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And stay he must not, he could not, he dare not. Who knew the men who endured hard toil, and kept their flocks by night? "Even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you." "Glory to God in the highest," was an old, old song: they had sung that from before the foundations of the world. 3. Those two ordinances serve to make us remember that Christ was really flesh and blood, and that Christianity has something to do with this flesh and blood of ours. You can love Him, bless Him, praise Him, study Him, treasure Him, ponder Him, comprehend His character, and imitate His life; and in this way; though your worship will not blaze forth among the sons of men, and scarcely benefit them as some other forms of work, yet it will both benefit you and be acceptable to your Lord. A strong emphasis in Spurgeon's preaching was God's grace and sovereignty over man's helpless state. Around this birth of joy was no sign of superstition: that demon dared not intrude its tricks and posturings into the sublime spectacle: it would have been there as much out of place as a harlequin in the holy of holies. "Stand aside! You hear of somebody being converted who was a very wicked sinner and you say, "It is very amazing!" 41 Every year his parents used to go to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover. Now, take another text, of a positive character, from Revelation 21:7 : "He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. It dishonors God. You lazy lie-a-beds, who do little or nothing for Christ, you sluggish servants, whose garden is overgrown with weeds, no wonder that you do not want to see your master! There you were presented to all nations as prince of our race, before whose presence there is neither Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, savage, slave or free; but You are Lord of all. This updated file may be freely copied, printed out, and distributed as long as copyright and source statements remain intact, and that it is not sold. "The palaces of emperors and the halls of Kings afforded the royal stranger no refuge?" What a splendid combining of the majestic and the simple have we in the great atonement offered by the incarnate Savior! You know the parable in which Christ says that the master does not first bid his servant sit down and eat bread, but commands him thus, "Gird thyself and serve me." Luke 2:41-52 - My Father's Business - JourneyOnline From robes of Tyrian dye, Turn with undazzled eye To Bethlehem's glade, and by the manger stand.". I do not see God honored. O sweet Lord Jesus, take wide steps; O my Lord, come over the mountains at one stride! Let me ask each of you a few personal questions. You think, perhaps it is fanatical to talk of sacred calls; but call it fanatical or no, this one thing I will own the belief in a special call to do a special work is like the arm of omnipotence to a man. Mere hearing may make some music, but the soul of song must come from seeing with the eye of faith. Ought not that to be the spirit of our religion? First let us turn to THE FEAR of the text. Let the difficulty be never so great, if you have vowed to overcome it, do it. The Christian man in the present state is like a bird in a cage: his body imprisons his soul. You see him forgiving his enemies to teach us the grace of meekness and of forbearance; you behold him giving up his very life to teach us how we should surrender ourselves to God, and give up ourselves for the good of others. They are content to hear it, pleased to hear it; if not in itself something new, yet there are new ways of putting it, and they are glad to be refreshed with the variety. In the early and simple ages of the world every man considered it an honor to entertain a stranger; later, as traveling became more common, many desired to share the honor and pleasure with their neighbors; wherefore they could continue the dignity of hospitality? I desire this delight for my dearest friends. God! There is no honest, moral, business which is not sanctified by the gospel. 41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. I believe that the men aimed at under the term, "sectarian," are the true followers of Christ, and that the sneers and jeers, and all the nonsense that you are always reading and hearing about, is really aimed at the Christian, the true Christian, only he is disguised and nick-named by the word sectarian. Luke Commentaries & Sermons | Precept Austin Well, there is one door of usefulness for you. Can the mind yield itself up to the thought of the Eternal, Self-existent, Infinite One without being filled, first with awe and then with dread? You have enough profit from your own daily business, and you do not want religion for every day life. Do not count that to be unacceptable service which occupies itself rather with Jesus than with His disciples or His wandering sheep. 6. "Did ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" The babe born in the manger might have been another prophet of tears, or another son of thunder, but he was not so: he came in gentleness, his glory and his thunder alike laid aside. Jesus is the true "poor men's friend;" he is "a covenant for the people," given to be "a leader and commander to the people." Go out now, and if you are tempted by the world, may the Spirit enable you to reply, "I must be about my Father's business." They bear witness to the material nature of Christ. But if you do this, you will find you are not tolerated, and you will get the cold shoulder in society. Shepherds glorified God, and so may you. Come, ye little children, ye boys and girls, come ye; for he also was a boy. Though earth's foundations should be moved, Down to their lowest deep; Though all the trembling universe Into destruction sweep; Forever God, forever man, My Jesus will endure; And fixed on Him, my hope remains Eternally secure.. In the name of Christ, the Holy Ghost is glorified, by being seen as anointing the incarnate God. "Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will toward men.". He went into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. If Romanism be Christianity I am not, neither could I be, a Christian. Luk 2:1-7 Yet angels did not envy men. (and some of you have taken solemn vows upon you, by making a profession of religion) I beseech you, by the sacrament in which you dedicated yourself to your Lord, and by that other sacrament in which you found communion with Jesus, now to fulfill your vows, and pay them daily, nightly, hourly, constantly, perpetually; and lot these compel you to say, "I must be about my Father's business." Make peace in your family. But, nevertheless, do not run into one extreme by running from another. Never once did he swerve from that bright, true mirror of perfection. Take care you do not leave your calling, and take care you do not dishonor your profession while in it. Brethren, we have a story to tell--simple and majestic. Thus, I have given you the example. "Hark! Oh, it is notorious, it is evil to make out our God, who is light and in whom there is no darkness at all, to be an object of horrible fear. You might dread the face of God, but when it is God in human flesh why should you be alarmed? We must say it, that philosophy, has done much harm to Christ, and seldom has ever served His cause. The Lord. There is His Godhead. And oh, how sweet to think, "I am doing this for God. ", Well, what next? Havent you perceived that the only way in which you can grow in that which is morally and spiritually lovely, is by highly esteeming your gracious God, and feeling His precious love filling your hearts? Now, when faith becomes "the evidence of things not seen," and "the substance of things hoped for," then the soul is sure to say, "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace." The joy announced by the angel of the nativity is as pure as it is lasting, as holy as it is great. Henceforth, it is to be no dreadful thing for man to approach his Maker; redeemed man is not to fear when God unveils the splendor of his majesty, since he appears no more a judge upon his throne of terror, but a Father unbending in sacred familiarity before his own beloved children. May all in this house, through the rich grace of God, be led to do the same, and may they all be thine, great Son of God, in the day of thine appearing, for thy love's sake. Luke 2 JAMES FOOTE - Commentary. Perhaps you know the legend, or perhaps true history of the awakening of St. Augustine. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told." What pride flushes the patriot's cheek when he remembers that his nation can murder faster than any other people. As for us, beloved, don't we have also have something to relate that demands proclamation? He knows that man cannot love that which terrifies him, and therefore he paints the God of grace as a hard, unforgiving person who will not receive the repentant sinner and have pity on the sorrowful person. But the silver and the gold are his and if he does not care to have either of them very well; let them go; he shall have it one way or another. God is glorified by our remaining in our vocation. "He weighed the mountains on the scales." Neither was there wealth to be seen at Bethlehem. Mere men--men possessed with pride, think it a fine thing to preach before kings and princes; and think it great condescension now and then to have to minister to the humble crowd. I have heard of the promised land, but oh! These were shepherds, "uneducated men." If he sits still for a little while, a spirit haunts him he knows not what it is, but he is unhappy unless he engages in a business which he feels is the commission of his life. "But it is so despicable!" Oh! Amazed that you are still alive, being spared from death that would have brought immediate judgment into the fires of hell--amazed that His precious Holy Spirit still strives to convert you despite your many wicked sins. Is the child wrapped in purple and fine linen? You can serve God as much in driving a horse and cart as in singing a hymn serve God in standing behind your counter. Do the obedient winds hush their tumult at his voice? God, who gave us to aspire to holiness and spirituality and to likeness to himself, never implanted those aspirations in us out of mockery. There is that lawful, necessary, admirable, excellent fear which is always due from the creature to the Creator, from the subject to the king, yes, and from the child toward the parent. Now the word Lord here assuredly refers to Jehovah, the one God, and so it must do here. Now, brother, you have made a vow that you will never speak to your brother again. Put your religion where it will come out, but do not cant about it. Yes, this is the solid truth upon which we plant our foot. For wherever there is a cringing dread of the Divine Person, it alienates man completely from his God. God is glorified in every bird that chirps on the branch; in every lamb that skips in the meadow. Surely you can say with the queen of Sheba, "Indeed, not even half was told me, I have found Christ more sweet than His servants could ever have told us. But this is one of man's many inventions; God's work was sublimely simple. We now proceed to the solitary circumstance in the Child-life of Jesus which is given in the Gospels. Ye sons of men perceive ye here the subject of your joy. I have such a free Christ to preach this morning! Tell me one attribute of God that is not manifest in Jesus; and your ignorance will be the reason why you have not seen it. Wars had raged from the ends of the world; men had slaughtered one another, heaps and heaps of dead humans. Rejoice aloud all ye people, let your hills and valleys ring with joy, for a Savior who is mighty to save is born among you. That pilgrim sets out upon a happy journey to whom Jehovah saith, "Depart in peace." Simeon, a servant; you also, my brother, a servant; he who saith to Simeon, "depart in peace," will say also the same to you. 4. If sin be pardoned, the quarrel is ended; if the atonement is made, then is peace established, a peace covenanted to endure for ever. It is not always so with even the most mature Christians, and some true saints have not yet attained to assurance; they are truly saved, and possess a genuine faith, but as assurance is the cream of faith, the milk has not stood long enough to produce the cream; they have not yet come to the flower of assurance, for their faith is but a tender plant. Turn over and over by meditation what you read. If the vow be a right one, God will help you to accomplish it. I. As Spurgeon says "Now hath heavenly glory wedded earthly poverty; and, henceforth, let no man dare to despise the poor and needy, since the son of the Highest is . I wish that I had power to bring out this precious doctrine of the incarnation as I desire too, but the more one ponders it, the happier one becomes. My brethren, seldom is there room for Christ in palaces! It is often so; therefore you simple minds, be comforted and glad. We have looked unto him, and we are lightened. God grant us today, as these shepherds did, to glorify God by praising Him. Sin makes miserable cowards of us all. Go legalist, work for peace with toil and pain, and you will never find it. What do you say, young soldier, will you enlist on such terms as these? If you will hold your tongue, if you will let sinners perish, if you will never endeavor to spread your faith, if you will silence all witnessing for truth, if, in fact, you will renounce all the attributes of a Christian, if you will cease to be what a Christian must be, then the world will say, "Ah! Christ as man was a representative man. 43 And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. And such is the gospel, in the preaching of which our apostle said, "we use great plainness of speech." Sermons about Luke 2 41 52 - SermonCentral.com When he took upon him the form of a servant he received the spirit of an obedient servant too, and became as perfect in the capacity of a servant as he had ever been in that of a ruler, though in that he had perfectly executed all his of life. What! So said God, "There is Job he hath patience; there is Moses he hath meekness, there are those mighty ones who all have eminent virtues. Do you really serve God? the unjust, the oppressive, cheats, rogues, "the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God." If I did not have a good will towards the human race, would I have given up my Son to become one of that race that He might by so doing redeem them from death?" Jesus Was Found In His "fathers House". They believe in no system of faith which makes salvation dependent upon the creature, and, which really gives the creature the praise, for if the whole dependence of salvation rests upon his own free will, then a man really saves himself! I also don't doubt that their songs had gathered force through the ages. Luke chapter 2. They had sung solemn songs over the many worlds which the Great One had created. It is not good news to me to tell me that a great prophet is born. Here is my royal Master--have you room for Him? So shall you have joy here, and glory everlasting in the kind of the blessed, where bliss is without alloy, and joy without end. Should you begin to talk about the things of Christ in many a circle, you would be tabooed at once. No forms of etiquette are required in entering a stable; it cannot be an offense to enter the stable of a public caravansary. It were a more manly thing to be a simple believer in one God, or even an honest doubter upon all religion, than worship such crowds of gods and goddesses as Popery has set up, and to bow, as she does, before rotten bones and dead men's winding sheets. The followers of the prophet were entirely devoted to his cause. I did not ask about worthiness; have you room for Him? Nevertheless since, the current of men's thoughts is led this way just now, and I see no evil in the current itself, I shall launch the bark of our discourse upon that stream, and make use of the fact, which I shall neither justify nor condemn, by endeavoring to lead your thoughts in the same direction. Jesus of Nazareth is God; He who was conceived in the womb of the virgin and born in Bethlehem's manger is now, and always was, God over all, blessed forever. Don't all created things extol Him? Do you strive to walk in holiness? England owes her freedom to the Bible; and France will never possess liberty, lasting and well-established, till she comes to reverence the gospel, which too long she has rejected. It is true the wise men came there, but it was only to adore and offer gifts; would that all the wise had been as wise as they. The manger was also a thing to be despised. Oh, the disrespect of the prince of darkness, and the madness of man to consent to the suggestion, that God should be depicted as being unwilling to forgive, unkind, harsh, hard, cruel, when in fact He is love; supremely and above all things, love. Certainly none of us were meet by nature not even Simeon; the fitness of the venerable man was all the handiwork of God, and so, also, was his anxiety to obtain the inheritance for which God had prepared him. The Boy Jesus at the Temple. The joy of sin is a fire-fountain, having its source in the burning soil of hell, maddening and consuming those who drink its fire-water; of such delights we desire not to drink. Come to Him, traitor and prostitute! I think I would rather rot or feed the crows, than earn my daily bread by the wages of fools, the hard earned money of the poor man, stolen from his ragged children, and his haggard wife. Christ does not bless them in the highest and truest sense, but the influence of his teaching imparts benefits of an inferior sort, such as they are capable of receiving; for wherever the gospel is proclaimed, it is no small blessing to all the population. Though the first part of the carol is God-like ["Glory to God in the highest"], and though the second part is peaceful ["and on earth peace"], this third part ["good will towards men"] melts my heart the most. Now, I don't doubt its sincerity, but I do doubt its healthy character. Neither is it a walk that need cause us terror; "I will fear no evil:" not only is there no evil, but no fear shall cloud my dying hours. He must serve God; he must be obedient; he could not help it. If so, fear not death; it shall have no terrors to you. Luke 2:41-52 Reflection: The Lost and Found of Jesus at the Temple IV. Sleeps he in a cradle of gold? A child easily and naturally trusts in a good and generous father, and if I, a poor, weak, feeble child, conscious that I am such, knowing that I am all foolishness and weakness, can just believe in my good, great God, through Jesus Christ and come and trust myself with Him, and leave Him to do as He likes with me, believing that He will not be unkind, and cannot be unwise; If I can wholly rest in His love and be obedient to His will, only then will I have reached the highest point that the creature can reach; the Holy Spirit will then have brought about His finished work in me, and I will be fit for heaven. And now when I distribute of my wealth, I only distribute it as his allmoner; and it is no sacrifice at all." The shepherds glorified God though they went back to their trade. C.H. Was he doing it then? If you want to praise God, then live a holy life, you can do that by His grace, without a degree. The angels were not Arminians [believing that "man" decides whether he will accept the Gospel or not with "his own free will"], they sang, "Glory to God in the highest." Does he work a miracle? Commentary on 1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26. I, His herald, cry aloud, Room for the Savior! We must not condemn the shepherds on this account as though they were timid or uneducated, for they were only acting as every other person in that age would have done under the same circumstances. Brother, have you a child? We are become . Luke 2:41 - Bible Verse Meaning and Commentary - Bible Study Tools There was more than peace there; for there was glory to God there. Luke 2:41-52 - Sermon Writer It is not very likely he will have very fine farming there, because he leaves it to somebody else. But, beloved, the greatest joy is to those who know Christ as a Savior. Dear friends, this evil of Satan operates in countless ways. II. If a company of brave volunteers should chase an enemy out of their own county, I do not know that it would be anything so shocking, although they were not members of the country's regular armed forces. They love grandeur and pomp, and He is all simplicity and meekness. First then, in the words of our text. I am not quite done with the shepherds yet. Let your intellect be exercised concerning the Lord Jesus. Ah, foolish generation, ye are groping in the flames of hell to find your heaven, raking amid blood and bones for the foul thing which ye call glory. O my Beloved, be like a roe, or a young hart, on the mountains of separation. So far from having an extensive library full of books, it is probable they could not read a word; yet they glorified God. We have had the audacity to be disobedient to the will of this great One; and now the goodness and greatness of His nature are like a rushing current against which sinful humanity struggles in vain, for the irresistible torrent must run its course, and overwhelm every opponent. Verses 41-52 - Matthew Henry's Commentary - Bible Gateway Amen." What am I? You are a gentleman, and may even have servants. Doubtless friends and relatives took in their out-of-town guests until their houses were full, but Joseph had no such willing relatives in the town. Ye shepherds, ye simple hearted, ye who toil for your daily bread, come and adore the Savior; and stand not back ye wise men, ye who know by experience and who by meditation peer into deep truth, come ye, and like the sages of the East bow low before his presence, and make it your honor to pay honor to Christ the Lord. "When thou prayest, enter into thy closet; and when thou givest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth." Is the head of the serpent bruised in your soul? You need not think it a wicked thing to be happy. Praise Him for what you have heard, but observe, they also praised God for what they had seen. Yes, and doubtless the angels heard by faith the fullness of the song. It is that they may go abroad in every land, preaching the Word of God. You have swooned, as it were, with love-sickness for your precious Savior, thirsting to see him as he is, and to be like him. What would dying men on their deathbeds give if they could once more hear the preaching of the gospel, and have another warning and an opportunity to yield to Christ. A simple gospel, a plain gospel, as plain as that babe wrapped in the commonest garments, is this day the only hope for men. It may fall, and seem to most certainly fall to hell, but the long and strong arm of Christ can reach it even in its most desperate degradation; He can bring it up from apparently hopeless ruin. Sin had separated between God and man; but the incarnation bridges the separation: it is a prelude to the atoning sacrifice, but it is a prelude full of the richest hope. Be about your Father's business with all earnestness, because that is the way of usefulness. Well, when these angels came from heaven they told the news just as if they believed it; and though I have often wickedly doubted my Lord's good will, I think I never could have doubted it when I heard those angels singing. Don't say, "I hope I 'will have' room for Him;" the time is come that He will be born; Mary cannot wait months and years. Jesus, Master, I take thee to be mine for ever! Simeon was content to wait till he received permission to depart, and it becomes us all to acquiesce cheerfully in the Lord's appointment, whether he lengthens or shortens, our life. The mystery of the Trinity. It is called "his business;" and though Jesus Christ came to accomplish our redemption, came to set us a perfect example, and to establish a way of salvation, yet he came not upon his own business, but upon his Father's business his Father taking as much interest in the salvation of men as even he himself did the great heart of the Father being as full of love as the bleeding heart of the Son, and the mind of the first person of the Trinity being as tenderly affected towards his chosen as even the mind of Christ Jesus, our substitute, our surety, and our all. And this dear friends, will be the way and I trust you can be moved by this this will be the way to have eternal glory at the last, not for the sake of what you do, but as the gracious reward of God for what you have done. They could have run through the streets with the ancient philosopher, crying, "Eureka! They think that the Lord will not receive them, that there is no mercy for such sinners as they have been. He who is separate from sinners, finds no fit society in the reeking temple of Bacchus. The hour is approaching when the temples of the false gods will be shut forever and all the false religions utterly destroyed. Luke 2:29-30 . It is not a Caesar that is born today; He will never trample down our fields with his armies, or slaughter our flocks for his countries, He will be the poor man's friend, the people's monarch; according to the words of our shepherd-king [David], 'He will defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the needy.'" Luke 2:41 Sermons: His parents went every year to Jerusalem at the Room for Jesus now! Join in the joy, ye saints, for he is the preserver of the saved ones, delivering them from innumerable perils, and he is the sure prefecter of such as he preserves. Abraham saw Christ's day before it dawned, and even thus, after it has passed, we see it, and with faithful Abraham we are glad. Just open the door of your heart, and say, "Jesus, Master, all unworthy and unclean I look to you; come, lodge within my heart," and He will come to you, and He will cleanse the manger of your heart; He will transform it into a golden throne, and there He will sit and reign forever and forever. You that doubt the Master's love, you look to that circle of angels; see their blaze of glory; hear their song, and let your doubts die away in that sweet music and be buried in a veil of harmony. Had we first seen the Master riding in a stately manner through the streets of Jerusalem with garments laid in His path, and the palm- branches strewed, and people crying "Hosanna!" If I walked the street I must have a tract with me; if I went into a railway carriage I must drop a tract out of the window; if I had a moment's leisure I must be upon my knees or at my Bible if I were in company I must turn the subject of conversation to Christ, that I might serve my Master. He has a farm of a thousand acres, but he thinks he could increase his means, perhaps, by taking a little farm of a hundred acres or so a little way off; and he gives that to a bailiff and does not take much trouble about it himself. "Oh! Well, there is "public sentiment free to all" In this free land, men speak what they like, and there is a public opinion on every subject; and you know there is free toleration in this country to everything--permit me to say, toleration to everything but Christ. 1. Now, I say, that all Christ's life he was endeavoring to do his Father's business in this matter. There were only two thoroughly representative men; the first is Adam: Adam was disobedient and the whole race fell. God will not violate his promise to one of his people any more than to another, and, consequently, when our turn shall come to gather up our feet in the bed and to resign our spirit, some precious passage in sacred writ shall be as a rod and a staff to us that we may fear no evil. All the servants of God shall depart in peace. It shall be a departure full of comfort: "Thy rod and thy staff" a duplicate means shall give us a fullness of consolation.