Lesson 7 - The Grace
of God
"For all have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." We have all sinned.
We all deserve to be punished throughout all eternity for our sins, but
Christ Jesus has already taken our punishment. God, by his grace, that is
His unmerited favor toward us, can now be just in saving us, through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Our redemption is in Christ Jesus, and
not in ourselves.
In Ephesians 2:8-9 we read,
"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and
that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone
should boast." We are saved by the unmerited favor of God through
our obedient faith. There is no way that anyone could ever be good enough
to go to heaven, because we have all sinned. We all deserve to be punished
eternally. There is no way that anyone could ever earn his way to heaven,
because heaven will be a gift of God for those who go there.
Our Lord says in
Luke 17:10,
"So likewise you, when you have done all those things
which you are commanded, say, We are unprofitable servants. We have done
what was our duty to do." We cannot do enough to earn our
salvation. We read in Isaiah 64:6,
"But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our
righteousnesses are like filthy rags." There is no one of us that
deserves to be saved. It is only by the grace of God that anyone will be
saved.
