Text: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life…” — Psalm 23:6
Introduction
There are seasons in life when we feel behind. Behind in holiness. Behind in growth. Behind in joy. We run, yet we stumble. We try, yet we falter. And sometimes, when we look at others who seem to race ahead in the Christian walk, we hang our heads, ashamed.
But I bring you good news tonight—not of a God who merely waits for you to catch up, but of a God who runs after you. He does not wait at the finish line—He is in pursuit. His grace is not passive. It is active, aggressive, and unrelenting.
There is such a thing as grace to overtake. Not just grace to forgive, or grace to help—but grace that chases, grace that finds, grace that overtakes the weak, the late, the lost, and brings them back into the race.
I. Grace That Runs Faster Than Guilt
Guilt is a fast runner. It follows the sinner like a shadow. It stalks the saint with whispers of failure. And the more we look behind, the more we lose sight of the Cross ahead.
But I tell you: grace runs faster than guilt. When the prodigal son was still a great way off, the father ran. Not walked. Not waited. But ran. And fell on his neck, and kissed him.
Grace overtook him before shame could speak a word.
And so it is with us. When guilt would bind your legs and shame would tell you to sit in the dust, grace overtakes with a whisper:
“Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.”
Grace has a longer stride than guilt. Grace wins every race.
II. Grace That Finds Those Who’ve Fallen Behind
Have you ever felt like the one left behind in a spiritual army? The others march forward, swords drawn. But you—you limp. You tire. You grow faint. The enemy sees you and says, “He is easy prey.”
But suddenly, from behind comes a wind. From behind comes strength. From behind comes that familiar presence.
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me…”
Yes—follow. Not sometimes. Not occasionally. But all the days of my life. When I slow down, it doesn’t. When I stumble, it doesn’t stop. It does not leave the weak behind. It lifts them. It catches them. It overtakes them.
In the wilderness, when the Amalekites attacked the hindmost, the Lord Himself became Israel’s rear guard. He covered the slow, the elderly, the weary.
He still does.
III. Grace That Restores the Years the Locust Has Eaten
There are saints here who have lost years. Years wasted in sin. Years spent in rebellion. Years spent in silence and distance.
And the enemy says, “You’ll never recover. You’ve missed your chance.” But the Lord says in Joel 2:25,
“I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten.”
This is grace to overtake lost time.
Grace can do in one year what you could not do in ten. Grace is not bound by your calendar. It overtakes your regret and rewrites your ending. What the thief has stolen, grace will repay.
You say, “But I’m too late.” God says, “You are just in time.”
Because grace is never late. And it is never too slow to catch a repentant heart.
IV. Grace That Hunts the Straying Sheep
What of the one who has gone astray?
The ninety-nine graze safely on the hill, but the Shepherd’s eyes scan the ravine. And the moment He sees the wounded one—the lamb caught among thorns, the one who wandered too far—He does not shout from a distance, “Come back!”
No. He goes. He searches. He finds. He lifts. And when His feet return to the fold, it is not with anger but with joy.
“Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.”
This is not grace that beckons—it is grace that overtakes.
You did not return on your own. He came and carried you. And every scar on your shoulder speaks of a grace that would not let you die where you wandered.
V. Grace That Turns the Last into the First
There are latecomers in the kingdom.
The thief on the cross had no record of righteousness. No church membership. No years of service. He only had hours left. But with his dying breath, he whispered faith. And Christ replied, “Today thou shalt be with me in paradise.”
He overtook centuries of sin in a single hour—because grace met him at the last second and pulled him first into the gates.
There are workers in the vineyard who start at the eleventh hour. But when the wages are handed out, they receive the same as those who bore the heat of the day.
Why?
Because grace to overtake is no respecter of time, rank, or history. It rewards not by length of service, but by the heart’s surrender.
Conclusion
There is grace to forgive. Grace to strengthen. Grace to keep.
But tonight, I preach to the faint, the slow, the weary—
there is grace to overtake.
You are not too behind. You are not too late.
You are not forgotten.
That sound behind you—it is not judgment—it is mercy on your heels.
It is goodness catching up.
It is grace running with divine speed to bring you back, to lift you up, and to finish the race for you if your legs give out.
Let the world run by its own might.
But as for us—we run carried. We run caught. We run overtaken by grace.
Amen.