God demonstrates His grace to us every moment of our lives. EVERY
blessing we receive comes to us because of the grace of God. Every breath we
take, every moment we enjoy, every gift we receive, every skill that we
possess, every work that we accomplish and every hope we have for the future is
ours only because of God's grace. Even the good we do in obedience to God and
the love we show to others are possible only because of God's grace. God may
reward us for our obedience or for the kindness and love we show to others, but
the source of every good thing in our lives is the sovereign grace of our Father in heaven.
This is especially true in regard to our salvation. No matter how we
live or how much we pray, no matter how much we love the Lord or how diligent
we are in seeking to live a holy life, our eternal salvation is based totally
and completely on the grace of God. THAT is the main emphasis of this course.
We do not minimize the importance of prayer, obedience, Bible study, or seeking
to help others, but we must always recognize that we can add absolutely nothing
to what Jesus has already done for our salvation.
Since Jesus Christ has done everything
required for the forgiveness of our sins and for our eternal life, our part is
to BELIEVE in Jesus Christ as our perfect Savior and then seek to live out the
salvation He gives us in works of obedience, gratitude and praise. That is what
the Bible means when it says that we are saved by grace through faith for good works (Ephesians
2:4-10).
In
this course we will study some of the wonderful ways in which God has
demonstrated His grace to mankind throughout history. The first Lessons will
deal primarily with God's gracious actions and promises in the Old Testament.
Later Lessons will focus on the teachings of grace in the New Testament. The
last chapters will deal with the subject of Christian Liberty--our freedom in
Christ to live without the burden of constantly wondering whether we are good
enough or whether we are doing enough to please God. We obviously do want to
please God and walk with Him if we are His children, but salvation is truly a
gift from our Father in heaven. The way of salvation has always been By Grace Alone.
(From SAVED BY GRACE’ By Dr.
Ed Roels)
