Good morning to everyone, hope you're enjoying the spring weather, what a crazy year, amen he says, yeah. Well we're continuing our study of the Gospel of John this morning for our monthly communion service, working through it verse by verse. 

We spent a good deal of time in our last couple of messages looking at the life and witness of John the Baptist and his testimony which is summarized in verse 34 where John said, and I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God. John identifies Jesus as God and also as the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world. His message is that the long-awaited Messiah has come, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and this is the Savior, the sacrifice that satisfies the wrath of God for the sins of men. 

Jesus is God in the flesh, this is the testimony of John the Baptist. And this is why the Apostle John spends so much time in this first chapter presenting John the Baptist as his first witness to the truth of who Jesus is. We saw at the beginning of John's Gospel he began to talk about the Word, the Logos, John 1.1, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God, all things were made through Him and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life and the life was the light of men. 

You remember we looked at Hebrews 1 and read this about Jesus, God who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets has in these last days spoken to us by His Son whom He has appointed heir of all things through whom also He made the worlds who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person and upholding all things by the word of His power when He had by Himself purged our sins sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. 

Jesus is the Word, Jesus is God, Jesus is the Creator, Jesus is the Savior, and Jesus is the Sustainer of all things by the word of His power. He is the Logos, the Word, the way that God has fully and finally spoken and has revealed Himself. John says in verse 14, the eternal Word, the eternal Son of God took on flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. 

In John 1:18, it says no one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. Jesus said, if you have seen Me, you have seen the Father. This is the message of John. Jesus is God and God became a man to reveal Himself to us and to save us from the wrath of God to come through His sacrifice for our sins on the cross. And these are the truths that we're going to explore together in our text this morning. 

If you'll look at John 1:14 with me, please. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of Him and cried out saying, This was 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. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who's in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. 

I've given you five points on your outline. The Word became flesh, we beheld His glory, we received His fullness, grace and truth came through Jesus, and He has declared Him. 

Well, first we see in our text the Word became flesh. I'd like for you to turn over to Hebrews 2 with me, please. Hebrews chapter 2 at verse 9. The author is talking about how everything is not as God intended in the creation, that Adam sinned and now man is subject to the creation rather than ruling over it. All things are not as they should be. 

Verse 9, but we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, and bringing many sons to glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare your name to my brethren in the midst of the assembly. I will sing praise to you and again I will put my trust in Him and again here am I and the children whom God has given me. 

In as much then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted. 

The author of Hebrews here expands on the truth that John highlights in verse 14 of our text, the Word became flesh. The Eternal Word who was in the beginning, who was with God, who is God, took on flesh and became a man. He lived among us, literally pitched His tent among us. God became a man, fully man, born of a virgin as a babe in Bethlehem. He grew and matured, He was hungry, He was tired, He was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin. 

God became a man, fully man, and yet fully God in the person of Jesus Christ. This is the mystery of the Incarnation and it is the explanation of our salvation. The author of Hebrews tells us that it was fitting, it was right, it was proper, that Jesus became the perfect sacrifice through suffering. There was only one way that salvation could be accomplished, and it was by the substitutionary sacrificial death of the perfect and spotless Lamb. Only God could be that perfect sacrifice. 

And John will tell us in chapter 3 of his gospel that God loved us so much that He was willing to send His only begotten Son to be that sacrifice, to die in our place for our sins, to save us from wrath, to save us from sin and death and hell. There was no other way. Man will make his plans, create his religions, fashion gods after his own corrupt nature, but they're not able to save, they are not able to atone for sin. Only God could conceive of the plan of salvation in the person and work of Christ, and only God could bring it to pass. 

Let's look at Romans 3:19. This is a passage we go to often, but it's so appropriate and explains so well what we're talking about here. Romans 3:19, now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 

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 to all and on all who believe. For there's no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood through faith to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. 

Paul makes clear that justification, salvation, cannot come by the works of the law, by good deeds or religious rites or rituals, but righteousness can only come by imputation, by God giving to us His righteousness through faith in Jesus alone, apart from the works of the law, he says. Notice verse 23, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The glory of God, this is the perfect standard of God, and men have fallen short of His perfect standard. 

So God sent Jesus forth to take on flesh and become a perfect and sinless man, and God set Jesus forth as a propitiation, a full and perfect sacrifice for the sins of men. As the hymn says, Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow. It was in this way and only this way, through the death of a sinless sacrifice, making the full payment for my sins in my place, that God could remain just, punishing all sin, and be the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. This is the only way of salvation, and the Word became flesh for this very purpose, the cross. 

And John says, we beheld His glory. Verse 14, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glories of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. What does the word glory refer to? What is God's glory? We just read in Romans 3 that men have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. His glory speaks of His character, His nature, His perfection, who God is. 

John's point in this section is that it is Jesus who is God in the flesh who reveals who God is, through whom God now speaks and gives us revelation of Himself. Jesus has made God manifest, He has declared Him to us. In Hebrews 1, we see that Jesus is the express image of God, the exact representation. Paul also makes this clear in Colossians 1, he says, He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. 

He is the image of the invisible God. He is the firstborn over all creation, for by Him all things were created that are in heaven, that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things Jesus may have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell. 

In Jesus, God is made manifest. No one has ever seen God, but in Jesus God is made manifest in the flesh. In Him all the fullness of God dwells. In Colossians 2:9 it says, For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in Him who is the head of all principality and power. 

Let's look at John 14, turn over to John 14 with me, we'll look at verse 6. Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also, and from now on you know Him and have seen Him. Philip said to Him, Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us. Jesus said to him, Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father, so how can you say, Show us the Father? 

Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority, but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves. Anyone who has seen Jesus has seen the Father. Jesus is God in the flesh. 

Listen to John's words in his first epistle, 1st John 1:1. He says, That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled concerning the Word of life, this life was manifested. And we have seen and bear witness and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us, that which we have seen and heard, we declare to you that you also may have fellowship with us. And truly, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. 

If you want to know God, you must know Jesus Christ. John 17:3 says, And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have glorified you on the earth. I have finished the work which you have given Me to do. Jesus is the living Word of God. 

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. John says, We heard Him, we saw Him, we looked intently at Him and examined Him, and we even handled Him with our own hands. This truly is the Son of God, God in the flesh. And now, my friends, we see Jesus through the written Word of God. John wrote this gospel that we now hold in our hands for the express purpose that we might examine Jesus, that we might know and believe that He is the Christ, and that believing we would have life, we would know the Father. 

The eternal Word has become flesh, and now through Jesus we can see God, who He is, what He has done. We can know Him, and love Him, and worship Him, and we can give Him glory. 

Next, we see in our text an amazing, inconceivable truth. We have received His fullness. John 1:16, and of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. Jesus is the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form. In Jesus dwells all the fullness of God. He is the pleroma, the completeness, the very manifestation of the Father. The exact image, the complete representation of God the Father is found in the person of Jesus Christ. 

Now, the amazing truth is that we as believers in Jesus Christ experience this fullness of Jesus Christ and spiritual completeness in Him. Literally, the verse says, out of His fullness, grace unto grace. The source of blessing, of fullness, of spiritual sufficiency, is the unlimited grace of Jesus Christ. As Paul said, His grace is sufficient. 

And in 2 Corinthians 3, he wrote, we have such confidence toward God, not that anything is from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God. Colossians 1:12, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light, He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. 

In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and you are complete in Him. The word complete in verse 10 is the same root word for fullness in verse 9. We are complete in Christ. 

Let's look at Ephesians 3 at verse 16. In Ephesians 3, Paul's praying for the saints, and this is his prayer, verse 16, that He would grant you according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height, to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 

In John 14:23, Jesus said, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit live in us, my brothers, my sisters in Christ. We are complete in Christ. 

We have the very power that raised Jesus from the dead, working in us to accomplish His will and purpose. It is the Spirit who gives strength to our inner man. It is Jesus who lives His life in and through us as we abide in Him by faith, and it is the Father who can do exceedingly abundantly more than we could ever ask or think to bring Himself glory in the church. Out of His fullness, we have received grace upon grace. It is the gift of God, not of works. 

We've done nothing to earn this amazing gift of the very life and power of God, His fullness in us. It is grace upon grace, grace unto grace, every day, each moment of our lives. We stand in grace. We are in Christ. His love has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who was given to us, and He lavishes His grace upon us continually in Christ. 

So we see in our text the Word became flesh, we beheld His glory, we received His fullness, and next we see a most interesting verse and the truth that grace and truth came through Jesus. John 1:17, for the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 

A contrast here. In this verse we see a consistent doctrine of the New Testament authors, and this is a distinction between the Old Covenant and the New. We started the book of Hebrews on Thursday night this week, and we spent a good deal of time studying the truth that when Christ came and instituted the New Covenant in His blood, the Age of Grace, He completely fulfilled the law of Moses in every way. 

And Hebrews 8 says that covenant was made obsolete with the coming of the New. This is the main point of the book of Hebrews, as we see in chapter 8. Let's look at Hebrews 8. Hebrews 8:1, we understand the context of the book of Hebrews is a Jewish community who's under a lot of pressure to go back to Judaism, some of them have come up to the point of faith in Christ, they're in danger of going back, so the message of the author is to show Jesus and the New Covenant better than every facet of the Old Covenant, and he kind of comes to the crescendo in chapter 8, and he says in 8:1, now this is the main point of the things we are saying. 

So what he says in chapter 8 is the intent and purpose of the book of Hebrews. He says, "...we have such a high priest who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heavens, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man. For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, therefore it is necessary that this one also have something to offer. For if he were on earth, he would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law, who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle, for he said, see that you make all things according to the pattern shown to you on the mountain." 

Look at verse 6, "...but now he, Jesus, has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as he is also mediator of a better covenant which was established on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second." 

Why is the old covenant faulty? God gave the law, God gave the covenant, it's God's covenant, is it faulty? Look what he says in verse 8, "...because finding fault with them, finding fault with them, he says, behold the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, with the house of Judah." 

The problem was not with the law of covenant, the problem was in dwelling sin and man and his inability to keep the law for righteousness. Romans 8 says what the law could not do and that it was weak through the flesh, God did. Okay, but the point here is old covenant contrasted with the new. Moses contrasted with Jesus. Jesus is a better high priest, he's a better mediator of a better covenant built on better promises. 

That's where all of this is going and he says he's going to make a new covenant, not like the one he made when he brought him out of Egypt on Sinai, if you obey I will bless you, if you disobey I will curse you, and they disobeyed and he disregarded him, it says, for I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. Verse 13, in that he says a new covenant he has made the first obsolete. Now what is obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. 

Again, the main point of the book of Hebrews is that Jesus is a better mediator of a better covenant built on better promises. Those to whom the author writes were struggling with pressure and persecution from the Jewish community and from the Roman government to fall into line in the legally sanctioned religion of Judaism or to forsake Christ and go back. The message is to hold fast to Christ. 

It's to leave and totally forsake the old and go on to perfection in the new as we see in passages like Hebrews 6:1. So the premise of the book is that the old covenant was only a picture, consisted of shadows of the true, the perfect priesthood, the mediating work, the full satisfactory sacrifice of Jesus, the fullness of salvation through faith in him, and that this old covenant was made obsolete with the coming of the new. 

So the exhortation is to leave the old, go on to the new through faith in Jesus, and hold fast to him. There are those in the realm of Christianity who seek to divide the law of Moses into parts, the ceremonial, civil, moral aspects of God's law. There's no biblical warrant for this division. The Scriptures consistently see the old covenant law of Moses as a unit, as inseparable, particularly by the Jews to whom it was given. 

However, these theologians seek to still bind the believer with what they call the moral law of God represented by the Ten Commandments. This idea is problematic on many levels, not the least of which is that it contradicts the clear teaching of the New Testament, such as we just read in Hebrews 8. As we've seen, Hebrews 8 makes clear that the central point of the letter is that the old covenant has been replaced in totality by the new, which is a better mediator, a better sacrifice, and is built on better promises, and has a better way to promote holiness through the life of the believer. 

We find this truth consistently throughout the New Testament, and interestingly, when Paul describes what law it is that we died to, that we have been delivered from, that we no longer live under or by, he quotes the Ten Commandments specifically. You are familiar with Acts 15, the controversy that rose out of the Galatian heresy, and Paul and Barnabas go up to Jerusalem to have a council, and they discuss this very issue. 

The Judaizers are saying the law of Moses is still binding on the believer, you must keep it. Acts 15:7, it says when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them, men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. 

So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they. 

Now when we get into Galatians and the context of this, what we're talking about primarily is living, walking, how we live the Christian life. What was Peter's issue? Couldn't have a ham sandwich with the Gentiles. Why? Because he needed to obey the law and separate himself from the Gentiles. It was a matter of living. 

What does Paul say? I through the law died to the law in order that I might live to God. We see the dispute between Paul and Peter not about justification but sanctification, how we should live as believers in Jesus Christ. Peter had succumbed to the pressures of the Jewish community who wanted to bind the believers with the law of Moses for Christian living. 

Paul explained sanctification beginning in verse 19 of chapter 2 in Galatians, listen, for I through the law died to the law. Why, Paul? In order that I might live to God. Now I just want to stop there and I want to go to Romans 7 and have you look at that passage. Romans 7 at verse 4, I through the law died to the law in order for the very purpose that I might live to God. 

Romans 7:4. Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ that you may be married to another, to him who was raised from the dead. Why, Paul? That we should bear fruit to God. For when we were in the flesh, in Adam, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. 

Look at verse 6. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. In regeneration, I died. I died to sin, Romans 6. I died to the law, Romans 7. I died to death itself. As we read in Hebrews 2, I'm no longer held in bondage to fear of death. 

Why did I have to die to the law as a rule of life? Because it was necessary in order for me to live by the Spirit so that I might live to God. But what law is Paul talking about that I died to, that I've been made free from, that I no longer live under or by? Verse 7 of Romans 7, you shall not covet. 

Is the law sin? No, I wouldn't have known covetous unless the law had said you shall not covet. This is the law Paul's talking about, including the Ten Commandments, the so-called moral law that Paul highlights when he talks about dying to and being made free from the law of God. 

The law came through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Now I think the issue for many, when you say that you're against the law, which we're not saying we're against the law, in 1st Timothy 1, Paul says the law is good if you use it lawfully. 

Then he says the law is not for a righteous man. The law was given to show us our sin, we read that in Romans 3:19, you go down to Galatians 3, what's the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions. Did you know it was added? Did you know from Adam until Moses there was no law? 

We talked about this Thursday night in our Bible study, I think it's so interesting. The Bible says Cain murdered Abel, right? Yeah, did you know there was no law that said thou shalt not murder when Cain murdered Abel? But it was wrong to murder, wasn't it? There is no law now that says thou shalt not murder in the Decalogue, but it's wrong to murder. 

Why is it wrong to murder? Because of the eternal character and nature of God. Right is right and wrong is wrong. But the problem with bringing the Ten Commandments onto the believer in Jesus Christ and the New Covenant as a rule of life, number one, let me ask you this, what was the punishment that went with the first four commandments if you broke them? Death. 

You want to go under that? You can't separate the penalty from the law. If you drive down Highway 51 and you go 60 mile an hour, no cop in Iron County is pulling you over. What's the speed limit then? Is it 55? Is that the law? Because there's no penalty. 

So what do y'all do? Y'all drive 60, some of you 65. You can't separate the penalty from the law. And these people that want to put themselves under the law like to pick and choose what laws they'll keep and what penalties they'll get and what blessings they'll get. It's like everybody wants to be Israel today. 

Yeah, they want the blessing, but they don't want the curse when they disobey. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. In Galatians 2:19 again, for I through the law died to the law, why? That I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. 

And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. Paul says, I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteous, holy living can come through the law, then Christ died in vain. He's talking about living, walking the Christian life. He says if righteousness had come through the law, Christ died in vain. He didn't need to die. 

The way I live is by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. And He lives in me to empower me to live for Him. If you go down to Galatians 3:1, Paul says this, only I want to learn from you. Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish, having begun in the Spirit? Justification. Are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Sanctification. Clearly, justification and sanctification are by grace through faith. 

In 2 Corinthians 3, a passage we've looked at often, Paul talks about sufficiency. He says we're not ministers of the letter. We're not ministers of the Old Covenant. We're ministers of the New Covenant. And our sufficiency is by God's grace. 

Then he calls the law engraved and written on tablets of stone. What do you think that might be? The law engraved and written on tablets of stone is a ministry of condemnation. It's a ministry of death. And three times in that passage, he uses a word that means to abolish or cease to exist. It's done away with, he says. We are in the New Covenant. 

And the Old Covenant doesn't even have any glory compared to the glory that excels in the New Covenant. Paul says the law we've died to, been made free from, that we no longer are in bondage to or live under or by is the law that was engraved on tablets of stone. The law came through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 

Jesus declared to us, showed us the Father. He showed us the character and nature of God. He took on flesh to declare, to make manifest to us who God is. If we've seen Jesus, we've seen the Father. God has in these last days spoken to us through his Son. Jesus declares to us the Father. 

And not only this, but in becoming a man, taking on flesh and suffering a death he did not deserve, he accomplished our salvation. For those who believe him, he gives them the right to become children of God. And with that comes regeneration in the New Covenant, a new heart, a new spirit, the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ himself living in us. 

This life is not an imitation of Christ. What would Jesus do? That kind of thing. That's not the Christian life. The Christian life is Jesus Christ's life in us and through us, by grace, through faith. Our old man was crucified with Christ, we died to sin, to law, to death, and now we are new men living under a new covenant with a better mediator, a better high priest, built on better promises. 

The old is gone, the new has come, we are in Christ, and we now live under grace. Now listen, God has made a new and better way to produce holiness through us. Much higher is the standard of the internal New Covenant than the mere external code of the law. And much greater is the means by which he intends to produce holiness, Christlikeness through the church, his life in us, as we abide in him. 

We no longer live by the letter, but by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit imparts strength to our inner man, Jesus Christ settles down in us and is fully functional out through us as we walk in the Spirit, as we let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly, as we renew our minds to the truth. 

Jesus has declared God the Father to us. And through faith, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have come to make their home in us. Can you imagine that? This is who we are. This is what we have in Christ by faith. And my brothers and sisters, it's all because of the cross. It's all because of what Jesus did for us at the cross. 

And that's why we're here this morning, to remember, to proclaim His death, to give Him glory. Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we thank You, thank You for the truth of Your Word, thank You that we live now in a fulfillment of the New Covenant time, a time of regeneration, a time of grace, a time of Jesus living in us. And we thank You for Your intent in saving us, Your will and Your purpose to conform us to the likeness of Christ by Your power, by Your grace. Help us to understand how You would have us to be holy. Why it is that we can live holy lives, that we must live holy lives. And help us to look to You, to look away, off and away, as Hebrews 12 says, off and away from ourselves and to Jesus as we run this race. 

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.