Grace is one of the most important truths in the Bible. Without God’s grace, none of us could be saved.
Many people have heard the word grace, but they may not really understand what it means. We sing about grace. We hear preachers talk about grace. We may even say grace before a meal. But biblical grace is much greater than any of those things.
Grace is God giving us what we do not deserve.
The Bible tells us that every person has sinned. Romans 3:23 says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
That means none of us can stand before God and claim that we deserve salvation. We have all broken God’s law. We have all gone our own way. We have all sinned in our thoughts, words, actions, or attitudes.
Because God is holy and just, sin must be judged.
Yet God did something for us that we could never do for ourselves. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for sinners.
That is grace.
Grace does not mean that God ignores our sin. God did not simply look the other way and pretend our sin did not matter. Jesus took the punishment for sin upon Himself when He died on the cross.
Romans 5:8 tells us, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Notice when Christ died for us. It was not after we cleaned ourselves up. It was not after we became good enough. Christ died for us while we were still sinners.
That is grace.
Grace is not something we earn.
One of the greatest mistakes a person can make is believing that salvation can be earned by being a good person, going to church, giving money, helping others, being baptized, or doing religious things.
Those things cannot remove sin.
Ephesians 2:8–9 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Salvation is a gift from God.
You do not work for a gift. You receive it.
If salvation depended upon our goodness, none of us would ever be good enough. If salvation depended upon keeping God’s law perfectly, we would all fail.
Our hope is not in what we have done for God. Our hope is in what Jesus Christ has done for us.
Grace does not mean everyone is automatically saved.
God offers salvation freely, but the Bible still calls people to repent and believe in Jesus Christ.
Jesus said, “Repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).
Grace does not remove the need for faith. Grace is the reason salvation is available, and faith is how we receive what God has provided.
We come to Christ knowing that we cannot save ourselves. We stop trusting in our own goodness, our religion, our works, or anything else, and we place our trust in Jesus Christ.
Grace also means that we do not have to fix ourselves before coming to Christ.
Sometimes people think, “I need to get my life straightened out before I come to God.”
That is backwards.
We come to Christ because we cannot straighten ourselves out.
A sick person does not wait until he is well before going to the doctor. In the same way, a sinner does not need to become righteous before coming to the Savior.
Jesus came to save sinners.
The person who comes to Christ comes just as he is, but grace does not leave him just as he was.
This is an important part of grace that is sometimes forgotten.
Grace not only saves us. Grace begins to change us.
Titus 2:11 says, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men.” The verses that follow explain that this same grace teaches us to turn away from ungodliness and to live in a way that honors God.
Grace is not permission to continue living in sin.
Some people wrongly think, “If God forgives me by grace, then it does not matter how I live.”
Paul answered that idea very clearly.
Romans 6:1–2 asks, “Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?” Paul answers, “May it never be!”
A person is not saved because he stops sinning. But when Christ saves a person, that person begins a new life.
The Christian will still struggle with temptation. Christians are not perfect. We still fail, and we still need God’s forgiveness and help.
But there should be a difference between struggling against sin and being comfortable with sin.
Grace teaches us to follow Christ.
Grace is also there when believers fail.
This does not mean that our failures do not matter. Sin still has consequences. Sin can damage our lives, hurt other people, and harm our fellowship with God.
But a believer who sins does not have to run away from God.
We confess our sin and return to Him.
First John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
The Christian life begins by grace, continues by grace, and ends by grace.
We need God’s grace every day.
We need grace when we are weak.
We need grace when we are tempted.
We need grace when we fail.
We need grace when we suffer.
We need grace when we do not know what to do next.
God told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
That promise reminds us that the Christian life is not lived by our own strength.
God does not save us by grace and then tell us to handle everything else by ourselves.
We continue depending upon Him.
Grace should also change the way we treat other people.
When we understand how much God has forgiven us, it becomes harder to look down upon someone else.
We did not earn our salvation.
We did not deserve God’s mercy.
We did not rescue ourselves.
Everything we have in Christ is because of God’s grace.
That should make us thankful and humble.
Grace does not give us something to brag about. Grace gives us Someone to praise.
The message of grace is simple.
We are sinners who cannot save ourselves.
God loved us and sent Jesus Christ to die for our sins.
Jesus rose from the dead.
Salvation cannot be earned.
It is offered by the grace of God to those who repent and place their faith in Jesus Christ.
And once we belong to Christ, the same grace that saved us begins teaching us how to live.
Grace is not God saying sin does not matter.
Grace is God providing the Savior we desperately need.
We do not deserve it.
We cannot earn it.
We can only receive it.
That is grace.