And it wants sad reception by many. No room. John chapter one. John chapter one. In the beginning was the word.

The word was with God and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.

Look, if you would, over in verse 10. He was in the world and the world was made by him and the world knew him not. He came unto his own and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name, which were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God. Then the word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth.

Let's go to the Lord in prayer once more. Lord, thank you for this day, this opportunity to declare your word, your gospel. And Lord, I pray that we would not leave this place today saying no room, but that we might indeed open our hearts and our minds to the Lord Jesus Christ to receive the one whom we desperately need to save us from our sins and to fill our heart today. In Jesus' name, we do pray. Amen.

Part of the story of Christmas is a story of rejection. We tend to give as a routine at Christmas time presents. I like to remember and to remind my children when we do so of the greatest gift of all, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ, God's gift to us. Sadly to say, many in our society today do not give gifts with that understanding or that perspective today. The Bible says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. What greater gift can there be than eternal life and the forgiveness of our sins? And that gift came in the form of Jesus Christ, God's only son who gave himself for us. That is what we celebrate here today regardless of what the world out there may be celebrating in the next couple weeks. We are celebrating the sacrifice of Christ and the gift of eternal life that we have in Jesus Christ, his son.

Let me ask. Have you ever given a costly gift, costly, maybe in in actual money that it cost you? Costly in that you gave something very precious to you to someone else? Costly in that he would spend much time thinking of or or searching for that that perfect gift or or maybe you made it with your own hands just to have that costly gift rejected. No, I don't want it.

Take it back. How would you feel? How sad to spend all that time on that that beautiful, costly, wonderful gift just to have the gift rejected. Take it back. I don't want it.

Sadly, this is part of the story of Jesus Christ, and that is his rejection. It runs throughout his experience upon this earth. He was rejected by the masses of his day and still often to this day. It is part of his story. Hopefully, it is not your story because you can have a different story.

His story will end differently. But how did it begin? Isaiah 53. His rejection was foretold. The Bible tells us that God would send the king of kings and Lord of lords into the world, the Messiah, and that he would be what?

Rejected. Isaiah fifty three three, he is despised and rejected of men. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed him not.

We didn't recognize who he was. Isaiah wrote those words hundreds of years before Christ was born. He speaks of the wounds that he took. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was cut off from the earth, crucified as a common thief, but buried yet in a rich man's tomb as we do see in scripture was indeed the case.

This is one of the most powerful passages of prophecy in all of scripture that foretells by detail many of the aspects of the life and ministry, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. But one of the first things we come to is that he the king came, and rather than being lauded and applauded, he was rejected by his own people who he came to save. We read about the rejection of his of his family at his birth. Luke two seven, it says, 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 inn. It mentions that there was no room for them in the inn as an explanation as to why Christ was born and laid in a what?

A manger. Now, we write we read over that passage and don't think anything of it. We sing, away in a manger, no crib for a bed. But do you know what a manger is? A manger is a feeding trough for the animals.

The king of kings and Lord of lords came into this world. Yes, his coming was announced by angels to shepherds in the hills that night, but there was no room for him in the inn in Jerusalem. No. Instead, his his mother and father to be were were ushered to a stable so that he was born and he was placed first in hay in a feeding trough for the animals. Though there were reasons that night not having specifically to do with Joseph and Mary that they were put out of the inn because of the busyness due to the census, it nonetheless is somewhat indicative of this world's reception of the king of kings because for most, he was not applauded.

He was rejected. We see the rejection of Herod. Herod the great was the so called king of the Jews in that day. He had a palace in Jerusalem just a few miles away from the city of Bethlehem where Jesus was born. And he was only a puppet king as Rome ruled the world, but he was given a great deal of control over the Jews and over Israel and particularly Judea where Jesus was born.

And the magi, wise men who carried three gifts, we don't know if there were three of them, but we know there were more than one and they had three gifts. So we usually say the three wise men, but we're not sure there were actually three, just that there were three gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh that they brought. And as they were led by the star to the area there of Jerusalem and Bethlehem, which again were only a few miles away from each other, they decided they would go to the Jerusalem first as they were looking for the king spoken of in Genesis chapter 49 that they were coming to see. And so they thought, well, maybe the king of the Jews would be able to point them there. And so they first went to Herod.

Herod had these prophets look up and the scriptures found that the Messiah was to be born where? In Bethlehem. So that's where he sent them. And again, they followed the star to the place where Jesus was born, and there they worshiped him giving him gifts worthy of a king, a prophet, and a priest who would give his life on the cross for us. They're warned in a dream to go back another way.

Why? Because Herod, the king, was a very jealous and a very paranoid, envious man who even had members of his own family killed to make sure they did not take his throne. And so rather than welcoming the promised Messiah of the Jews, Herod had every baby in Bethlehem killed under the age of two in order to make sure he got the Messiah, the king of the Jews. A puppet in the hand of Satan, but Satan will always fail because God is greater and because God already knows what Satan is going to do and had already sent Jesus and Mary and Joseph out of Bethlehem by night to Egypt before Herod had the chance to take his anger and hatred and envy out on the Messiah. And so Jesus escaped, though rejected by Herod.

He was rejected in Nazareth. Nazareth was the hometown of his parents. That was up north in Galilee. They had traveled from this little town in Galilee down to Bethlehem in Judea in order to show up for the census that was being taken by Rome, and that's where Jesus was born. They stayed they went down there from went from Egypt to Egypt from there, and then they went back to Nazareth where they stayed for just a little bit but decided that that wasn't safe there.

And they they they bypassed Bethlehem, and they went back to Nazareth where they were from, where Jesus was was raised. And so the people in Nazareth, they knew Joseph, the carpenter. They knew Mary, his wife. They knew Jesus, their son. Eventually, however, they rejected him.

In Luke chapter four, I'm going to read a few verses there. If you want to follow along with me, you're welcome to. Luke chapter four and beginning in verse 16 tells us of the rejection of Jesus by his own hometown. He came to Nazareth where he had been brought up. He's now 30 years old.

He has begun his ministry after his baptism in Judea. He came back to Nazareth and as his custom was, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day and he stood up for to read and there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah or Isaiah and when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written. The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. He's reading from Isaiah 60.

And then he closed the book, the scroll, and he gave it again to the minister and sat down in the eyes of them all that were in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began to say unto them, this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. What is he claiming? Well, he is claiming to be the fulfillment of that very passage, to be the one who would bring all of those things to come to pass in Israel. The anointed one, the appointed one, the Messiah. And all bear him witness and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth.

And they said, is not this Joseph's son? At first, they well, this wow. They were just blown away with with what Jesus said and with the confidence which with he said it because it was true and because he was the son of God. And then they began to think, isn't this Joseph's son? Isn't this the carpenter's boy?

Is he claiming? Verse 23, and Jesus said unto them, you will surely say unto me this proverb, physician, heal thyself. Whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. And he said, verily I say unto you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias or Elijah when the heaven was shut up three years and six months when great famine was throughout all the land.

But none of them but to not unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarah or Sarepta, city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elias, the prophet, and none of them were cleansed saving Naaman the Syrian. And all they in the synagogue when they heard these things were filled with wrath and rose up and thrust him out of the city, led him to the brow of a hill wherein where on their city was built and they might that they might cast him head down headlong. But as he passed through them in the midst of them, he went his way and came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the Sabbath days. He was rejected by his own the people of his own hometown.

They they just could not come to believe that this little boy that had grown up in their midst was the son of God, the savior of the world, and the Messiah of Israel. And so what did they do? They rejected him. He was rejected in Judea, baptized by John the Baptist, his cousin there. He attended a Passover each year.

He cleansed the temple. He taught in the courtyard. He healed the lame, the sick, the lepers, and the blind. Yet, they rejected his words, his miracles. Instead, they sought his death.

After these things, Jesus walked in Galilee for he would not walk in jewelry, that's in Judea, because the Jews sought to what? To kill him. Not all of them, but particularly those in authority, their leaders, the religious leaders, and many others who followed them rather than accepting him as the long foretold Messiah, which they should have seen into this day many still should see and yet reject of his people, they sought to kill him. He was rejected by his brothers. Yes, Jesus had brothers.

They're listed, at least three of them in scripture. The sons of Mary and Joseph. And before his resurrection, it says in John seven John seven five, for neither did his, what, his brethren believe in him. His own brothers did not accept. I can imagine that would be a little bit difficult to accept that your brother, your your sibling was the son of God might be a bit difficult.

But praise the Lord after his resurrection. At least two of them changed their tune because they wrote books that are in our Bible, the book of James, the book of Jude. James, his half brother, was the leader of the church in Jerusalem, held a very high position there in the church for a very long time before he was martyred for his faith in his brother. But initially, his brothers did not accept him. They rejected him.

He was rejected by the Pharisees and Sadducees who openly sought his death and paid Judas to betray him. These again were the leaders in Judaism. In Matthew twenty six and one of the 12 called Judas Iscariot went under the high priest and said unto them, what will you give me? And I will deliver him unto you. And they can covenant with him for 30.

And from that time, he sought opportunity to betray him. He was betrayed by the Pharisees and Sadducees and the priests who should have been the ones to exalt him among the people. He was even rejected by one of his 12 disciples that spent day in and day out with him by the name of Judas. He was rejected in Jerusalem as the crowd cried out, crucify him. Crucify him.

In Luke twenty three thirty five, it reads, and the people stood beholding and the rulers also with them derided him saying, he saved others. Let him save himself if he be the chosen of God. If you are who you say you are, then what? Come down off that cross and save yourself as they rejected him that day even as he hung there on the cross paying the price for their what? For their sins.

They still mocked and rejected him. As he said these words, father, forgive them for they know not what they do, they rejected him. Even after his resurrection, the vast crowd that gathered on the day of Pentecost that saw the miraculous signs of the coming of the Holy Spirit, the promise of the Father that Jesus had promised to send to his disciples who heard the words of Peter. The vast majority still chose to reject him. They even stoned Stephen to death in Acts seven for simply pointing out that Jesus was at the right hand of the father risen from the dead.

The political leaders of Jerusalem shortly thereafter beheaded and murdered the first one of the 12 disciples, James, in Acts 12. And they persecuted God's children in the city and ran many ran many of them out. He was rejected by the leaders of Rome who slaughtered his children by the thousands. And many wicked regime regimes that have slaughtered his children and burnt his word ever since. Yes.

Jesus' story is one of rejection, but yet not all rejected him, did they? He came unto his own and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of the children of God even to them that believe on his name. Not all rejected him. His mother Mary did not reject him.

In Luke one, it says, she said, my soul doth magnify the Lord and my spirit hath rejoiced in God, my savior. As she accepted the mission of God to be the mother of Jesus' humanity and accepted that child to be her what? Her savior. He was received by the shepherds, the lowliest of the workforce of that day as they came at the announcement of the angels to the stable to worship the king, an odd place to come to worship a king. He was not rejected by the wise men who traveled for many days and weeks and possibly months in order to come to bring gifts to the king of kings and to the Lord of lords.

He was not rejected by Simeon and Anna who waited for decades that they might see the Lord's anointed come into the world. He was not rejected by John the Baptist who saw God's spirit descend upon him at his baptism and heard the words of his father in heaven, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. John the Baptist who shortly thereafter introduced him as the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He was not rejected by 11 of those 12 disciples who confessed by the mouth of Peter in Matthew 16, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. Christ means messiah.

They accepted him, received him as their savior, messiah, and Lord, the son of the living God. He was accepted by the woman at the well who said to her compatriots, come and see a man which told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ, the Messiah of Israel? He was received by faith by many other disciples, Mary Magdalene, Mary and Martha of Bethany, and many others. Even a a Gentile centurion who needed only Jesus to give a word and he believed that his servant would be healed.

He was accepted by many a harlot and drunkard and leper and blind man who he healed and tax collectors who came to listen to his words. The worst of the worst. Sinners who needed a what? Savior and were willing to humble themselves and repent. He was accepted by 3,000 alone on the day of Pentecost and many thousands more in following days in Jerusalem.

He was embraced as the Lord and savior by Samaritans and Ethiopians in Acts eight, by Paul in Acts nine, by Roman centurion Cornelius in Acts 10, and many thousands and millions who would receive the message of the gospel that Paul and the other apostles and their associates preached in the coming days and weeks and months and years and decades and centuries and millennia to this very day. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. And, yes, Jesus endured the mocking, and he endured the rejection, and he endured the suffering for the ones who would receive that which he came to give for you if you will receive him. That is the question. Have you received him or have you rejected him?

Have you repented from the path of sin and hell in which he found you and embrace Jesus Christ by faith as your Lord and savior. John three eighteen says this, Jesus said this of himself, He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God? Have you believed in the name of the only begotten? Have you put your faith and trust in him? Have you received him?

Or have you what? Rejected him. The choice this morning is yours. He died for you. He made his choice.

He purchased that gift. Would you receive it today? In Romans ten nine, Paul says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, that he is Lord, and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For whosoever shall call in the name of the Lord shall be saved. If not, would you receive the greatest gift of all this Christmas, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let's pray. Dear heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for the rejection that you endured, that we might have the opportunity to receive you by your grace, that we might have the opportunity to become the children of God. Lord, thank you for that wonderful gift. Lord, I pray that we would take the opportunity now this Christmas to share it with others who need to hear it. And we pray if there there is one in here this morning that is yet to receive it, that as we sing this hymn of invitation this morning, that they would come, that we might show them how to become children of God indeed by faith, that they need not leave this place this morning not knowing where they will spend eternity, but knowing through faith in Jesus Christ that they have new life, eternal life in you.

In Jesus' name, do pray. Amen.