The Lessons Of Christmas Series

Lillie Baltrip is a good bus driver. In fact, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram of June 17, 1988, the Houston school district nominated her for a safe-driving award. Her colleagues even trusted her to drive a busload of them to an awards ceremony for safe drivers. Unfortunately, on the way to the ceremony, Lillie turned a corner too sharply and flipped the bus over, sending herself and sixteen others to the hospital for minor emergency treatment (Grant Lovejoy, Fort Worth, Texas, Leadership, Vol. 11, no. 1; www.PreachingToday.com).

Needless to say, the award committee withdrew their safe-driving award, even though she had a spotless record until then. That’s because reward committees rarely operate on the principle of grace.

Thank the Lord, He is full of grace and mercy. Otherwise, none of us would ever receive our final award, because we’ve all messed up more than once in our lives. That’s why Jesus entered our world on that first Christmas night. God was demonstrating His grace towards sinners, who deserved blame.

If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Titus 2, Titus 2, where the Bible describes Christ’s coming as an act of God’s grace towards those of us who are less than perfect.

Titus 2:11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people (ESV).

Literally, in the original Greek, the saving grace of God has appeared to all people. In other words, God, in His grace, sent Jesus to show His saving grace to everyone.

However, He doesn’t force His saving grace on you, no! If you want to experience that grace, you have to receive Him. You have to welcome Him into your life.

The Bible says, “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:11-12). “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

So if you want God’s saving grace to work in your own life, you must…

BELIEVE IN CHRIST.

Trust Christ with your life. Depend on Jesus to save you from your sins.

It was the first night of camp, and a group of tough kids from the city had hardly unpacked when the leaders received word about a theft. A work crew kid was missing a wallet, $35, and a watch. The next morning, Kirk, the intern from the city, found the empty wallet in his cabin. He immediately called his guys together and hit them with the hard facts.

“Man, you guys did exactly what society expected you to do. You just proved them right. And it's a shame. Now you've got 20 minutes to produce that money and the watch, or we're all going home.”

Kirk walked out and shut the door. He could hear the guys shouting at one another and scrambling around inside the cabin. In a moment, the door opened again, and the toughest kid in the crowd presented Kirk with the $35 and the watch. The money was already spent, but the kids had emptied their pockets and pooled their cash.

When the staff person came to pick up the stolen goods, someone asked, “Who did it?”

Kirk replied, "We all did it. We're all guilty. We're in this together.” The kids were shocked by Kirk's display of solidarity. Then he shut the cabin door and started to preach.

“Let's talk about grace,” he said to the silent cabin. “Grace is getting something you don't deserve. God is going to correct you, but he's going to forgive you. Jesus is going to break you, but he's going to remake you. We all deserve to go home, but we're going to get to stay.” It was only the first morning of camp, but God already had the undivided attention of 17 tough guys from the city.

A few nights later, Kirk invited the work crew kid who had been robbed to come to his cabin and to share his own experience of God's grace with the guys. After the young man left that night, Kirk said, “Now I'm going to say a prayer, and if any of you want to pray with me and give your lives to God, then just do it.” By the end of the prayer, 17 baritone voices had cried out to Jesus Christ (Denny Rydberg, president of Young Life, from October 1999 ministry letter; www.PreachingToday.com).

Oh my dear friends, no matter what you have done, just cry out to Jesus. Trust Christ with your life and experience His grace. For if you want God’s saving grace to work in your own life, you must believe in Christ. Then you must…