Graham admitted his guilt, but was told by the officer that he would have to appear in court.

The judge asked, "Guilty, or not guilty?"

When Graham pleaded guilty, the judge replied, "That'll be ten dollars -- a dollar for every mile you went over the limit."

Suddenly the judge recognized the famous minister.

"You have violated the law," he said. "The fine must be paid--but I am going to pay it for you."

He took a ten dollar bill from his own wallet, attached it to the ticket, and then took Graham out and bought him a steak dinner!

"That," said Billy Graham, "is how God treats repentant sinners!"

That is grace.

Grace is an unmerited gift.

We work, we got paid.

We deserve the wage, or even negotiated it before we accept the job.

Grace is not what we deserve.

Grace means we receive we do not deserve instead of what we deserve.

When God created us, He wants us to be His servants.

Instead we rebel against Him. We decided that we do not want to serve Him.

We want to be independent.

We do not want to serve God anymore; instead we want God to serve us.

We want Him to do as we wish.

The logical course of action is for God to punish us.

And God can easily do that.

At the snap of His finger, we all could fall down and die a most terrible and painful death.

Instead, He opens a way for us, not only to continue to live, but to live eternally.

Not only He does not punish us, He gives us a second chance.

A chance that we do not deserve!

John 1:12 tells us that whoever accepts Jesus as their Savior will be saved and become children of God.

That is grace.

We receive things that we do not deserve and do not receive what we deserve.

Grace is an unmerited gift.

After our rebellion, heaven is not what we deserve; yet it is what is provided for us.

Luke 15:11-32 is a good example of God’s grace.

The prodigal son has squandered his inheritance.

In effect, he has severed his relationship with his father.

He moved out and did whatever he wanted to do.

After his suffering, he began to think about his father’s house again.

When he eventually decided to go back to his father’s house, he went back expecting to be welcome as a servant.

That’s good enough for him.

That’s the best he dared to expect.

What he did not expect is that his father showed him grace.

His father did not treat him in the way he deserved it.

His father restored him his sonship.

He was not welcome as a slave; he was welcome as a son.

He did not receive what he deserved.

He received what he did not deserve.

That is grace.

Grace is an unmerited gift.

But grace is not only at the beginning of Christian life.

Our passage this morning tells us that in Christ we all have received grace upon grace.

What does it mean?

It means that grace is an ever deepening relationship with God in Christ Jesus.

We live in God’s grace and that grace becomes a magnet that draws us to be closer to God.

Last Friday Lenny and I were at a gathering of pastors at Rose Bowl.

One of the speakers was Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church, one of the largest churches in America.

Rick Warren said, "I am addicted!"

What is he addicted to?

"I am addicted to changing people’s life, says Rick Warren.

Living in grace is an addiction.

Christians should be addicted to God.

We can never have enough of God.

That’s what Paul mean when he says that all that he wants is to know Jesus and the power of His resurrection.

Paul is not talking about one time knowledge, knowledge that one day will lead to graduation.

It is not so.

Knowing Christ is a lifetime process.

It is a process that will bring us into a deeper relationship with God.

Our passage tells us that Christian life is grace upon grace.

It never ends.

One thing will lead to another, and another, and another.

Never ends.

Once you know God’s grace, you will never have enough.

You want to be closer to God and to do His will.

You want to please Him and that will be the only thing that matters to you.

Many of us do not grow in our spiritual life because we have forgotten God’s grace.

We talk about what we deserve.

I read the Bible, so I deserve to be blessed.

I come to church, I deserve to be blessed.

We think that because we are Christians, because we worship God, because we pray, because we serve the Lord; then we deserve every thing.

We forgot grace.

Only when we realize that what we have is given us to by God’s grace, then we are going to live from grace to grace.

We are going to want to know God deeper and closer.

Grace is a magnet that draws us closer to God.

Grace is unmerited gift.

Grace is a magnet that draws us to God.

One last thing we see from this verse is this: grace is an adventure of faith.

The Scripture clearly states that no one can please God without faith.

When you come to God, you need faith.

You need faith because God is bigger than what you can imagine or think of.

We need faith because without faith life is too scary.

A family visited Disneyland and went to ride Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.

Their four-year old daughter was on the steering wheel.

The car began to race through the path of a speeding train.

Many times the car almost hit a wall and that wall fell away at the last second.

Understandably, that little girl was shaken.

When the ride was over, she said to her parents, "Next time, you drive. I didn’t know where I was going."

She is ready for an adventure, as long as her parents are on the steering wheel.

That’s faith.

She does not understand about the ride, but she knows one thing, everything will be fine as long as her parents are in control.

Grace will lead us into an adventure of faith.

Grace will lead us to experience God’s presence at every turn of our life.

It will be an opportunity to see how God will demonstrate His faithfulness one more time.

As I looked back at the past years I can see how God has been faithful to our church.

The very existence of our church is the proof of God’s faithfulness.

God has provided for our needs at every turn.

We never lack anything.

We may not have everything in abundance, but we have enough.

We may begin a new year with a budget deficit that often time big enough, yet at the end of the year we see that all our needs have been met.

That’s why the very story of this church is a story of God’s grace.

Every thing that we do, we do because of God’s grace and it’s a story of God’s grace.

We do not know what lies ahead, but we know one thing, God’s grace is sufficient.

What we need is to walk in faith and we will see how God demonstrates His grace upon grace.

We are not going to be lazy and complacent; instead we are going to raise the bar.

We know we can do better; not because of our own ability, but because of His unending grace.

Grace upon grace.

By God’s grace our church will win more people to Christ.

By God’s grace, more people will be called into ministry.

By God’s grace one day someone from our church will one day stand up and says, "I want to give my life for a fulltime ministry!"

By God’s grace one day we are going to move to a larger building because this building cannot accommodate us anymore.

We are weak; we are limited; but God is strong.

He is not limited to our limitations.

When we live in faith, when we are willing to do what He calls us to do then we will see His grace upon His grace.

It will not be an easy journey, but it will be exciting.

In verse 17, grace is compared to the Law.

The law although is good, it is limited and predictable.

The law says, if you do this, you will get that.

If you don’t do this, then you will not get that, and so on.

Grace is not so.

Living in grace means you live in faith.

It means you live under God’s control and let Him provides for you from His grace.

His grace will not end because it comes from the fullness of Christ; and Christ, according to John in 1:15 surpasses everything.

He existed before anything exists and will continue to exist after everything ceases to exist.

Because Christ is eternal, His grace will never end.

So how can we live from grace to grace?

To live from grace to grace means we build our life in Jesus.

Personally, it begins with inviting Jesus into our life.

Personally, it begins with asking Jesus to be our Savior.

His grace is manifested to us in giving His own life for us.

The Scripture says that salvation is by grace.

When you accept Jesus to be your Savior, you accept His grace.

You accepted a treat.

You are given something you don’t deserve.

By our rights, we should be punished because of our rebellions; yet He has manifested His grace by giving us life.

The first step in grace is to accept Jesus as your Savior.

And then we continue to do His will.

We continue to obey Him in all aspects of our life.

It will not be easy, but it is doable.

We need to learn to leave our bad habits and characters.

We need to learn to live a holy and spiritual life.

And His grace will enable us to do so. His grace will be sufficient for us.

When we are weak, we are going to hear the Lord says, "My grace is sufficient for you."

As a church that means we need to make sure that our church is about Christ.

The mission of our church is to impact people with Christ.

That means we have to be faithful in our teaching and ministries.

Church is not about raising fund, it is about raising people.

What we do and how we do should put Christ is the place where every one can see Him and be attracted to Him.

That means giving our best, our money, our energy, our talents, so that more people will be attracted to Jesus.

Grace is an unmerited gift.

It is a magnet that draws us to Christ.

It is a life in faith.

It comes from the fullness of Christ.

When we are in Christ, personally and as a church, we then live in God’s grace.