done in Capernaum, do also here in your country. Then he 
said, assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his 
own country. But I tell you truly, many widows 
were in Israel in the days of Elijah when the heaven was shut 
up three years and six months, and there was a great famine 
throughout all the land. But none of them, none of them 
was Elijah sent except to Zarephath. in the region of Sidon to a woman 
who was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel 
in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed 
except Naaman the Syrian. Now notice this speaking of Christ 
in his state of humiliation, undergoing the miseries of this 
life. He's already been rejected. They've already just talked to 
him or spoken to him in this way. Is this not Joseph's son? 
Now verse 28, So all those in the synagogue, when they heard 
these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust 
him out of the city, and they led him to the brow of the hill 
on which their city was built, that they might throw him down 
over the cliff. Then passing through the midst 
of them, he went his way. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that 
shocking? Christ comes to his own. In the beginning was the 
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the 
Word became flesh and dwelt among us. These guys want to throw 
him off the edge of the cliff. They throw him out of the city 
and they seek to throw him over the edge of the cliff. But then 
Christ, as his work had not yet been done, he passes through 
the midst of them and he goes his way. But Christ undergoing 
the miseries of this life, God, God, the Son. Again, I don't 
know, maybe it gets annoying to you, but I have to repeat 
it so many times. Christ Jesus, God, the Son, was 
the recipient of the praises of angels. He comes to his own 
and his own do not receive him. Not just that. Not just rejection. 
We don't want to hear you. You're just Joseph's son. But 
we're going to throw you out of the city and seek to murder 
you. It's an amazing thing. Christ 
Jesus underwent the miseries of this life in his state of 
humiliation. Fifthly, and finally, from the 
Scriptures, we see that Christ's humiliation consisted in undergoing 
the wrath of God and the cursed death of the cross. Fifthly, 
from the Scriptures, we see that Christ's humiliation consisted 
in undergoing the wrath of God and the cursed death of the cross. Now, The presence of tears and 
some detectable feeling, those aren't the evidences of salvation. Those aren't the things that 
we tie our assurance to. But with that out of the way, 
where are our tears? And where are the emotions when 
we come to when we come to consider Christ Jesus coming in the incarnation, 
when we come to consider the glory of Christ in his humiliation, 
undergoing the wrath of God and the curse of death of the cross? If the previous four points were 
to anyone unheavy, I just pray that you consider now the fifth 
point, because it's it's amazing when we consider the glory of 
Christ in in his state of humiliation as we consider the fact that 
he came in the incarnation to undergo the wrath of God and 
the curse of death of the cross. First off, consider that scene 
in that place called Gethsemane. Consider the scene in that place 
called Gethsemane. We all know it well. Jesus, right 
after falling down upon his face in in the soil, cries out three 
times to his father. Oh, father, if it is possible, 
let this cup pass from from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but 
thine be done. He doesn't just cry that one 
time. The text tells us that he cried it a second time and 
he cried it a third time. Oh Father, if it is possible, 
let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but 
thine be done. What is God's will there? But 
for Christ to take the wrath, the cup of the wrath of God and 
drink it to the very last drop. Not to take a sip. Were any of 
us to take just the smallest sip of that cup, figuratively 
speaking, of course, it's not a real cup, but were any of us 
just to take the smallest sip of that cup, I don't know how to describe 
it, but Jesus Christ, it was the will of the father for him 
that he would take the cup of his father's wrath and drink 
it to the last drop. And I was thinking of this earlier 
earlier today, one of the things that the God haters go to to 
deny, to blaspheme, to rail against the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
is that account in the narrative of Christ in Gethsemane's garden. And they'll say, how can you 
believe that Jesus is God when your Jesus is on His hands and 
His knees crying out to His Father? When He's on His hands and His 
knees agonizing in the garden, how can that be God? And we ought 
to not do this. We ought to never be embarrassed 
when we come across our Lord in the garden on His hands and 
His knees. There's no place for shame there on the part of the 
believer. There's no place to feel kind of awkward and uncomfortable. We stand with a wholesome indignation 
to the cultists, to the Muslims, to the Jehovah's Witness when 
they say that about our Christ. And we don't look at that and 
be filled with shame, be filled with awkwardness, be filled with 
a feeling of uncomfortableness. No, we say there kneels on his 
face our mighty king. There's our Christ and our Lord. There is the one who was the 
recipient of the praises of angels who came into this world in the 
incarnation to die for us, to go through, to be born, to be 
going through that dwelling in that position of low condition, 
to live throughout his life in a state of misery. A man of sorrows 
and acquainted with grief. Christ in the garden agonizing 
is to us our God manifested in the flesh and our Savior. It 
is a wonderful, wonderful sight. Or consider our Christ just prior 
to his crucifixion. You can turn there. Matthew 27. 
Matthew 27. Jesus Christ prior to his crucifixion. When you get to Matthew 27, you 
can go to verse 27. Matthew 27, verse 27, and the 
soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the praetorium and 
gathered the whole garrison around him. And they stripped him and 
put a scarlet robe on him. When they had twisted a crown 
of thorns, they put it on his head and a reed in his right 
hand. And they bowed the knee before him and locked him, saying, 
Hail, King of the Jews. Then they spat on him and took 
the reed and struck him on the head. And when they had mocked 
him, they took the robe off him, put his own clothes on him and 
led him away to be crucified. When Christians we love to dwell, 
we love to dwell upon upon Christ in his state of in his state 
of exaltation, we love to think about Christ in his state of 
exaltation is that ruling and reigning king. So subduing subduing 
the elect unto himself, conquering their hearts and winning people 
unto him, conquering his enemies. We love to think of Christ as 
that one who's riding the white horse victorious. But it's what 
about Christ in his state of humiliation? What about Christ 
in this place, the recipient of the mocking and the reviling 
of these godless men? We love to get to Revelation 
14, 14. We love to get there, having already read Revelation 
1, 2, 3 through to 13. We get to Revelation 14, 14 and 
we see Christ with a golden crown upon His head. But what about, 
and aren't we to rejoice and aren't we to worship in this 
twisted crown? This twisted crown of humiliation. We sing that hymn. We sang that 
hymn this evening, see from his head, his hands, his feet, sorrow 
and love flow mingled down. Did air such love and sorrow 
meet or thorns compose so rich a crown? The glory of Christ 
in his exaltation, amen and amen. The glory of Christ in his pre-incarnate 
state, amen and amen. The glory of Christ in his state 
of humiliation. He could have come in pomp and 
majesty and glory. He could have came with trumpet 
blasts. He could have came and he could 
have had hot dog vendors and Cracker Jack vendors attending 
to a stadium of onlookers. But he comes as a babe wrapped 
in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. He lives a life of 
misery. He calls himself a worm and no 
man, despised by the people. And he comes here and he subjects 
himself, having already been spat on and beaten before in 
Matthew 26. He comes and he takes it again. 
He takes it again. He allows, because he is sovereign, 
he is upholding all things by the word of his power. He allows 
these godless men to mock him, to put a twisted crown of thorns 
upon his head. That wouldn't tickle. That would 
hurt. To put it lightly, they give him this this purple, this 
scarlet robe, and they give him this reed in his hand and they 
mock him saying, Hail, King of the Jews. Sinners in derision 
crowned him, mocking thus the Savior's claim. And when we come 
to this, brethren, we don't depart. We don't we don't stand with 
eyes of faith with these revilers and hide our eyes in shame. We 
don't do that. We look at Jesus Christ with 
twisted crown of thorns and we say there stands our glorious 
king. The glory of Christ in his state 
of humiliation and then and then the cross. It's it's it's seven 
after six. We're going to end right now. 
But the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. God forbid that I should 
boast, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Spurgeon Spurgeon 
said of Paul. Yes, Spurgeon of Paul, I was 
going to say Paul of Spurgeon. Spurgeon said of Paul that Christ 
upon the cross working out the salvation of sinners was more 
to him than all the sayings of the sages. You could line up 
poet, you could line up sage, you could line up whatever manner 
of author and they could write with words of eloquence and they 
would not be able to write something as majestic as Christ upon the 
cross working out the salvation of sinners as the Bible sets 
it forth in biblical language. There's a wonderful quote here 
from Spurgeon. It's just just considering the 
glory of our Lord Jesus Christ in his state of humiliation. 
Lay on you men of eloquence. Spare no colors. You shall never 
depict him too bravely. Bring forth your hearts. You 
Sarah's sing aloud. You blood washed ones. All your 
praises fall short of the glory which is due to him. Wonderful 
quote. When we think of what we think 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, Spurgeon in one of his sermons, and I'm 
going to try and summarize what he wrote, but he's writing of 
Christ in the garden, Christ with a crown of thorns, Christ 
being crucified upon the cross. And at every single point, he 
calls us to use the language of the spouse. He is altogether 
lovely. This is my beloved. This is my 
friend. Because it's not just that state 
of Isaiah six or that state, that state of Philippians two, 
nine to eleven, where he's now been exalted and where we're 
now every time in heaven and on the earth and under the earth 
are to sing his praises. No, with with crown of thorns 
crucified upon the cross or on his face, agonizing in the in 
the garden, we say, as with that spouse, yea, he is altogether 
lovely. This is my beloved. This is my 
friend. And three things before we close. 
First off, we learn from this that Christ Jesus is to be at 
the center of everything. I think that's a reasonable deduction 
from the passage, because the angels praise him. Glory to God 
in the highest. Peace on earth. Goodwill toward 
men. The angels, I didn't get to it in the point regarding 
salvation, but the angel announces that it is a message. It's good 
tidings. That means it is good news that 
born to you this day in the city of David, there is a savior who 
is Christ our Lord. Christ is to be at the center 
of our everything. Spurgeon once said, Oh, that 
we could say with one of old, one thing I do, and that one 
thing might be the chief end of our being, the glorifying 
of our creator, our redeemer, the liege, lord of our hearts. 
We render those praises. Point number two, like the angels 
do. We learned a lesson from the 
angels that we are to praise God for Christ and his saving 
work. And it's not just on the Lord's 
Day, it's each and every day, not as not as with a routine. Just wake up. Thank you, God, 
for Christ. If I can be if I can be irreverent 
for a purpose there. No, we get up and we praise God 
for Christ Jesus and his saving work. I don't do that enough. 
I'm sure a lot of you are with me when we raise our heads, we 
ought to sing the praises of God for Christ. came into this 
world to die for sinners. But very often, very often it's 
we may forget. Do we go through a whole day? 
Do we go through a whole day not or do we go through a whole 
day not remembering to render praises unto God for Christ? 
It ought to be every day. Yes, we work. Yes, we live. Yes, 
we have our being. But we ought to we ought to remember, 
we ought to be very often called back to to the subject of the 
angels praise Christ, Christ coming in the incarnation to 
save his people from their sins. Thirdly and lastly, we learn 
humility. We learn humility because I've 
already said it a thousand times. I'll say it one more time. Christ 
was the recipient of the praise of angels. How do we learn humility? 
Because of verse seven of Luke two, he was a babe wrapped in 
swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. If we learn if we learn any lesson 
from that, and there are many, we learn the lesson of how we 
ought to conduct ourselves to and with other people. We put 
away our pride in Christ Jesus and we put on humility. Calvin, 
in his commentary on Philippians 2, 5 to 11, said, Since then, 
the Son of Man, the Son of God, rather, since then the Son of 
God descended from so great a height, how unreasonable that we who 
are nothing should be lifted up with pride. When we get to 
the narrative accounts of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
we learn a lesson in humility. How dare we lift ourselves up 
with pride? Calvin would also say that Christ's 
humility consisted in coming from the pinnacle of glory to 
the lowest ignominy. In condescending, in other words, 
our humility just consists in us not thinking of ourselves 
more than we ought to. We can't condescend. We can't 
drop from a position of prominence and respect. We just need to 
not be jerks. That's what our humility consists 
in. Let us love one another. Let us seek to build up each 
other, to encourage one another in love and good works, to not 
forsake the assembling of ourselves together, to love one another 
in this place, to love one another outside of this place, to put 
the interests of others ahead of those of our own. To not be 
selfish, to not be prideful, to not be lifted up and puffed 
up in ourselves, but to be like Christ who did not come into 
this world to be served, but to serve and to give his life 
a ransom for many. And if you're here and you do 
not believe in this great Christ that we looked at tonight, the 
preacher imperfectly preached about the greatness of Christ 
and his humiliation tonight. Pick up your Bible if you don't 
know this Christ and learn of him. Or here now, because the 
Spirit can attend to a preached message, believe on the Lord 
Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. See this glorious Christ 
and put away your idols of this world. We can so easily prop 
up men of prominence, whether they're singers or actors or 
sports figures or politicians or people who make quilts. Whoever we prop up as our idols, 
put them away and see this one who departed the praise of angels, 
to come into this world a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, 
lying in a manger, living a life of misery, of agony, unto death 
upon the cross. See also that same one though, 
resurrected, ascended to the right hand of the majesty on 
high, and worship him. Believe in him, believe on the 
Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved. Let's pray. Father, 
we praise you and we thank you that we can consider that we 
can consider such a topic. Father, we thank you that we 
can learn of our Lord Jesus Christ and this one who came into the 
world, not with might and power and with much pomp, but who came 
who came born of a woman born under the law to redeem those 
who are under the law. Lord, we pray that each and every 
one here, because it is possible with you, would leave this place 
singing the praises of your most holy name, would leave this place 
singing with us, with your saints, Hallelujah, what a Savior. We 
just pray, God, that you'd go with each and every one of us, 
help us to conduct our lives in a manner worthy of our great 
Christ, God, help us to conduct ourselves in a manner of humility. 
Help us to learn from this example of Christ, who departed the pinnacle 
of glory and came into a lower ignominy to die for sinners. 
Might we be like Christ father, might we imitate him and might 
we love each other. So we just pray that you would 
go with us now, help us to love your word, to rejoice in the 
riches and the excellencies of Christ, and to conduct ourselves, 
Lord God, in a manner worthy of the high calling by which 
you've called us. We pray in the name of our Savior, 
the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.