Twas The Night Before Christmas

Welcome, and thank you for joining us for Carter Conlon's 2022 Christmas special, "'Twas the Night Before Christmas."

Let's join Carter now in studio. What a pleasure it is to be with you again today as we approach this new Christmas season. You know, we have a tendency in our hearts, and people have done it over the years, to romanticize this season. You know, there's a poem that I like to quote once in a while, "'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring." But it wasn't that way in the first Christmas. In the book of Luke chapter 2 verses 1 to 5, the scripture says, In the past, in those days, that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be registered.

And this census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, every one to his own city. And this also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, unto 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, while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered.

They brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Father, what I'm about to share, Lord God Almighty, I would ask that you would bring peace to every heart of every man and woman and young person and child that is listening. There is something about this Christmas season that is so profound, that in the midst of all the noise that's around us, we can miss it. Would you help us, O God? Would you bring a calm into every heart, no matter how dark the days might be, or how foreboding the future might be? Lord, you are in control of all things. Let there be peace in Jesus' name.

Amen. It was not so on the first Christmas night. We sing a song, Silent Night, Holy Night, All is Calm and All is Bright. We have this idyllic picture, and it's presented in church plays and school plays of the shepherds so serenely standing out before the sky. People kind of hunkered down in this first Christmas night, but it wasn't silent, and it wasn't calm.

There were all kinds of things going on. You can just imagine the people sitting in the inn, reading the scriptures, wondering, Where is God? Where are the promises of God in the midst of all of this? Then you had the zealots that were plotting the overthrow of the dominant culture of the day, which was Rome. And you had the God questioners on top of all of that.

He has forsaken us. And they had all the reasons why the Lord had probably walked away from the nation. Voices, voices, voices everywhere.

It would be everything but silent, and it wasn't calm. The whole nation was being counted in a census. While Luke chapter 2 verses 5 to 7 tell us that Joseph was there to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife who was with child. And it was during this stirring in the country when people are being shuffled about all through the nation, just for the sole purpose of being counted. We must have wondered, why are we being counted? Is this all about taxation? Are we going to be put in internment camps?

Is there something worse that awaits us? Why are we being herded like cattle and under the leadership of a dominant power that's hostile both to God and to his people? You can just even hear Mary in her heart just saying, why God, why? If this is your son and you have all power, then why are we outside of everything?

Why is there no room for us? Why is it that your son has to be born in a stable, in a place with animals? There would have been so many questions in so many hearts. The point I'm trying to make is it wasn't silent, and all was not calm, and all was not bright. In many people's hearts, I am convinced there was a foreboding, perhaps of something which had been foretold that was very, very soon to come their way. In Matthew 2, verse 16 says, Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceeding angry. And he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem, and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, A voice was heard in Rama, lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted, because they are no more. There was an evil coming down the road only two years or less away from this particular moment of the first Christmas. And it was foretold by Jeremiah the prophet, and the people knew these prophecies.

You know, we think of Matthew chapter 24, where Jesus said, Of us as the people of God, you shall be hated of all nations for My name's sake. He spoke of family betrayals, and people turning against one another, and wars, and famines, and rumors of wars, and all of these things. And I know in my heart that many, many people listening to this message today, this has been a concern of yours. You've been sitting there saying, God, are we in the last days? What awaits us? And Lord, how does our relationship with you fit in, and how will you protect your people?

What will be the confidence of our particular time? You know, I want to ask you that question as this new Christmas approaches. Are you at rest? Is there calm in your heart? I have no doubt there might be a few people out there that say, Yes, absolutely. I have found peace. My heart is at rest.

But most of the people listening, I'm sure, would say, No, I'm not at rest. I'm troubled. These are difficult days. There's a shuffling about. There's a lot of noise. There's a lot of argument going on. There's a lot of uncivil speech happening in our generation. What's happening in this world? We see everything good is turning and being called evil, and everything evil is suddenly parading itself and calling itself good.

Truth has fallen into the street as the prophet Isaiah once prophesied of a perishing society. And so here we are, living in the darkest of times, perhaps that many people have ever, ever experienced in their lifetime. You know, some would be saying, I don't know how I'm going to feed my family and heat my home at the same time. I don't know how I'm going to pay my taxes. I don't know how I'm going to pay my mortgage.

I don't know what I'm going to do for the future. And, you know, you're in good company because I am absolutely convinced that Mary and Joseph were probably in the same position that you're in. It just looked like it couldn't get darker, yet they were told that they were carrying an embodiment of the actual plan of God for this world and for the future and for eternity. So the question is, what can bring my heart to rest in this moment that we're now living in?

And I want to make the answer to you really, really simple today. It's simply found in looking away from what is temporary and looking again at that which is eternal. Paul the Apostle says in Romans chapter 8 and beginning at verse 15, For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, Abba Father. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together. And here's the key verse.

Verse 18, Romans 8, For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. You see, everything around us is temporal. It's only temporary. It will soon pass away. The power of Rome would pass away. The power of the Caesars would pass away.

The power of the Dark Knight would pass away. But there is one thing that was there that would never, ever pass away. It was the eternal plan of a merciful and all-powerful God. And the sufferings of anything that you and I have got to go through in our time is not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be very, very soon revealed in all of us. I bring you good news today, just like the messenger did to the shepherds out on the hillside.

Let me read it to you one more time. Luke chapter 2 verses 9 to 14. 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 cloths 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 on earth peace and good will towards men. You know, the good news is that in the midst of every dark night, no matter how small the presence of God may seem.

Think about this just for a moment. You have all this murmuring going on, all this shuffling happening in society, all of the cries for vengeance, all of the woes about where we are, where we're living, all of the anger towards this Roman Empire that seemed to have no appreciation for the people of God, all the questions about if we are the people of God and the world is supposed to be blessed through us, then why are we now in the condition that we are in? And why is our nation experiencing what our nation is experiencing? Voices, voices, voices everywhere, shuffling, shuffling, the sound of horse hooves and wagons moving in every direction, people vying for comfortable spots to ride out the storm, the sound of money being changed and coins hitting the counter and people trying to even sing songs maybe to gladden their own hearts. And in the midst of all of the noise, and the one thing I can tell you, our generation is becoming known for its noise. There's no shortage of noise in this generation. But in the midst of all of this noise, there is the cry of a baby.

Think about it for a moment. And that cry is the voice of God. That cry is so small is the plan of God. That cry tells us that God is in control of all things. Nothing is happening outside of His control. He has predetermined the course and the boundaries of everything that this world will ever know and ever have. He knows the end from the beginning. He has promised.

He's the one who said, I will never leave you or forsake you. You know, sometimes we have to just get away from the noise so that we can hear the cry, because the cry of a baby, especially out in a stable, could barely be heard except by those who really wanted to hear it. We see from the cry of this child in this manger that the plan of God alone is eternal. Everything else around is going to pass away, but the cry of God for every soul ever created in the image of God is not.

It's absolutely astounding when we begin to see it. And Romans 8 tells us again that all things do work together for good to those who love God and are the called according to His purpose. All things. My brother, my sister, I want you to think about that. As you listen to this message today, whatever you're going through, it's all working together for good. It's all part of a great master plan of God. It all has to do with the faithfulness of God, the glory of God. Yes, this world is going on its course of rebellion against the lordship of Christ, as it's foretold it would.

But you're not going there. The present sufferings in your life are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is not only being revealed through you because you know Christ as your Savior, but one day, one day you will come to the full realization of who Christ is and what He actually did for you beginning on that first Christmas morning as we've come to know it. All things do work together for good. The things we like, the things we don't, the things that are pleasurable, the things that cause pain, the things that make sense, and the things that are confusing. And there's no shortage of all of those in our generation, but they all work together for good because you love God and are part of the called according to His purpose. Remember, the things of this life are only temporary.

They may get better, they may not get better. But in spite of everything going on around us, there is a peace available to you and I in the midst of our storms if we can one more time hear the voice of God. One more time hear the cry of God through His Son Jesus Christ when He had came into this world to get you and to get me because He loves us and wants us to spend eternity with Him. Oh, I thank God for that cry. I thank God, I thank God, I thank God with all my heart for that miraculous moment in history where the Son of God left eternity and stepped down into time. He took upon Himself the weakest of human form. He could have come as a warrior, instead He came as a child to tell us and show us that I'm not offended at your weaknesses, I'm not offended at your struggles, your questions don't offend me.

I've come for you. And that first cry that came from that child Jesus that night was the cry from the heart of God for you. His longing as He once said, Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how I've longed to gather you under my wings as a hen gathered her chicks, but you would not come.

That whole society wouldn't come. They chose their arguments, they chose their religion that fell so far short of the glory of God, they chose their desires for vengeance, they chose their arguments, they chose all of these other things. The one thing that didn't choose is the one thing that could make a difference because maybe it just looked so small. You know the plan of God can look so small in the midst of all the storms of life that are all around all of us right now. But I remind you again, it is the plan of God that is eternal.

The other things actually were small because they're not going to last forever, but the plan of God does. God was going to take His Son, the Son was going to walk among us for 33 years and then go to a cross. And He was going to take upon Himself all of our failings, our struggles, our trials, our shortcomings.

He was going to nail it all to the cross in Himself, pay the price for our sin and restore us back to our God. Oh, the sufferings of this present time are not even worthy to be compared, not even worthy to give consideration to because there's a coming day of glory where God is going to be revealed in us and through us for all of eternity. But until that day, He says, I will never leave you.

I will never forsake you. I will be God to you. I will change you from image to image and glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

As things grow darker in this world all around us, as the writer of Hebrews once said, don't cast away your confidence in God, especially at this time. Yes, His voice might seem so small compared to all the other voices and all the other noise around, but His voice created the universe. His voice has the power to calm seas and storms. His voice can call the dead out of graves. His voice will judge every person ever born into this world. And at the sound of His voice, every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord one day.

And it all began in a very, very dark time on a very, very noisy night when the Son of God was born. And He cried out on that first cry from the heart of God for you and for me to come to know Him in a personal way. Now, if you don't know Him tonight or today, I'm going to encourage you to just admit you need Him.

That's all you have to do. Just admit that you need God. Stop trying to figure it out on your own and do yourself a favor and just cease from listening to all the conversation around and even to the arguments of your own heart. And admit that you need Him and believe that He loves you. Believe that He came to get you because He loves you, not because He felt just obligated to redeem you.

He came for you because He loves you. And He promised that He would protect you and provide for you. He told us, He said, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you. He told His own disciples, don't worry about what you're going to live or what you're going to eat or what you're going to wear. Let your priority be to seek first the kingdom of God.

And if you do this, all these other things will be added to you. You know, folks, I've been around much of this world for a lot of years traveling as a speaker, and I have lived long enough to see this as true. I've seen the people of God in the most dire of countries and political situations, but I've watched as God has provided for His own people. Miraculously in many cases.

It's amazing to see it. The scripture is true. If we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, He will provide all of the things that we need. So don't worry. Don't spend your day worrying about these things.

Spend your day focusing on the goodness and the promises of God. In Luke chapter 2 and verse 17, we finish with this one thought about the shepherds. It says, When they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this child. So here it is.

This Christmas, take time to tell others about the Christ that you've come to know. This is a perilous time. This is a fearful time.

This is a time filled with noise and questions and people are clamoring everywhere. There's very little certainty about the future left in anyone's heart. They're turning to addictions.

They're turning to depressions. They're turning to things that will never satisfy, ideologies that can't satisfy. Truth that is not truth.

I mean, there's just a hodgepodge of confusion in this generation. But in the middle of it all, the voice of God is still there. The noise tries to drown it out, but the voice of God is still there. I love the fact that it's only a guess on my part, but it just seems that the Lord could not break through to the people in the inn or the people traveling on the road or the movers and shakers or the ones, the zealots and all the rest of them. He couldn't break through. So He had to go to people who could hear, people out in a field, people who are probably on the lowest rung in the ladder of success of their time. I was told that if you couldn't get a job, you became a shepherd.

It was really that low. But the angel came to them and brought them to see something, to hear something, and to see something that only God could have revealed to them. And the scripture says when they saw Him, when they saw Him, when they saw Him, my prayer for you is going to be, my brother, my sister, I'm going to pray that you could see Him again. That you can see the power of God, the goodness of God, the mercy of God, the otherness of God. That His ways are not our ways.

His thoughts are not our thoughts. As the scripture says, He comes in a way that we never thought He would. And even beyond that, that you could hear Him. That you could hear the cry of His heart for you.

That you could see the goodness of God and the plan of God that this world laughs at and thinks it's so feeble and so weak, but this world who laughs at it will one day be dissolved and everyone will have to confess that He's Lord. It was the plan of God. It was the power of God. It was the mercy of God. It was the goodness of God.

It was the glory of God all wrapped up in a little wee baby in a manger. And the cry that came from His voice was the cry from the heart of God for you and for me. I can hear the Lord saying, oh, that they would trust me. Oh, that they would know my goodness towards them, my heart towards them. The longing, the desire that I have to spend eternity with those who will turn and trust me as the Lord and Savior. So simply confess Him as your Lord today. Jesus Christ, I can't save myself.

I need you. And I believe that you died in my place so that I might be forgiven and restored back to a relationship with God. And from this day forward, I confess you as my Lord and my Savior.

When they'd seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Christ child. This Christmas, tell somebody who needs to hear. Tell them in a soft, sweet voice. Tell them in the voice of God. Don't yell at them because people can't hear you.

You'd just be part of the rank and file of noise in this generation. But sit down and just calmly tell somebody, I know where strength can be found. And calmly tell them about Christ who loves them, died for them, and ever lives to make intercession for all created in His image. And so, Father, we want to say thank you for this great day in which we're now living. Lord, we're not taken aback by the darkness, for it was foretold that the day before your second coming would be dark, just as the first one. Lord, we choose to put our trust and our confidence in you.

We believe this day, God, that as we do so, that we will have something to say to those that are starving for knowledge of a way forward. Thank you, God, that there can be peace. It can be a night before Christmas when nothing was stirring in the house. We were at rest. It can be a silent night, all is calm and all is bright. God, it can be.

It doesn't have to be just a song that doesn't apply. It can be our portion. Give us the grace to trust you. O Jesus Christ, we love you. Unashamedly, we say tonight, you are our God, and we will speak and tell others about it. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you so much for joining us for Carter Conlon's Christmas special, Twas the Night Before Christmas. For more specials like this one, visit CarterConlon.com. Merry Christmas.