When Al Smith was the governor of New York, he was invited to speak at Sing Sing prison. He was asked to address a gathering of the prisoners, and he wondered how he should begin. After they ate, he stood up and just automatically said "My fellow Democrats." Well that didn’t suit, because he felt that "no good Democrat should be in prison." So he backtracked and he started again. He said to them, "My fellow citizens." And then he realized that some of those fellows had lost many of the privileges of citizenship by being in jail, so he couldn’t say that. And so he finally settled on, "My dear friends." And I say to you, my dear friends, I’m glad to be with you.

I am a sinner saved by grace, and this week we’re going to think about the marvelous grace of our Lord, the fact that while we are…