SAVED BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH IN LORD JESUS CHRIST

What is grace? The word "grace" comes to us from the Latin gratus meaning "pleasing". We could say that we will secure salvation as an act of God’s pleasure and, as far as those who adhere to the doctrine of “saved by grace alone” are concerned, this is as accurate as it gets. God’s good pleasure is to extend grace to the righteous; that is, those who have been numbered among the elect, who were to be chosen in Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world. However, the number of the elect was predestined before the foundation of the world, not the actual individuals. That the actual number of people to be saved was designated before the foundation of the world is, nevertheless, still a matter of grace (God’s good pleasure). Grace not only refers to the free and unmerited favor of God, but also to the divine power imparted to people who experience spiritual rebirth. Grace also refers to the assistance that God gives and the gifts that He bestows on His creat...

  Saved by faith Faith is the focus of the eleventh chapter of the book of Hebrews. Faith is a very important subject; for without faith it is impossible for anybody to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Yet many believe this is not the case. This is because they believe grace alone is sufficient for us to find favor with God. To these individuals any suggestion that we have to exercise obedience of faith is anathema, lest we boast. However, pleasing God is not a matter of boasting, because we need to trust God to give Him the pleasure He seeks by bestowing grace upon grace (John 1:17) all over us. Trusting in our Heavenly Father is not a basis for boasting; rather it is a matter of rejoicing in His good pleasure. Rejoicing in the pleasure of God’s favor is something the self-righteous never get to experience, and according to the first of the Psalms: nor the wicked, nor sinners, nor scoffers. The difference between rejoicing in our Heavenly Father’s pleasure, and rejoicing in His unme...