2 Samuel chapter 9. And this is a great chapter tonight. And the reason why we're singing about grace tonight, because I really thought that goes along with this message. And actually the title of the message is Grace. Look there in 2 Samuel 9, look at verse 1. It says, And there was one of the house of Saul, a servant whose name was Ziba. And when he had called him unto David, the king said unto him, Art thou Ziba? And he said, Thy servant is he. And the king said, And Ziba said unto the king, And the king said unto him, And Ziba said unto the king, behold, he is in the house of Mekah, the son of Emiel in Lodabar. Yeah, Lodabar, thank you. Then King David sent and fetched him out of the house of Mekah, the son of Emiel from Lodabar. And when Mephibosheth, Mephibosheth, Mephibosheth, good. Mephibosheth. There you go. Big name. The son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, has come unto David. He fell on his face and did reverence. And David said, Mephibosheth. And he answered, Behold thy servant. And David said unto him, Fear not, for I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake, and I will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father, and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for grace and mercy. Thank you, Lord, that we are the recipients of grace tonight, of your grace and of your mercy. And we see here in this message as well, a man, Lord, that according to the kings, when one king takes over another king, usually they would kill the whole family line of the previous king. Here we see David showing mercy and grace. to Jonathan's son. I pray, Father, teach us tonight as we learn about the subject of grace. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. So tonight we're going to look a little bit on grace. How would you define the word grace? Grace is a great word, isn't it? Well, we're talking about grace is by grace that we are saved. It's by the grace of God. It's not by works. The Bible says in Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. So it's by grace that we are saved. It's by the mercy and the grace of God. It is by grace that we have heaven. It's by grace that we are adopted as God's children. It is by grace that we live. It's by grace that we are free. It's by grace that the blood of Jesus covers our sins. It's by grace that we've been justified. It's all by grace. It's all grace. But how do you define the word grace? The Webster defines it as this way. Undeserved divine assistance given to humans for their regeneration and sanctification. Abba have defines as an unmerit divine love and favor extended to sinners. Maybe you may have heard of the following. Justice is getting what you deserve. Mercy is not getting what you deserve. Grace is getting what you do not deserve. Each of those is true. So, mercy is God not giving us what we do deserve. We deserve judgment, but by God's mercy, He doesn't give it to us. And grace is God giving us what we don't deserve, salvation, heaven, all those things. Here's a story, a story is told about this man, his name is, let's see if I say it right, it's Fiorel La Guardia, La Guardia, La Guardia I think is his name. When he was a mayor of New York City during the worst days of the Great Depression, He was called by adoring the New Yorkers, The Little Flower, because he was only 5'4", he was a short man, and always wore carnation in his lapel. He was a colorful character used to ride the New York City fire trucks, ride many other things with the police department, and take entire orphanages to baseball games. And whenever the New York newspaper were on strike, he would go on the radio and read the Sunday funniest to the kids. That's back then, way back then. So one bitterly cold night, On January 1935, the mayor turned up at a court that served the poorest ward of the city. The mayor dismissed the judge for the evening and took over the bench himself. Within a few minutes, an old woman was brought before him, charged with stealing a loaf of bread. She told the mayor that her daughter's husband had deserted her, her daughter was sick, and her two grandchildren were starving. But the shoekeeper from whom the bread was stolen refused to drop the charges. It is a real bad neighborhood, your honor, the man told the mayor. She got to be punished to teach other people around here a lesson. The mayor signed, he turned to the woman and said, I've got to punish you. The law makes no exceptions. $10 for 10 days or 10 days in jail. But even as he pronounced the sentence, the mayor was already reaching to his pocket. He extracted the bill and threw it to the famous throw it to the man to pay for the bill and he walked away and as he walked away he says here is the ten dollars fine which I now remit and furthermore I'm going to fine everyone in this courtroom fifty cents for living in a town where a person has to steal bread so that her grandchildren can eat. He says to Mr. Billaft, that's the man, collect the fines and give them to the defendant. So the following day, the New York City newspaper reported that $47.50 were turned over to the old lady who had stolen a loaf of bread to feed her starving grandchildren. $0.50 of that amount being contributed by the Red Face Grocery Store owner, while some 70 petty criminals People with traffic violations and New York City policemen, each of whom had just paid 50 cents for the privilege of doing so, give the mayor a standing ovation. So listen folks, that is the sense of grace. We recognize our wretched conditions. It pays our debt and gives us more than we could ever imagine. That's grace. The passage we have read here today, this passage here, provides us some of the clearest picture of amazing grace in the Word of God. God uses David as an illustration to display grace. You know, David didn't have to show grace to this man, but he chooses to show grace. You know why? Because also, his father was his best friend. And in the heart of David, he wanted to be a blessing to someone of the house of Saul. That was Saul's grandson. But we know that in those days when a new king came to power, they had a tendency to go and kill the whole family of the previous king because they didn't want the previous king or somebody in their family to take revenge and go after the new king. But here we see mercy and grace in the part of David. So let's look at the subject of grace from several points tonight. Aren't you glad that God extended grace to you? Aren't you glad that you are a recipient of grace? I am glad that the Lord has me as a recipient of his grace. That he saved my soul, that I am one of his children, that I am adopted, I am a child of the living God. So folks, what causes me, Latin number one, I'm sorry, grace extended. We see this from verse one to verse five. We see grace extended. What causes me to work for the Lord, to serve the Lord, to preach His word, to teach His word, to spend countless hours serving the Lord, to tell people about the Lord because of His grace. His grace and His love for me causes me to do all that. And you know what? I keep on going. I just keep on going. I love to proclaim God's Word. I love to tell people God's Word. It doesn't matter if it's one, it doesn't matter if it's a hundred, it doesn't matter if it's five thousand. I just love to open God's Word and tell people about the great Savior. Because of the grace. I'm a recipient of His grace. I was lost. I was doomed to hell. Many preachers don't even talk about this today. They avoid the word hell. But hell is a place. I was doomed to hell and God came and saved me. Don't matter what I do, it's not enough for what God has done for me. Even if folks, if it was just salvation, if the only thing that God had done for me was just salvation, everything that I do, it never reaches to what God has done for me. Listen, we have to read the scriptures, we have to look at what God says in His word, and take it to heart, and take a full face value, and see what God did for us, and when we take it, We just say, Lord, here am I. Send me whatever you want to send me. I'm willing to go because I am overwhelmed. So while we live in a day and age today, people have itching ears. They don't want to hear sound doctrine anymore. They want to be entertained. They want to feel good. So they're looking for those churches that are like a feel-good master. Give me a feel-good master. They don't want meat. feel good. So we live in a society that entertain people to death. I mean there's entertainment everywhere. I'll tell you what, we should be excited to go to the house of God. We should be like on fire for the house of God. We should be the most exciting people on the face of the earth. Tell people about you. I'll tell you what, that young man today made my day because God gave me an opportunity in the workplace to tell him about Jesus, my Savior. So grace is extended here, folks. One of the greatest things we can receive from the Lord is grace. A grace that transforms lives. A grace that sustains us even in our weakest time of life. It's a grace that sustains. Letter A, the reason for it. What is the reason for this extended grace? Look at verse 1. And David said, Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? So, I think this is a new outline. It's a long statement. David says that he wants to show kindness for Jonathan's sake. The word for kindness is also translated goodness, mercy, favor, and loving kindness. It is in the Old Testament equivalent of the New Testament word grace. Grace is often defined as the unmerited love and favor with God towards the undeserving. So grace is one person accepting another in a positive manner in spite of the unworthiness of the person being accepted. So David desired to extend grace to a member of Saul's family. This is an amazing light of the fact that in those days, like I said, when a new king came to power, he usually destroyed the members of the former king's household in an effort to prevent any rebellion against the family. This is grace and Mephibosheth knew this. He knew this. When David went and looked for him, he probably was trembling and said, if they found me, I'm going to be killed. And he saw the opposite. When David extended grace and mercy to him, he was probably overwhelmed. He was hiding for fear of David. So David decided to extend his grace to that family. So David had the right to execute judgment, but he chose to demonstrate grace instead. Listen, folks. God has the right to extend judgment to all of us. None of us deserve heaven. None of us. None of us. I mean, we have people in our world today that says, oh, I'm a good person. I don't kill. I don't steal. I don't do this. And they go on and on and on with this stuff. And they say, I'm a good person. I think I'm going to heaven because I deserve it. That's pride, first of all. Secondly, it's ignorance. Because the Bible says there's not one good, not now one. I said, we can pay our goodness to each other. I am better than you. The other one goes, I'm better than you. And the other one goes, I'm better than you. And we keep going. Well, let's look up instead of looking in the same level. And let's look up to God. Am I better than God? No. Why? Because He's holy. I'm not. We deserve. We don't deserve grace. We don't deserve mercy. We deserve hell. And people say, well, that's very harsh. No, it's not. That's exactly who we are. The Lord, the Lord show me today, because sometimes they're like, well, there's a lot of nice people in the world and people that work with me today. It is amazing. It's amazing. And we old enough to understand this is amazing when people We're talking about unsaved people, okay? They're nice and kind and all that, but when the road gets hard and when the problems hit them, we see the true colors. And today I saw the true colors on two supposedly nice people. And most of the time they're nice, but when the colors show up and go, wow, you need a savior. You need Jesus. And the Lord just allowed me to see that because sometimes, you know, I don't try to pick on people and it just happens. The Lord just gave me eyes to observe and just see. I'm like, wow. You know, sometimes you think, oh, that person's a good... No, no. The God of the Bible says there's no one good, no not one, compared to whom? To God. So we don't deserve heaven, but it's by His grace and mercy that we go there. So much fevership, but same thing here. He doesn't deserve anything by the hand of David, but David extends his grace towards him. So David, get this, David had promised both Jonathan and Saul that he would not totally destroy their offspring. We see this in 1 Samuel chapter 20 verse 13 to 17 and 1 Samuel 24 verse 20 to 22. So this grace is extended because of another. Note this, no wonder grace is called, well, amazing grace. God extends His grace to the members of Adam's family. You know what, every person that's born into this world is born into Adam's family. There's a movie out there called Adam's family. Go watch that movie. But we are, a person that's born into this world is born into Adam's family. You're born with that sense for nature. So God extends His grace to the members of whom? Adam's family. We do not deserve His grace, His love or His mercy. In fact, if we receive what we deserve, we would receive judgment, domination and hell. If that's what we really deserve. If we receive what we really deserve, that's what we will get. But God says, no, I give you this and it's free. It is amazing. If God's grace is free, God's mercy is free, if God's salvation is free, if heaven is free, why people reject that? Yet God extends His amazing grace to us because of another. He reaches out to the fallen, depraved sinners because He loves His Son and because of Jesus died for us on the cross. Neither you and I have anything to merit us to God, but because of Jesus we can experience God's amazing grace. Luke says in 1 John 2.12, I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake. Ephesians 4.32, Be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgive one another, even as God for Christ's sake had forgiven you. It's all because of Jesus. Not us. He goes, I deserve. Oh, we live in a society. I deserve. I deserve. I'm going to make myself feel good because I deserve. And we don't deserve anything. Let it be. the reach of it the reach of this grace the reach of it look at verse one again and david said is there any that is left in the house of saul that i may show him kindness for jonathan's sake so when david decides to extend his grace he does so without any limits he is looking for any that is left of the house of saul so the house of saul was the house of his predecessor, a bitter enemy, but that did not matter. David also placed no limits on his grace. He was willing to extend it to any member of the house of Saul, without any grudges or any holding back. He was willing to extend that grace. Isn't that the way God does for us, folks? The grace of God is extended to us. It doesn't matter what you have done. It doesn't matter where you are. It doesn't matter what country you come from. God's grace is extended to all people. And He reaches us right where we are. Broken, destitute, whatever it is. The key word in verse 1 is if it is any. David was not looking for people who match certain criteria, but anyone who was the family of Saul and a candidate for grace. God, thank God for our Lord's amazing grace knows no boundaries. He extends to all men regardless of their past, their race, their social standing, or their deeds. God does not reach out to save the righteous, but sinners. Jesus came to save sinners, not righteous people. Some people are too righteous for God. God says, I came for the sinners, those who are broken and admit they are sinners. We see this in Mark chapter 2 verse 17. So God extends His grace to whosoever will. I have no patience with Calvinists. I really don't. Because this thing about some go to heaven and God doesn't look at others that have no hope at all. That's not the God that I know. The God that I know is the God that extends His grace to whosoever will call upon the name of the Lord. It don't matter. Listen. Here's a person said to me the other day, a few months back. His name is Tom. He needs a Savior as well. And here's another good man, another man that you can talk about the Lord and he talks with you, he interacts with you. He says to me, you tell me that a first degree murderer can accept Jesus and go to heaven. I said yes. I didn't even stop, I just said yes. He said, are you out of your mind? I said, no I'm not out of my mind, that's the grace of God. I cannot understand that. I said society might never forget such a person. But let me tell you, God forgives. I told him, I said, when you look at Calvary and you look at that thieves on the cross, where do you think they were? What do you think they have done? I said, we call a good thief. There's no such thing as a good thief. A thief is a thief. I mean, you call him the good thief and the other one is the bad thief because the other one, you know, calling the bad names to Jesus. But he's not a good thief, he was a sinner. And if you look at his life, I mean the Bible doesn't specify much about him, but I believe he did some bad stuff. But he realized he did bad and he called on Jesus to save him. So, praise God, there's no limits to God's grace. So friend, even if you are on social media watching, if you are lost, that is how you will get well. You need Jesus as your personal Savior. You see, no one deserves it, but all can have it. None of us deserve grace, but all can have it. That is what makes grace so amazing. Grace is an amazing thing. Let me go down here a little bit, let us see. You see, the response towards it, towards this grace. Let's look at verse, we already read these verses, but look at verse 5 there. It says, and then the king sent and fetched him out of the house of Mekah, the son of Emiel from Lodabar. So David discovers that one of Jonathan's sons is still living. He also hears that the news that this man was crippled. Well, he's not a candidate for grace because he's crippled. We don't see David saying that. See, when God reaches out, God doesn't look for the good way. He looks for anyone. Although you're crippled, you can't have grace. That's not what the Bible says here. So you saw here's the news that this man is crippled, yet the response of grace is not to ask what kind of man he is, or even how bad he is crippled. Grace does not concern itself with the man's background, his surroundings, his abilities, his appearance, his future potential, or anything else. The response of grace is to ask, where is he? That's what David said. Where is he? When he learned that there was a member of Saul's family, the thing that David said was, where is he? I want to know where he is. So as soon as David hears, hear about this man, he sends his servant to fetch him, to catch him, to bring him to the palace. So let me tell you this, I wonder how Mephibosheth fell when they fetched him out of his house. He said, that's it, I'm going to die. Probably is what he thought. I'm doomed. So Grace said, I'm not concerned about his condition. I want him just like he is. Isn't that the way the Lord reaches us? Right where we are. When He reached to me, when I got saved, I was broken. A broken sinner. That's the way God reached to me. The same thing to all of us. So get this, so as it is with the amazing grace of God, the Lord does not look upon us and concern Himself with our crippled spiritual condition. He looks upon us through the eyes of grace. He sees exactly like we are, but He loves us in spite of who we are. Look at that wicked sinner. God looks with the eyes of grace. He looks at us with love and caring and He wants to save us from our condition. Isn't that great? He knows all about our past. He knows all about our problems. He knows all of our potentials. Yet He responds by drawing us to Himself. When grace fixes its gaze on one of the crippled sons of Adam's race, it cares for nothing but fetching us to himself. When the Lord draws himself to a sinner, the purpose is to reach the heart of that person so that person can get that mercy and grace. It doesn't matter who that person is or what that person has done. God can forgive all, anyone. I put it this way, no one is too far from the grace of God. No one. Folks, it is God's grace. So we see grace extended. Number two, we see grace embraced. Grace embraced. We see from verse 6 to verse 8. For just a moment, let's put ourselves in the shoes of Mephibosheth right here. He is one of the few remaining members of the house of Saul. He is living in a place called Lodabar, which means no pasture. He is probably living each day in fear for his life, afraid that King David will come and take his life away. No doubt, he is a poor man. He does not have access to the wealth or the land of his family. He is a crippled man. His father was killed in battle. And when the news came, his nurse tried to flee with the child when he was small. And he was dropped and his legs were permanently damaged about that. We see this in 2 Samuel 4, verse 4. He was five when this happened, five years old. And all of his life he has been warned that David might find him and kill him. So he lives in fear and his life is misery day after day. Can you imagine living in that condition? So then one day it happens. There is the sound of horses and chariots outside the little house in Lodobar. There was a knock on the door and there comes a man from Jerusalem. The king wants to see you. Can you imagine his heart? I'm going to die. That's probably what this man was thinking. So with the fearful heart, you get his meager possession right here you have and you leave with the guards to go to the one man you never wanted to see. So after a while the chariots arrive at the king's palace and Mephibosheth is carried into the king's presence. Can you imagine? When he arrives, there's nothing like he had imagined. Mephibosheth has entered the presence of grace. When he entered that palace, he entered in the presence of grace. Notice how he embraces grace. Letter A, he embraces grace with a humble heart. Look what it says in verse six. Now when Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, will come unto David, he fell on his face and did reverence. So it means respect. He respected the king and David sent Mephibosheth and he answered, behold thy servant. When Mephibosheth comes into David's presence he is aware that as a descendant of Saul he deserves nothing but judgment from the king. Therefore he humbles himself in the presence of David. David could just send his soldiers to the place where he lived and just kill him there. He didn't have to bring him to the palace. But he does. So he right here, he embraces grace with a humble heart. He knows his condition, he knows what he deserves, but he humbly goes before the king and he says, thy servant. Folks, let me put it this way. When we went to the presence of the king, and we humble ourselves before him and accept him as our savior, From that day on, we look at the king and say, thy servant. Lord, I'm your servant. Lord, every time you need, I'm your servant. If we only have that heart, that thought in our minds because of the grace that we have received. So instead of judgment, let it be. He embraced grace with a happy heart. Look at verse 7. And David said unto him, Fear not, for I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake, and I will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father, and thou shalt eat at my table continually. Folks, that is grace. He goes over there to the king's palace and he receives something he probably was not even thinking about. He receives grace beyond his imagination. Let me tell you this way. Put it this way. The moment we received Jesus as our Savior, we had no idea how much grace God had to restore for us. Think about it. Adopted into God's family. Become a child of the king. The privilege of going to God's throne and talk to Him any moment. Anyone? More than that. Heaven is my home. I'm a citizen of heaven. Look at the grace that God extended to me and you. Isn't that great? So you embrace great with a happy heart. That's why I say it all the time. Smile. Smile because God is good. Smile. God is good. I tell you why, we should just smile. He smiled right here. Can you imagine? From fear, he said, even he says, fear not, David said. Fear not, don't be afraid. God says to you and me, child, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. So instead of judgment, Mephibosheth experienced tenderness. He hears David call his name and then, to his amazement, he hears David speak peace to his heart. He hears the king as he promised him restoration and all the wealth and glory that once belonged to the family of Saul. Then the icing on the cake here, David promised to give Mephibosheth a place at the king's table. Folks, The marriage supper of the Lamb. God's children would sit at the marriage supper of the Lamb with the King, with the Heavenly Father. Folks, that is grace beyond imagination. If we think about it, one day I go sit at my father's table, It don't matter where's my background, it don't matter what I have done, where I came from, I receive grace and that grace take me all the way to my father's table. That is grace beyond our imagination folks. It is with a happy heart that Mephibosheth embraces the treasure of grace. We too have been given a place at the Father's table. We too are recipients of God's grace. Let us see, he embraces grace with an honest heart. Luke 16 verse 8, And he bowed himself and said, What is thy servant that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am? Look how low he puts himself. He said, I'm nothing but a dead dog. And so what have I done to receive all this grace? Listen, folks, all of us here, you out there in social media, same thing. Lord, what I have done to receive this grace that you have given me, what I have done to deserve salvation, what I have done to deserve heaven, what I have done, I'm nothing but a dead dog. But I received this grace. I'll tell you why. If only we understand what it is to be a child of God, it should motivate us to live for Him every day. Every day. We get up in the morning and say, Lord, I'm full of problems. But Lord, I'm going to love you today. Because of your grace. Let us see. He embraces grace with an honest heart. I already gave you this one. So Mephiboshep is overwhelmed by the grace he receives here. He acknowledges that he is undeserving for such love and mercy. Grace has been extended and has been embraced and nothing will ever be the same in Mephiboshep's life again. So note this, what a picture. What a picture. This is of the lost sinner when he finds grace. Do you remember the day you got saved? Do you remember that day you gave your life to Jesus? You know what we receive there? We receive mercy and grace. We understand that we at that moment we deserve, hell we don't deserve grace but God gives it to us. If you have experienced God saving grace in your life then you know how overwhelming it truly is. I mean I don't get it. You know, it is some people that believe to be saved, that receive grace, that receive mercy of God, and there's so much apathy in the way they serve their king. Look at this man right here, he's overwhelmed. And it's like, how can you have so much apathy serving the one that gives you so much grace and mercy? Folks, we should be the most grateful, thankful people in the face of the earth. We should show the world that we are people, that we are thankful forever, grateful of the grace and mercy of God. Think back and remember the day when as a lost sinner you were brought by the Spirit of God into the presence of God. Do you remember the fear? Do you remember the feeling of dread? I remember that. I didn't want to get out of my seat. I was like going back and forth. Do you remember the feeling of dread? Do you remember how God spoke peace to your heart the moment you received Jesus as your Savior? Do you remember how you came with nothing and left with everything? Isn't that great? What a grace, what a blessing, what a grace, wonderful, matchless, glorious Savior that we have. When His grace is embraced, everything changes, life changes, the language changes, the attitude, everything changes. because of God's amazing grace. So when we look at Calvary, we look at what Jesus did in there and say, wow, what a grace, what a mercy. So number one, we see grace extended. Number two, we see grace embraced. And number three, grace expanded. So when Mephibosheth came to David, he did not get what he deserved. He received grace. When he received grace, he also received more blessings than he could have ever imagined. Grace was expended here. Notice what grace provides to Mephibosheth and what saving grace provides to you and me tonight. Letter A, grace provided a future. Let's look at verse 9. Then the king called to Ziba, Saul's servant, and said unto him, I have given unto thy master's son all that pertain to Saul in all of his house. Verse 10 says, Thou therefore and thy sons and thy servants shall tilt the land for him, And thou shalt bring in the fruits, that thy master's son may have food to eat. But Mephibosheth thy servant's son shall eat bread always at my table. Now Ziba had 15 sons and 20 servants. Then said Ziba unto the king, according to all, I'm sorry, then my lord the king had commanded the servant, so shall thy servant do. As for Mephibosheth said the king, he shall eat at my table as one of the king's sons. In the Mephibosheth had nothing. He was poor. He was an outcast. He was a fugitive. He had no hope and no prospect for his future. All he had was despair of crutches and little more. But when he met grace, everything changed. All of his present needs were met and his future was secure. Grace give him something he never could have had in Lothar Bar. Grace give him a future. Grace give him the plenty of the king. Note this here. The same is true for those you have experienced saving grace. In Adam, our Lothar Bar, we had nothing. People think they have everything in this life. They don't want gods. They don't want God. They want okay. So they think they have everything. They have the house. They have the cars. They have the boats. They have the money in the bank. They have everything. And in the end, they have nothing. They have nothing in the end. See, we were lost, undone, and headed to hell. We were outcasts and fugitives running from our lives, from a holy God who possessed the right and the power to send us to a lost eternity. But when grace was extended and embraced, everything changed. What sin could never give us became ours in Jesus. For the first time there was hope for the future. Listen folks, you might not have much in this world, but you have a great future waiting for you. Can you imagine the God of all creation The Almighty God is my Heavenly Father. I am adopted to God's family. That is a future. There is a new heaven and a new earth on which I'm going to be there for all eternity with my God, with my Jesus there for all eternity. You know why? Because I'm part of God's family. That's a future, folks. What about the lost? What kind of future do they have? I'll tell you what the future they have. Gehenna, the great lake of fire. That's a future for those who reject Jesus as their personal savior. If you think that's a good future, I wish you well. So what sin, so we we are promised security That's what we have. Now we have this future. We are promised security. John chapter 6 verse 37-40. We are secure in the hands of the Father. We are secure in the hands of the Son. We are secure in the Holy Spirit. We are sealed. Nobody can take us out of there. We are promised a home in heaven. We are promised that our needs will be met. Philippians chapter 4 verse 19. It says like, well, listen, God meets our needs every day. Might not be the way we want, but He meets our needs. We are promised His presence all the way home to heaven. Hebrews chapter 3, verse 5, Matthew 28, 20. So, that is what grace gives to all those who embrace it. It is amazing. And if you don't believe that tonight, you just put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and receive Him as your Savior, and grace will be extended to you. Your life will change. Your heart will change. That's grace, folks. That's what happened to me. I was religious. I was not a born-again Christian. I just follow religion, what religion does. You know what? When I received Jesus as my Savior, everything changed. Everything changed. And you know what? There's no going back. He's always moving forward. He's always moving forward. Let it be. Grace provided a family. Look at verse 11 there. Mephiboshep was adopted, look at this, out of Saul's family into David's family. Grace gave him something that he did not have before and it was extended to him. Grace gave him a family. Every day he lives, Mephiboshep was reminded by his surroundings and by his presence of the king that he was a recipient of grace. He was way worse because of grace of the King. So note this, when a sinner responds to the call of grace and is saved, that sinner is immediately adopted into the family of God. That is mercy and grace, folks. God in His mercy extends His grace to lost sinners. You see Adam, in Adam we are doomed to death. But in Jesus we are destined for life. Grace took us from the loaded bar so to speak and brought us into the family of God. May we never forget that we have what we have and that we are what we are by the grace of God. So let us see, grace provided fulfillment. Look at verse 13. So Mephibosheth was a nobody in a house full of somebodies. There was the Absalom, perfect and handsome, was there. There was David, all the sons there. There was David's beautiful wives and daughters there. There was Joab, the general, and proud and strong. There were princes and princesses, soldiers and statesmen, men of wealth and men of power. They all lived there. All these took their places in the table of the great king. But wait a minute. But wait, as the family get it, there is the sound of a crippled man coming down the hallway. There was the clomp of his crotches and the sound of his feet being dragged. It is Mephiboshep and he takes his place at the king's table with all the mighty men over there. Then when he takes his seat and the tablecloth falls across his legs, he looks just like the rest of them. Grace took a nobody from nowhere, him and him as somebody, at the king's table. Isn't that where we are folks? Grace took us as a nobody and put us in the king's table. Now we are somebody. Who are we? We are the children of the great king. We have every reason to smile to life and say, you know what, there might be a lot of good bodies over there but I'm one of them too. Listen folks, note this. That is the power of grace. It takes the lost sinner, changes him completely, and gives him a seat at the Lord's table. It takes us from the lodobar and makes us one of God's children. It puts us on an even footing with all the rest of God's precious saints. I say all the time, at the foot of the cross, we're all the same. When you embrace His grace, He elevates you to a new position. You are not beneath Abraham, Moses and the apostles or any other saint of God. You are His children seated at His table and His grace has taken care of your past and your infirmities. That is the power of grace, folks. Folks, let me remind you of something tonight. You are saved because of God's grace. We are the children of God because of His grace. We are adopted to God's family because of His grace. We have made peace with God because of His grace. Heaven is our home because of His grace. We have been forgiven because of His grace. We live in this world because of His grace. Folks, all because of grace. It's all about grace. The grace of God that passes all understanding, people curse God, use His name in vain, mock God, reject His precious gift of salvation, and still God is continually extending His grace to them. I don't understand that. But that's what God does. And I conclude with this. There's a song that goes like this. Grace greater than our sin. Look what it says. Marvelous grace of our loving Lord. Grace that extends our sin and our guilt. There where the blood of the Lamb was spilled. The Lord says, Grace, grace, God's grace, Grace that will pardon and cleanse within, Grace, grace, God's grace, Grace that is greater than all our sin. Sin and despair like the sea waves call, Threaten the soul with infinite loss. Grace that is greater, yes, grace untold, points to the refuge, the mighty cross. Dark is the stain that we cannot hide. What can avail to wash it away? Look, there's a flowing, a cleansing tide. Folks, it's all about grace. It's all about grace. Everything we do is because of the grace of God. I think if we grasp this, we'd be on fire for God every day. We get up in the morning and say, God, Lord, thank you. You give me another day. I smile to the day. Even in the most dark of hours, I smile to the day. I might not smile in my face, but I smile in my heart because of the grace of God. I tell you, folks, I'm preaching you tonight because of the grace of God. He saved me. He instructed me. He led me. He put me here. It's all by His grace. It's not my doing. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank You, Lord, for Your grace. It goes beyond our imagination. We praise Your name for it, Lord. Thank you, Lord, for it is by grace that we are saved. It's not our own merit. It's not our own good works. It's by your grace. And Lord, we praise your name tonight. Thank you, Lord, for heaven. Thank you for Jesus. Thank you, Lord, that we can call ourselves your children. I pray for each person here tonight. Bless them in a very special way. For those on social media that are following us tonight, bless them. Lord, if someone, Lord, dear, that never received Jesus as Savior, may today they become recipients of your grace. May they open the doors of their hearts, ask you forgiveness for what they have done, call you to be their Lord and Savior. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.