God’s grace according to the Bible points to the exceptional kindness of God towards us (as sinners) in making forgiveness and salvation possible. (John 1:14; Ephesians 2:4-5). And this unmerited mercy is always available to those sinners who believe the gospel and obey the Lord (Acts 11:23; 20:32; 2Corinthians 9:14).

Amazing Grace

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3: 23). Everyone has sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. Not even one deserves God’s kindness and love but He chose to forgive us at the expense of His Son Jesus. Nobody deserves God’s forgiveness and love but He made it available to everyone who believes in His Son. It’s a gift, it’s free because Jesus made the payment. He paid the ultimate sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins that is, death on a cross.

So now God’s forgiveness is yours if you choose to believe in His Son. Apart from Christ, there is no forgiveness and redemption. Romans 6: 23 says “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Escape from eternal condemnation

God made an escape route for man’s helpless situation. He offered the only way for man’s salvation. That is through faith in Jesus. He is your only ticket to heaven. No other way. Jesus said in John 14: 6, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Salvation is ONLY through Christ

In the Old Testament, God required a lamb to be offered as a sacrifice on a daily basis for the forgiveness of their sins. It has to be spotless, without blemish and defect. In the New Testament, Christ fulfilled the ultimate sacrifice once and for all. He alone can satisfy God’s perfect and holy requirements. He lived a sinless and perfect life like a lamb without blemish and defect. He alone is worthy to be God’s sacrificial lamb.

Man is not worthy to be the sacrificial lamb

Man is not worthy to be God’s perfect sacrifice because man is a sinner. God’s holy requirement is a sinless and perfect sacrifice as “guilt offering”. Man is sinful so whatever man does, doesn’t satisfy God’s holy requirement. Man’s work doesn’t have worth. It’s not enough, not acceptable and doesn’t have the power to save his own soul. Ephesians 2: 8,9 says “For you have been saved by grace through faith, not by works so that no man can boast”. In this passage, Paul talks about salvation. He emphasized that salvation was made available to men because God offered it freely by His grace. It is not the result of man’s work but the result of God’s work.

God sent His Son to die on our behalf

God is just therefore He must punish sin. Romans 6: 23 says, “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”. Man’s sin needed a sacrifice to be justified and forgiven. As in the previous paragraph, that sacrifice had to be pure, sinless, and blameless. So God in His grace and mercy sent His Son Jesus to live a blameless and sinless life on earth to die on our behalf.

He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. The perfect and ultimate sacrifice for man’s sin. He is the “guilt offering” (Isaiah 53: 10). John 3: 16 says “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but shall have eternal life,”.

The Spiritual Meaning of Grace

Grace begins with God. He demonstrated the true meaning of forgiveness and love. He loved us so much that He chose us while we were yet sinners and undeserving. Paul said in Romans 5: 8 “But God demonstrated His love for us in this: while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”.

Grace needs to be shared

Grace is active and continually working in the lives of God’s people. Paul credited the success of his ministry by the grace of God. 1 Corinthians 15:10 “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them-yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” God’s grace empowers His people to overcome life’s obstacles and become victorious. As God’s children, Christians ought to extend the grace we have received from God. We ought to forgive and love unconditionally. And by this, God is glorified in our lives.

Grace is eternal

Grace is not limited only to this present life. It extends to eternity. Grace secured our eternal destination which is heaven. John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believed in Him shall not perish but shall have eternal life”. So grace goes beyond the forgiveness of our sins. Grace gave us eternal security.

The purpose of grace

The purpose of grace is to regenerate, justify, sanctify and glorify sinners. It is the glorious display of God’s sovereign goodness, infinitely wise, holy and unchangeable. It promotes humility and excludes boasting.

True believers in Christ endure to the end. They will never fall away from the state of grace. Believers may fall into sin through neglect and temptation, grieving the Spirit and bringing temporal judgments on themselves; yet they shall be kept by the power of God through faith in Christ unto salvation.