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.
Introduction
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
The Timing of Christ's Incarnation
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.
The Place of Christ's Incarnation
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.
The Purpose of Christ's Incarnation
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.
The Manner of Christ's Incarnation
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.
Born in a Low Condition
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.
Born Under the Law
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.
Subjected to the Miseries of This Life
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.
The Wrath of God and the Cross
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.
Application
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.
Closing Prayer
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.