It is critical to effective reporting of the Good News about Jesus Christ to have a simple and clear understanding of the Bible’s meaning of “Grace” that is offered to us freely, through Jesus.
 
Here are two questions: 1: Do you know for certain that you have eternal life? 2. Imagine you have just died–you are standing before God outside of Heaven and He says to you, “Give Me one good reason why I should accept you into My heaven with Me?” What would you say? 
 
Friends, the answers that people can give to those two “life or death” questions can either be “right” or “wrong.” There is no middle ground!
 
Let us first consider the wrong answer: Salvation by WORKS.  Incredible as it may seem, telling God about all the “good things” you have done will not in the slightest help you pass the grade to gain you entrance into Heaven…  good things, such as:

• You have done a stellar job in obeying God’s commandments,
• You are known as Mr/Mrs/Ms. Charity Giver,
• Your spouse loves and adores you, and your children respect you,
• You impress God with your vast knowledge of the Bible,
• Through disciplined prayer, you show to God your calloused knees,
• You are first to arrive at church, and the last to leave,
• You have been baptised as a “bubba,” and as an adult,
• You have a Certificate of Confirmation,
• You have not missed sharing in Holy Communion … etc., etc.  

Friends, as God is Holy, and His standard of acceptance of us is perfection, we fail dismally!  The above list of “good things” the Bible says cannot make us holy. They merely mask the real problem in our lives. For example, suppose you go to the doctor with red spots over your body, and he diagnoses measles. Imagine he or she then tried to cure you by putting band-aids over all the spots! Would you not say, “Hold on, the spots are only the symptoms – the real disease is within, in the bloodstream.”
 
It is the same as with sin in our lives. Thinking, saying, and doing wrong things are only “symptoms” of sin. Doing any number of good works is just like putting spiritual band-aids on the real problem. The problem lies deeper … the problem is our hearts – they are dark, evil, naturally sinful (Mk. 7:20-23). A sinful heart is a heart that is rebellious against God and wants to go its own way.  This heart needs to be changed. It cannot be repaired. And, our hearts cannot be changed with other defective hearts.  To live the new life God offers mankind, we need a perfectly sinless heart.  Such a heart is not possible from any other human.  We need to look elsewhere.
 
Now, let us consider the right answer: Salvation by GRACE. By grace, I mean a “gift” that only God can offer to us–one that is completely unmerited and undeserved. Someone has explained grace as meaning God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.
 
Ephesians 2:8-10 teaches that it is only by grace, through faith alone in Jesus Christ, that saves us from hell.  This salvation is a “gift” of God. It is the finished work of Christ on the Cross alone that saves us! We must respond to His finished work on the cross by faith through simply believing and trusting.
 
Please note that this does not mean that good works are not important. The Ephesians passage puts good works in their proper place – it shows that good works result from salvation, through the work of the indwelling Holy Spirit! Good works abound through our devotion to God, not through duty to Him.
 
As we grow in our understanding of the amazing love of Jesus, the automatic response of our new nature is the desire to want to live a life that pleases God (not have to) – a new life that is supernaturally purposed and enabled that delights in producing an abundance of ongoing good works.
 
Friends, eternal life is a gift from God. It is not a reward for any number of good works we can perform. It is comforting to every person who genuinely seeks a new life to know they do not have to earn or deserve salvation. Salvation (eternal life) is God’s grace-gift… offered to humanity, through repenting and believing in Jesus Christ.
 
(The topic under investigation next week: “The Good News: Repent.”)
 
 Bill