John 1:14

And the Word became 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. John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, "This is He of whom I said, He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me." And of His fullness, we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Father, as we come before this passage of Scripture, an important passage of Scripture, we read about the Word becoming flesh, You coming into this world. As we prepare to celebrate Christmas over the next several weeks, I pray, God, that You would ready our hearts and our minds to fully understand and grasp what the Christmas holiday is actually about.

There are so many things, so many trappings that our culture has attached to this season of the year that can distract us and become overwhelming. So much so that there are a lot of people in our culture who do not fully grasp the weight of what this holiday is all about, what it stands for, and what it means. I pray, God, that You would speak to us and give us understanding to fully grasp it so that we could share that with other people. Ultimately, Lord, that's what You've called us to do: to proclaim Your praises to a world that is in such desperate need of You.

So we give You this time this morning. We pray for the presence of Your Spirit to guide us into all truth, to teach us all things, and to speak to us today, for we ask this in Jesus' name. And all those that agreed said, "Amen." You can be seated.

In 1943, an experimental behavioral psychologist published a paper in the Psychological Review. The paper was entitled "A Theory of Human Motivation," and the research that went into that paper, along with the paper itself, became the foundational framework for much of the sociological research that has followed over the last 75 years. The paper is more importantly known for what it describes and...

What has come to be known as Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is a concept you may have heard about before. It is discussed quite a bit in psychological research, but it is also prevalent in business research regarding the motivations of people. Abraham Maslow, in his Hierarchy of Needs, portrayed the hierarchy of human needs as a pyramid with five layers. The bottom layers deal with the most basic needs, and then it hierarchically builds up from there to more important and in-depth needs that every human being has.

His research suggests that these basic needs must be fulfilled in order for a person to truly realize their fullest potential. It allows individuals to understand fully or to feel completely what they were created for or what their purpose is on Earth. There has been a significant amount of research that has built upon this foundation that Maslow originally constructed 75 years ago.

What is striking, however, is that over the last 75 years, as we look at Western culture—predominantly here in the United States—we find that what Maslow described as foundational basic needs, especially the bottom four sections of his pyramid, are largely met in the affluent society we live in. In that same 75-year period, we have seen an increase in wealth to a level where, for the most part, people in the U.S. have their psychological needs largely met, their safety needs largely met, their needs to belong met, and their needs for esteem fulfilled. Although there are gaps and some areas where people still lack these things, for the most part, our needs are largely satisfied.

What this means is that as we live in an affluent society where those basic needs are essentially met, we transition from a hierarchy of needs to a hierarchy of wants. In such a society, where our needs are basically fulfilled, we have moved into a hierarchy of wants. When we shift into a hierarchy of wants, what ends up happening is that we begin to mistake our wants for needs, and our wants and needs become indistinguishable to us.

They kind of blend to a point that we really think we need these things that we actually want. You see, a need is something that you basically cannot thrive without; you cannot survive without it. A want, on the other hand, is all the icing on the cake above those essential things.

However, I think we all recognize that living in the 21st-century Western culture, we have moved into an area where our wants feel like needs. They become what has been described by many sociologists as felt needs. The problem with felt needs is that our catalog of felt needs is an ever-perpetuating list of basically insatiable desires.

What I mean is that the more we acquire the things we desire, the more desires we have. You would assume that as you fulfill a desire, you would be satisfied, but that's not really the way it works. When you fulfill a desire, you immediately have another desire that pops up. We are like desire factories, churning out desire all day long. We live in a commercial culture that is more than willing to provide all kinds of things for us to attach our desires to.

As soon as you grab that thing that our commercial culture produces to fulfill that desire, we produce another thing that just increases desire. It just so happens that this season we have just entered into is kind of the playground—or maybe we should say the battleground—for human desire: the Christmas season. Almost everything in our commercial culture is geared around the last six weeks of the year.

So, we live in a culture dominated by desires that we think are needs. The interesting thing is that Abraham Maslow, as time went on in his later years, recognized that there was something beyond the five basic needs he had outlined in his paper, this pyramid of essential needs that human beings have. Atop the pyramid, he came to realize that there is something more that human beings need to fully realize their potential and to experience all that they can in this life.

He described it in his later writings as the need for human beings to reach a level of what he called transcendence. In his later writings, he understood that there was something more than material needs.

There were spiritual needs, which is rather interesting. He began to understand, as time went on and as he researched human behavior, that we are more than material beings. Because we are more than material beings, we need more than material things. There is a deeper level to human beings than just material things. Therefore, we need to be able to lay hold of certain spiritual things. Until we do, we are restless.

Now, look around our culture. This is an amazing thing to me. We live in a time where we have more available to us than at any other time in human history. There's no way to argue against that; it's just a reality. Yet, when we look at that same culture that has so much, we find that people are incredibly restless. Have you noticed that around yourself, or maybe you've noticed it in yourself? I certainly have.

There is this deep restlessness because, although we have so many of our basic needs met, there is a need that we're trying to fill with a whole bunch of wants. As we try to appease that need with all these different wants that ultimately never satisfy, we find ourselves incredibly restless. This reminds me of the words of a theologian who lived more than 1,600 years ago, Augustine. He wrote, "You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you."

Let's think about that for a moment. Our heart is restless until it rests in you. More than 1,600 years ago, the great theologian Augustine understood, as he surveyed the world of his day, that he was a total hedonist before he became a Christian. He tried to satisfy every desire, appetite, and longing he had with the pleasures of this world, and he realized it did not satisfy. After becoming a Christian, in one of his most amazing writings, his Confessions, he stated, "Our heart is restless until it rests in you, O Lord."

We are more than just material beings, so we require something more than just material things. I highlight this, of course, because we have now officially moved into the Christmas season with Thanksgiving now behind us. We know that we've moved into the Christmas season because the Christmas shopping season has officially begun.

It officially began at about 6 p.m. on Thursday night when all the Black Friday deals started. We're already reading in the news that this is a record-breaking Black Friday weekend. In fact, on Black Friday alone, online sales were at $6.22 billion in a 24-hour period. It's phenomenal. This figure is up 23% over last year, which was the record-breaking year of all time. It just seems to continue to increase.

This season is focused on all of our wants that we think are desires, but it will pass. When it passes, with the wants filled and the desires met, we will be left with more wants and desires to be filled and met. We will still be restless and unsatisfied, especially when the credit card bills come after the holiday season. It will leave something devastatingly wanting because our heart is restless until it rests in Him.

Over the next five Sundays, including today, leading up to Christmas, I want to talk about some additional needs that I think we human beings have. We're going to discuss five specific ones. There are more than that, but we will focus on five specific needs that we have. When we seek these things and ultimately find them, only then can we truly experience our fullest and eternal purpose, our fullest and eternal potential.

The thing that we find, and I think if you've been around the Bible for any length of time, you can anticipate this, is that these things are ultimately found in God. As Augustine said, our heart is restless until it rests in Him. We were created for the Lord to desire Him. Until we are connected to God in Christ Jesus, we cannot fully experience the potential for which we were created by God. We will be restless.

The first of these needs that we're going to look at today is spoken of in the text we read from the Gospel of John. In the Gospel of John, chapter 1, verses 14 through 17, John speaks about the very thing that this holiday season, Christmas, is all about. He talks about something that we describe theologically as the incarnation. This period of time, if you've been a part of a liturgical church in the past or a more traditional mainline church, is significant during this season of the year.

Of Thanksgiving until the beginning of Christmas is what we call Advent. In this passage, John speaks about two important concepts: incarnation and Advent.

Point number one on your outline is that Christ's Advent is the arrival of that which we deeply need and ultimately desire. When we begin to comprehend and understand what Christmas is all about and what happens when we celebrate this holiday, we realize the deep need and desire that human beings have. They may not fully understand or comprehend what that deep need is, which is why people keep trying to apply different things to it, hoping that it will meet the need. Although they may not fully grasp what that deep desire is, Jesus's coming—his Advent—is the arrival of that which we deeply desire and ultimately what we need.

So, what are incarnation and Advent? In John chapter one, verse 14, it says, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." That is incarnation. That is Advent. Two thousand years ago, in what we celebrate as Christmas, Christ came into this world. He was incarnated. It was his arrival, his Advent, so that God might dwell with us in our midst.

Now, the prophet Isaiah in the Old Testament, 2,700 years ago, wrote about this very thing. He prophesied that it would come to pass in what is now a verse that you'll probably see on some of the Christmas cards you receive in the mail this year. Isaiah chapter seven, verse 14 states, "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and you shall call his name Immanuel," which is translated "God with us." Seven hundred years before Jesus came to the earth, the ancient Israeli prophet declared that Immanuel would come. God with us would be in our midst. This is what John is describing when he says that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

The title that is most often given to Jesus in the Gospel of John and in other places in the New Testament is "Son of God." However, before the Son of God was incarnate here upon the earth, He existed beforehand under the title "Word of God." This is described in John chapter one.

If you're still in John chapter one, look at the opening verses. John chapter one, verse one, states, "In the beginning was the Word," with a capital "W" in the Bible that I have in front of me. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." He, the Word, was in the beginning with God, and all things were made through Him. Without Him, nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

Then, verse 14 says, "The Word," this one that we're introduced to in chapter one, verses one through four, "became flesh and dwelt among us." He takes on the title "Son of God," which reflects the very nature of God in human flesh. The Word became flesh, and the result is significant. When the Word that existed before creation was active in creation, what is the result? When the Word comes down to earth, He changes address, if you will.

The end of verse 14 in John chapter one states, "And we beheld His glory, God's glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." The Word of God, which was existent before creation and active in creation, stepped onto the scene of humanity about 2,000 years ago so we could see and comprehend with our senses the fullness of the glory of God. When He came, He was full of grace and full of truth.

Jesus is full of that which we deeply need and what we ultimately desire—full of grace and full of truth. This could be said of many things; that Jesus is full of that which we deeply need and ultimately desire could apply to various attributes that come in Christ. However, specifically, I want to focus on grace.

Whether we realize it or not, whether we fully comprehend and grasp it or not, what human beings ultimately need—what we deeply need—is the grace that comes from Jesus Christ. Until you have the grace that comes from Jesus Christ, you will not experience true satisfaction.

In this world, the things of this world cannot satisfy, even though we are constantly trying to grab hold of them. If anybody should know that the things of this world do not ultimately satisfy, it's Americans living in the United States of America in 2018. We should comprehend this because we have done exactly what Solomon spoke of when he wrote the book of Ecclesiastes nearly 3,000 years ago. If you've never read through the book of Ecclesiastes, I encourage you to do it. Basically, what Solomon was 3,000 years ago was an anthropologist, a sociologist who was studying human desire and need, trying to find satisfaction. The book of Ecclesiastes is his research paper.

As you read through the book of Ecclesiastes, you will see the research paper of an anthropologist who went out to try and satisfy himself with everything in this world. And you know what his final conclusion was? Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. Another translation says, "soap bubbles." Soap bubbles, all is soap bubbles. Now, that may sound like a weird, wacky translation of that concept, but that's basically it. There is no substance to this. He tried to satisfy desire with wealth, power, pleasure, and everything else you could possibly think of. At the end of the day, he sums it up with this: all is emptiness.

Here we are, 3,000 years later, still trying to grab hold of soap bubbles, thinking they will satisfy. Yet they do not, and our hearts remain restless because what we deeply need and ultimately desire is found in Christ. It is only accessible through grace. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld the glory of God as in the only begotten of the Father, Jesus, full of grace and truth.

This brings up a question: What exactly is grace, and why do we need it? The simple definition of grace is the merciful kindness that God has given to us in spite of our sin, as a result of what Jesus did for us on the cross. The merciful kindness of God is given to us through Jesus and what He did on the cross, even though we do not deserve it.

The cross describes what Jesus did for us. He died for us, demonstrating the love of God. In Romans chapter five of the New Testament, verse eight, Paul writes, "God demonstrates His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." The most translated verse of the Bible is John 3:16, which states, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life." That is grace.

But why do we need that grace? I suggest to you that we need that grace because of what John says in verse 17 of John chapter one. John 1:17 states, "The law was given through Moses." We need the grace of God because the law was given through Moses. Why does that show us that we need the grace of God?

Well, you're in the Gospel of John. Turn to the right, and you're going to pass the book of Acts and then the big book of Romans. Find Romans chapter three. There, in Romans chapter three, we will see why the law coming through Moses makes it so important that we need the grace that comes in Jesus Christ.

Romans chapter three, beginning at verse 19, states, "Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped and that the entire world may become guilty before God." The law was given through Moses, and what does the law do? It makes you and it makes me guilty before a holy God.

Therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in God's sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. The wrong way to understand the law is to think that if I just keep the law, I will be right before a holy God. That's the wrong way to understand the law because the law was not given through Moses to make you right before God. The law was given through Moses to show you how wrong you are before a holy God.

The law was given through Moses so that we would become guilty before God. No flesh would be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Paul continues in verse 21, "But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets." Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ is available to all and on all who believe, for there is no difference, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

We are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ.

Point number two on your outline: There is no greater gift than the grace given to us in Christ. A lot of gifts will be given this holiday season. Maybe you've already begun or even finished your holiday shopping. I know that online shopping makes it a lot easier. I have Christmas gifts in my office right now for the kids that I didn't want delivered at home from Amazon.

Among all those gifts that we think will bring satisfaction, we know they won't because they break or get older. On December 26th, a new line of better stuff comes out that makes what you got feel obsolete and not as cool as what just came out. Those things won't satisfy, but there is no greater gift than the grace given in Christ. Our hearts will be restless until we experience that grace that comes through Jesus.

How does Jesus bring this grace? Let's go back to John chapter one, verse 15 of the passage we are looking at. The gospel writer says, "John bore witness of Him." The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We beheld His glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of Him, the Word that became flesh, and he cried out, saying, "This is He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.'"

Now, a little sideline that is helpful but can sometimes be confusing: The Gospel of John was written by an apostle, one who was sent by Jesus, whose name was John. However, John the apostle, who writes the Gospel of John, writes about another John named John the Baptist. Sometimes, when you read about these Johns, people get a little confused because they wonder, "Wait, who are we talking about here?" Well, John the apostle, who wrote John's Gospel, is writing about a different John, John the Baptist. He says that John the Baptist bore witness of the Word. He spoke of this Word that became flesh when he said, "This is He who comes before."

After me is preferred before me. What's he talking about? Well, skip down a few verses to verse twenty-nine. In John chapter one, verse twenty-nine, we read this: the next day, John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him, and he said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." This is he of whom I said, "After me comes a man who is preferred before me, for he was before me." I did not know him, but that he should be revealed to Israel. Therefore, I came baptizing with water.

This is interesting. We believe in something called baptism, that when a person puts their faith in Jesus as a sign of their faith, they publicly declare to others that they have trusted in Jesus. We call upon them to be baptized, which means to be immersed in water. Now, two thousand years ago, there was this guy, John the Baptist. He's a Baptist, kind of like us. John the Baptist came baptizing people; that's why I call him John the Baptist. He was dunking people in water.

People wonder why John the Baptist was dunking people in water two thousand years ago. John tells us exactly why he was doing this. In verse thirty-two, John chapter one, he says, "I saw the Spirit descending upon him from heaven like a dove and remaining upon him." I did not know who the Word of God was. So, John the Baptist was sent by God to proclaim who the incarnate Son of God, the Word of God, was. He says, "I didn't know who he was, but he who sent me, God, who sent me to baptize with water, said to me, 'Upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God."

So, here's what I imagine the scene looked like when John the Baptist was baptizing people. John had received inspiration and revelation from God the Father. God said to John the Baptist, "Listen, what I want you to do is go preach this gospel of repentance, and a whole bunch of people are going to come to you. You should tell them to be baptized. When you see the Spirit of God descending and remaining upon one of the individuals that you baptize like a dove, that is the Word of God. That is the Son of God. That's the one who's going to take away the sin of the world."

So, here's what I imagine it looked like: John the Baptist would baptize people, and they'd come up out of the water, and then he'd go like this: "Nope. Next," and dunk another one.

Nope. Next. One day, Jesus came to him, who the God or the prophet Isaiah says there was nothing in his form or appearance that would make him desirable. Nothing that would make him stand out and cause people to say, "That's gotta be the one." He looked like your average Jewish man of the day. Yet, John the Baptist baptized him. When he came up out of the water, every one of the Gospel writers tells us that the Spirit of God descended upon him like a dove and remained upon him. John then declared, "That's him."

So, what does he immediately begin to do after he sees this? Look at verse thirty-five again. The next day, John stood with two of his disciples, and looking at Jesus as he walked, he said, "Behold the Lamb of God." What does he now begin to do? He identifies Jesus as the Lamb of God, the Lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world.

Point number three: Jesus gives grace by giving himself to take away sin. This is what John the Baptist meant when he said, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." To a Jewish hearer, all the people who were listening to John at that time were predominantly Jewish. These Jewish hearers would understand the language of the Lamb that takes away sin. In Jewish theology and religion, to deal with sin, there had to be a sacrifice.

This is what you read about in the first five books of the Bible, specifically the book of Leviticus. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus—the third book of the Bible—describes all the different animal sacrifices that the Jewish people would engage in to deal with sin. There was one specifically called the sin sacrifice, which was a lamb without spot or blemish that was sacrificed in place of the sinful person to cover their sin.

However, the problem with that was that the covering only lasted for a period of time until you sinned again. You would have to offer another sacrifice, and another sacrifice, and another sacrifice because the sacrifices of rams, goats, and lambs could not take away sin. But Jesus came 2,000 years ago as the Lamb of God to take away sin, not just cover it. He is the sacrifice for us in our place. That is grace.

This brings us to another really important question: Who receives this gift of grace?

Who gets to have this gift? Well, look at what John says back in John chapter one in the text we're looking at. In verse 16, John 1:16 states, "And of his fullness," referring to the Word that became flesh, the same Word that John the Baptist is proclaiming. "Of his fullness, we have all received." Would you circle that word "all" in your neighbor's Bible? Just lean over and circle it. Of his fullness of grace, He is full of grace and full of truth.

When we read that "of his fullness, we have all received," does this mean that all people on all the earth at all times are recipients of the fullness of His grace? Of course, there are some people who read it that way, but that's not what it means. How do we know that's not what it means? Well, back up a little bit in John chapter one to verse 11.

John chapter one, verse 11 speaks about this Word that became flesh, full of grace and truth. It refers to the one whom John the Baptist spoke of as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. It says, "He came to his own." He came to his people, the Jewish people first, to the Jew first and then to the Gentiles. He came to his own, and his own did not receive Him.

But in verse 12, it continues, "As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become the children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God."

So, John chapter one, verses 11 through 13 tells us that there are some people who did not receive Him when He came, but to those who did receive Him, He gave the right to be called the children of God.

So, who receives His grace? When we read in verse 16 that "of His fullness of grace, we have all received," it means that all of those people who receive the gift of His grace, they all receive it. But how do they receive this gift of grace? Look at the verses again, chapter one, verses 11 through 13. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him, but as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to be called the children of God, to those who—what's that operative word?—believe in His name.

Name who were born, not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God.

Point number four on your outline: God's grace is given freely to those who trust in Jesus. A very simple way to receive the fullness of God's grace that we desperately desire and need is to receive that grace by trusting in Jesus.

Finally, it brings us to the last important question: How much grace do we receive when we trust in Jesus, the grace of God that we all deeply need and desire? How much grace do we actually receive? It says in verse 16, "And of His fullness, we have all received, and grace for grace." Grace for grace, the fullness of grace and grace for grace—what does that mean?

Let me read the same verse in a few other English translations. The New Living Translation says, "From His abundance, we have all received one gracious blessing after another." The English Standard Version states, "For from His fullness, we have all received grace upon grace." The Christian Standard Bible says, "Indeed, we have all received grace upon grace from His fullness."

When we give gifts, as we all will, the gifts that we give come from limited resources. At least, I think most of us have limited resources, which means there is a limit to what we can give. But God has infinite stores of grace. There is no limit to the grace that He can give to you and to me.

There is never a time that you will come to God for grace and find Him tapped out. You won't hear, "That guy, Mark Searle, took all of it about 20 minutes ago. I got nothing left." This is why the author of the book of Hebrews, in Hebrews chapter four, verse 16, says, "Therefore, let us come boldly before the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and grace in our time of need." Every time we have a need, we come to God before His throne of grace, and He has abundant stores of grace.

Back in the Old Testament, the prophet Jeremiah wrote in the book of Lamentations, chapter three, "Through the Lord's mercies or grace, we are not consumed." We deserve to be consumed, but it's by God's mercy and grace that we are not, because His compassions do not fail. His mercies are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness, O God.

Point number five: the renewing resource of God's grace is poured out freely and abundantly upon those who believe. Abraham Maslow, 75 years ago, researched and discovered that human beings have basic needs for us to realize our fullest potential. As time went on, he observed humanity and noted that the abundance of resources increased during his lifetime in the 20th century. He saw the greatest increase that man has ever really seen.

As he observed these things, he realized there is something more than just these needs. Man needs transcendence; he needs something spiritual because he is more than just material. If he were just material, as materialists today think, every person you know who doesn't believe in God, who is an atheist, is a materialist. They believe that every need and desire can be dealt with through material satisfaction. Yet, we have been living in a huge experiment in our country, and we have all concluded that this is not enough. There is something more needed to create meaning, and for us to experience our fullest potential, we need transcendence.

Maslow said we need something more because, 1,600 years ago, Augustine stated, "Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in God." The only way we come in contact with that transcendence is by the grace that Jesus gives through faith, through trusting in the finished work of Jesus, which ultimately is what Christmas is all about. Jesus came to give fullness of grace to those who would trust in Him.

There are many things that can distract us from that main point. Perhaps you remember those little buttons that were kind of hip in the 1990s, you know, the last century.

Jesus is the reason for the season. I think there's still a company right along the 78, as you're coming east through San Marcos, right before Nordall, that every year has a sign that says, "Jesus is the reason for the season." Has anyone seen that sign out there? It's a simple reminder, but it's so easy for us to forget that amidst all the parties, bonuses, gluttony, gift-giving, and all the wonderful things we look forward to at Christmas, we can miss that what we ultimately need and desire is the grace of God. Without that, we are not satisfied. There is something huge missing from our lives.

We who know and understand this have the opportunity to share that gift of grace with others. The worst gift is the one that's forgotten to be given. So we need to make sure this holiday season that we don't miss that. All that we want is ultimately found in Christ, not in all the trappings of this holiday season. Amen.

Would you stand with me as we close in prayer? Jesus, we thank you for the revelation of the fullness of grace that comes as a result of you coming to this earth. I pray, God, that every one of us standing here today has received the fullness of your grace by putting our trust in you. After receiving it freely, may we who have freely received also freely give it to other people.

God, there are going to be opportunities at work gatherings, family gatherings, and parties this holiday season for us to interact with neighbors, co-workers, friends, and family members who don't know this grace. They are not satisfied with the new car, the new computer, or whatever it is that they've gotten this year—the new raise, the new position. They will never be satisfied with that because they haven't experienced your grace. So I pray, God, that you would stir us to share your grace with others.

But also, Lord, I realize there are people standing here today who have received Your grace by trusting in You, yet they are still restless because they are not resting in Your grace. So I pray, God, that You would bring us into a place where we rest in the finished work of what You have done for us on the cross, that we would experience the fullness of Your grace.

Just briefly before we close today, it may be that you have never trusted in Jesus and received the grace of God. I want to give you a chance to do that today. If that's you, would you just lift up your hand? You want to receive the grace that Jesus gives and experience it to the fullest. If that's you, just lift up your hand so I can pray with you, and you can pray along with me. I see you there in the corner. Anyone else?

If that's you, Jesus said that all we have to do is trust in Him for His grace. I want to lead you in a simple prayer of faith, of trust. So if that's you, where you're at, just pray with me out loud in your heart, however you feel comfortable.

Dear Jesus, I need Your grace. I need Your forgiveness. I pray that You would come into my life, that You would forgive me of my sin, that You would help me to follow You by faith and to rest in Your finished work. In Jesus' name.

And now may the Lord bless and keep you. May He make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May He lift up His countenance upon you and give you His peace. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of His Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.