God's Saving Grace (Episode 119)

The grace of God manifests itself in countless ways. Anytime He shows us His goodness when we deserve otherwise, that constitutes grace. This podcast episode focuses on the grace of God pertaining to our salvation. This grace is sometimes referred to as God’s saving grace.

The doctrine of salvation is the most important Christian doctrine in the entire Bible. We can disagree on, even be wrong about some aspects of Christian theology and still be OK. But we can’t afford to be wrong on how to be saved because that has eternal consequences.

In his letter to the church at Ephesus, Paul writes, “By grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:5, NASB). Grace refers to things that are unmerited, meaning things we don’t earn or deserve. Accordingly, God’s saving grace refers to our unmerited salvation through Christ.

 Paul said what he said because God saved us “even when we were dead in our transgressions” (verse 5a). In other words, we did not earn our salvation. And there is a good reason for that. We can’t, no matter how hard we try. None of us deserves salvation. The only way we can receive salvation is that God gives it to us when we place our faith in Christ.

God's Grace Under the Law

But those who lived under the Old Testament (OT) dispensation were under the Law and not under grace. So, were they more righteous than we are so that they earned their salvation by successfully keeping the Law? Or did God lower the bar and grade the OT believers on a curve so they could make it into heaven?

To answer that question, consider what the Bible reveals about Abraham. At the age of 75, he and his barren wife Sarah were childless. Given their reality, it was not naturally possible for them to have a child. Nevertheless, God promised Abraham to bless them with a child. Moreover, God promised to bless Abraham with as many children as there were stars in the heavens. This because he would become the father of nations.

"Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness" (Genesis 15:6, NASB). This means that even Abraham was justified by what he believed and not by what he did.

The point is that no one has ever earned salvation or righteous standing with God. Even the OT believers were recipients of God’s saving grace.

Sad but true, so many people in the world today need to be saved. The good news is that everyone can afford to be saved because Christ has paid the cost for all who believe to be saved.