A Night of Miracles

It's so familiar to us, isn't it? I mean, it's something that we have known, most of us, for all of our lives. I mean, it is not something new. Probably few of us saw new information tonight. But there's something powerful about it, something that continues to intrigue us, something that we want to understand more deeply because it resonates with something profound in our soul. And I want to talk about that for just a few moments tonight as we conclude the service. And it's important that each person considers the thoughts I'm going to share with you in the next few minutes. Friends, Christmas is something that we've come to take for granted as a holiday. Much of the world, unfortunately, today won't even celebrate Christmas, as you know. Many of our friends and neighbors simply are going to celebrate by giving gifts but have no idea what the real meaning of Christmas is. But tonight I want to speak to those of us who maybe understand it, but there's something that's missing. I brought a few props up here to help me for just a couple of moments. Well, you recognize these are common everyday kinds of things. A fire extinguisher. We've all seen these. But, you know, interestingly, I wonder when the last time was that you used one of these. Would you know where to point it at the fire? Which pin to pull and when? What kind of fire would it work on? Or would you just pick it up and throw it at the fire and hope it'll work? I mean, you know. It's familiar, but I'm not sure we all know how to use it. Or how about this jack? Now, you hope you never need to use this, right? You hope when you go out there tonight that your car is fine. But what if it's not? Would you know how to dig this thing out? Would you know how to put it together? Would you know where to put this part so it doesn't bend the bottom of your door frame? Could you turn it up? Would you know where to find the most important tool if you were going to use this jack? Yeah, it's this. It's the cell phone to call AAA, right? That's what I would need. Or how about this? Now, here's an item that we all probably recognize and most of us have. A VCR, right? I mean, these are incredible machines. They've been in households now for maybe a decade or more. Interesting thing about VCRs. They've got lots of different uses. I mean, lots of ways you can use them. You can program them to come on at the same time every day and record a show. You can record a series of shows. You can be out of town and have it come on at a certain time when you're not even there. But interestingly, most of us only do what with these? Yeah, we play movies, right? I mean, that's about the only thing we know to do with them. For some reason, figuring out all that programming stuff, I mean, that and, of course, keeping the time, right? What time does your VCR have? Yeah, same as mine, 12 o'clock. Probably will never change. The point being, of course, that these are all items that we see and are familiar to us and things that we have available to us. But the working knowledge of them is another matter. How they work when you really need them is something that may elude some of us. In fact, in my case, all three of them might cause me a bit of a problem. And I have discovered that when it comes to Christmas and when it comes to Christianity, much the same could be said about many people. They understand it. In fact, you might be here tonight, you might even understand the basic essentials of the Christian faith. Maybe you understand about God and you know Jesus and the Holy Spirit and you've heard about the devil and you've heard about angels and you've heard about eternity and all this. And it's all knowledge to you, but friends, it's possible tonight that you don't have a working understanding. You don't know how Christmas really works. And I want you to know tonight that that's a very serious situation. There are many of us that are even watching this presentation tonight knowing that something's stirring inside but not really knowing what to do with it and knowing that when you leave the doors and go back on into your life, what you've experienced will just be more information, but it won't necessarily transform you. And the whole purpose of Christmas was transformation, not just information. I want to share with you in about five minutes how Christianity works because, you know, there's so much that happens in our lives. Many of us are here tonight in a great deal of pain, broken relationships, disappointments. Some of us have found that our life hasn't been what we've hoped it would be. Some of us are at a crossroads. We want to make a decision. How does Christianity work? Or is it just a good feeling? Well, let me just use a couple more props real quickly if I could. First of all, I want to pull out something that represents most of us. This is number one. Let's take this old shirt, and it's got a lot of stains on it. And the first thing I want this to represent to us, the first thing you need to know about Christianity is this. The Bible is very clear that all of us are moral failures. We have somehow in some way violated the laws of God. And friends, if we're really honest, we know that that's true. We know that we've gossiped at times or slandered somebody. We've cheated a little here or there. We've told something that wasn't really the whole truth now and then. We've concealed some things we should have told people. And those are all sort of subtle kinds of things. I'm even leaving out the big ones, you know, like adultery or abusiveness or some kinds of addictive behaviors that hurt other people or stealing someone else's things or whatever it might be. And when all comes down to it, if you're really honest, you would say, you know, my life's like this. I've got some stains. I've got some failures. And it's a problem. And even when you try to clean up your act, so to speak, you find that you really can't do it for very long. In fact, the Bible says that though you wash yourself with an abundance of soap, you cannot remove the stain of your guilt, Jeremiah 2.22. So that's man's problem. And if you're honest with me tonight, you'd say, you know, I have to admit, I haven't lived a sinless life. Now the second point is that the results of that, the consequences are more serious than most people consider. In fact, when they think about it, they think, well, you know, it can't be all that bad because everyone else is kind of like me. We're all sort of in the same boat. And beyond that, you know, my wife is going to forgive me if I ask her to and my boss probably will. If he won't, I'll just get another job, whatever. But friends, here's the problem. Our sin is not just sin against one another. In fact, David said, Lord, against thee and thee only have I sinned. Our problem, friends, is this, that our sin is against a holy God, a God who is holy, righteous. I'm going to use this robe. This represents God. There's no stain in His character. And the Bible says that it's God's holiness and justice that preserve the integrity of the universe. If God were to compromise His holiness, then you and I couldn't count on anything. Rather, chaos would rule. And so God now sees this dilemma. Here we are with our stain. This is us, and here is God. What are we going to do about it? Well, some people try. I mean, they look at things and they say, well, maybe if I do more good things, you know, maybe if I can put some positives in this, it'll clean up some of the stains. And that's true. It seems to help some. But when we look at it, it doesn't really get the job done. Other people think, well, you know what? My shirt's dirty, but, Jay, I know you. Your shirt's worse. Your life's got more stains than mine. And so if God's grading on the curve, you know, I'll probably get in even if you don't. But the problem with that is, friends, that God doesn't grade on the curve. God doesn't kind of do a tick-for-tack thing. Well, more good works than bad works, and we're fine. In fact, the Bible says that unless we be perfect, we cannot share eternity with the Holy God. That's a dilemma. And so what does God do? Well, this is the third thing. God sends His Son as the answer to our problem. God incarnate, the Latin means in the flesh. When that little baby was held up, what a picture. Someone explain to me how the infinite can become finite, how the one who created it all could be contained in human flesh. That's the mystery of God. So God sent His Son Jesus to be for us the answer to our sin problem. Jesus lived a sinless life. His life had none of the stain, none of the moral failure, none of the guilt that ours did. For 33 years, He lived a perfect life. And then falsely accused, He was sentenced to death. And friends, that death on the cross, you see, is what makes Christmas make sense. Without the cross, Christmas doesn't really mean much. Without the cross, it's just the birth of a wonderful teacher and leader and miracle worker, but not the deliverer from our sin, not the answer to our stain. But when Jesus went to the cross, the Bible says that God poured out the wrath of the just judgment, the penalty for our sin, on His Son Jesus. And He became for us our sin substitute. Now friends, that is a cosmic event. Upon which I could talk for hours. How God would do that, to take my sin upon His Son. But all that I've said is just information. Because you know that you're a moral failure, if you're like me. You know that you try to work things out with God, but you're not sure that you're getting there. And you maybe even know about Jesus. But here's number four. If you don't do something with that, if you're like the person that just says, Well, you know, I'll figure out how to record the VCR, but I really want to watch something. And you realize when you have to, you don't know how to. It's 7 o'clock on Friday and the show's coming on. You really can't miss the one that your granddaughter's in. But you don't know how to work the VCR, so you miss it. Friends, some of us are going to miss God's plan because we don't know this fourth point. We've got to appropriate. We've got to take to ourselves what God did. We've got to make it our own. How do we do that? A, B, C. A, acknowledge that you're like me. You're a person who has failed. B, believe that God sent his son Jesus to be. That's sin payment for you and me. You must believe that. Put your trust in it. And three, C, commit yourself. In other words, you just can't believe it here. You've got to commit your life. You've got to say, God, if you died for me, then I'll live for you. I consider that a fair exchange. And friends, when you do that by faith, when you receive God's gift of grace by faith, here's what happens. God takes you in your failure, and the Bible says that he puts on you a robe of righteousness. And in some way that I cannot explain, when God looks at you and me in Christ, he no longer sees the stain of our lives. He sees the holiness of his son. That truth will change your life forever if you make it your own. And so on this Christmas Eve, the question you must answer, whether you be fabulously successful and wealthy and independent or down on your luck with a broken heart and little to look forward to, the question is, do you know Christ? Have you received him and committed your life to him? That's how Christianity works. I'd like you to stand with me for a word of prayer. Let's bow our heads, please. All throughout the room right now, let's be perfectly quiet for just a moment if we can. I sense God's spirit is here. And friend, you know tonight, if I was describing you, I don't know, but you know. Are you simply a person who has the information about Christianity but you've never really been changed by it? I want to invite you tonight. Don't put off the reckoning of your life. I want you to come tonight. I want you to come to Christ. I want you to do what many in this room have already done, what I did some 30 years ago. I want you to make a decision to bring all that you know of yourself to all that I've just described to you about God and Christ and give yourself to him. Make Christianity, make Christ your own. How do you do that? Well, you ask the Lord. You ask the Lord into your life. You say, well, what should I do? I'm going to lead you in a word of prayer. This prayer, if you mean it from your heart, will invite God into your heart and he'll begin the transformation and he will cause you to put on the robe of righteousness and be adopted into the family of God that you might live with him forever. Pray this prayer with me. If you desire to know Christ in a personal way, you don't want to play games, I'm not here talking about cleaning up your act or getting religious, but you need the Lord today. Would you pray this prayer with me? Heavenly Father, say the words. Heavenly Father, I need you tonight. And Lord, I acknowledge my sinfulness. I believe that you sent Jesus to be my sin substitute and I commit myself to you. I open my heart to you now. In your name I pray. Amen. Amen. Would you be seated, please? Now, friends, I'd like you to do something in response. Inside of your bulletin, there's a little red card. I'd like you to take it out, everybody, please. Whether you're a guest or a regular worshiper with us, take this out. The red card. I want you to turn it over on the blank side. And if you just prayed that prayer with me, I want you to do something very simple, but very important. I'd like you to make a cross right there in the upper left-hand corner of that card. Just make a cross with a pen. We're good. Borrow a pen from somebody. Just, if you need to do that, just take a moment and borrow a pen from someone. Tap somebody in the bar. And then just draw a line across and put your signature there, right next to the cross. It's your way of saying, I'm going to trust Christ and the cross to be my sin substitute, to take away my stain. And then if you'd like, just to put your phone number or your address so that we can send you some literature to help you in this walk. Even if you're from out of state, visiting family, doesn't matter. We'll get that information to you. If you prayed that prayer with me, just go ahead and do that right now while we wait. And if you've already done that, and you're just here, and as a guest tonight, you can flip the card over and put your name and any information that you'd like to share with us and let that be part of your offering tonight. If you'd like to be informed about coming events here at North Way, we'll be happy to do that. More presentations such as Night of Miracles. You can fill out the other side. I'm going to wait one more moment while everyone takes that time to do that. Now friends, while you're considering this, if you've been around here any length of time at all, you know that North Way Christian Community has always had a commitment to taking the power of God as we've known it, the grace of Jesus Christ, and taking it out from these doors. Taking it not just to Pittsburgh, but around the world. In a few moments, I'm going to ask you to participate in that process with us by giving to the Lord a Christmas offering. Maybe you'll want to write a check tonight. Maybe you'll just want to give whatever you brought with you as an offering. Normally, I don't even ask visitors to give anything, but I want to tell you something. We've received so much, friends. I think it's appropriate on Christmas Eve to give God as an act of worship something of what He's given to you. For the next three minutes, I want you to watch a video of all of our missionaries from North Way all around the world. They're scattered into 16 nations serving Jesus Christ. I want you to watch this three-minute video as John Walton comes to sing O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. And as you watch this video, say a prayer.