What is God's Grace

Grace is not the same thing as justice and mercy. Justice is getting what we deserve, mercy is not getting what we deserve, and Grace is getting what we do not deserve.

Grace is a kind of pardon, something we do not deserve. It is God's free action for the benefit of His people. It can be similar to the pardon a governor of a state gives to a prisoner who is facing execution for something he or she did. Without this pardon, or without this grace, they will die.

All of us in this world are deserving of death, as all of us have sinned (Romans 3:23, 6:23), yet God offered us a pardon (grace). Jesus died on the cross for us so that we could live. However, His death will only be our salvation if we accept it. We are the same as the prisoner, we can turn it down or we can accept this pardon from God (John 3:16).

Remember where Jesus says, "...without me ye can do nothing" (John 15:5).
The Bible presents a wonderful example of what grace is and what it does. When Moses was taking the Children of Israel out of Egypt and into the desert, the people quickly became thirsty, but there was no water to be found, at least not enough for 2,000,000 people and their herds of animals. It was then that God told Moses to strike a specific rock and He would give the people water. This demonstrates how the grace of God flows out to all who will partake. Then the parched and barren land blossomed, which in turn gave the animals food. Without God's grace supplying the needs of the people, those people would have perished. Christ is the Rock. He is also the Living Water. Without His grace, we would die. His grace is freely given, yet it supplies our every need.

Now, here is the real picture in many of our lives. There are those people who believe that God in His mercy and grace will not permit anyone to be lost, and consequently, they see no reason for seeking salvation. However, it is important for us to understand just how one is saved by the grace of God. By definition, grace is unmerited favor. In His infinite wisdom God formulated a plan whereby man could be saved from his lost condition. Jesus told us about it in these words, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).

First, man must believe in God. Then he must accept the conditions of salvation, which are found in the scriptures. Faith saves when faith obeys. In Hebrews, 11:30, we read, "By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were compassed about seven days." The walls of Jericho fell by faith because Joshua believed what God said and obeyed His command. In the same way, our faith must cause us to obey what God tells us to do.

Sources:

http://www.bible.ca/g-grace.htm
http://www.bibletimelines.org/grace.html
NKJV, Roman's 3:23, 6:23
NKJV, John 3:16
NKJV. John 15:5
NKJV, Hebrews 11:30