Saved By God's Grace

            

Bible: For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through 

Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 6:23 (NLT)

Lesson Overview: What is so amazing about grace? Although we deserved to be separated from God forever because of our sin, God sent us Jesus as a free gift so we could be forever 

friends with God.

Grace

“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.” Is there any first long 

of a song more famous than this one? It has been sung by more people than most other songs ever written. But what does it mean? Grace is at the very core of the Gospel. It is a word that you will hear all the time if you attend church even just a few times a year. Still, 

it is often misunderstood or even ignored. Let’s look at this universe-altering five-letter 

word and see how it can and will change your life.

What is grace?

First, let’s take a look at its definition according to dictionary.com:

mercy; clemency; pardon:favor or goodwill.

On one hand, grace is similar to mercy. Punishment is deserved, but because of grace, mercy or forgiveness is given instead. On the other hand, it could be somewhat synonymous with 

kindness and love.

So, we have looked at this definition, but if I’m being honest, this word doesn’t look all 

that universe-altering.

What is so amazing about grace?

What we deserve.

From the moment you drew your first breath as a baby, you were born with a problem. You 

entered a world covered with a thick, sticky substance that makes everything filthy. It 

coats every person who is alive now, just as it has everyone from the beginning of time. 

This substance is called sin.

This sin separates us from God. God wants to be in a close relationship with us, but this 

sin separates us all from him.

“For the wages of sin is death” – Romans 6:23 (NLT)

Well, there you have it, folks. Those are perhaps the most depressing seven words in the 

Bible.

This “death” is what we deserve for being born with our sin problem. It basically means we 

deserve to be separated from God forever.

But God wants to be close to us. He wants us to enjoy a relationship with Him. He wants to 

guide our lives and speak to us. He wants to be our best friend.

So, where does grace come in to play?

“The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus 

our Lord.” – Romans 6:23 (NLT)

Grace is the comma instead of the period.

What do I mean?

Our sad human story could have ended with a period after those first seven words. “The 

wages of sin is death.” Period. We have earned it.

God, however, says, “Wait a second, the sentence isn’t over.” He added a comma.

The story doesn’t end. Instead of receiving what we deserve, separation from God forever, 

we are given the choice of a free gift.

We know what happens if we don’t take the gift, and we know what’s in the gift: life 

forever with Jesus!

Grace is the gift that says, “I know you don’t deserve this, but I’m yours.”

Grace and Forgiveness

Finally, I’d like to look at one more aspect of grace. Sometimes we make the mistake of 

substituting it with the word forgiveness. Forgiveness is also an amazing word. It is 

powerful, but it pales in comparison to grace.

Forgiveness is step one. Grace is the completion.

Imagine that you committed a horrible crime. You killed someone who had a family that loved 

him/her dearly. As you stand before the judge, you already know that your guilty. Everyone 

knows it. The victim’s parents show amazing strength by telling the judge that they forgive 

you. How awesome is that! But does it change what’s going to happen next? Not really. The 

judge will still sentence you for your crime. Forgiveness is step one.

Jesus didn’t stop there.

He gives us grace. Grace says, “I forgive you, and I am taking your punishment for you.” 

Back to that hypothetical scenario, forgiveness was demonstrated by the parents of the 

victim. They no longer hold the crime against you, but someone has to pay for the crime. 

Grace would be like the judge then saying, “What you did deserves the death penalty, but 

because of how much I love you, I am going to take the electric chair in your place.”

Forgiveness is awesome. Grace is amazing.

They work hand-in-hand when it comes to the way God feels about you.

What’s so amazing about grace? Everything!

You don’t deserve it. You can’t earn it.

All you can do is accept it.

It’s God’s free gift to you.