Understanding grace is so important to becoming a Christian. Many
people have gotten the idea that getting to heaven is about being
good, doing good, and fulfilling some sort of religious rituals.
Getting to heaven isn’t about our goodness or righteousness.
Getting to heaven is about mercy and grace. As you look at the
following passages, you will see over and over again that we
can’t earn our way to heaven. Heaven is a gift of God’s love.
This changes everything for someone who believes. We live good
lives and do good deeds not for some brownie points but for
deeper, stronger reasons centered in our love for Jesus.
Romans 3:23-24
For all have sinned and fall short of the
glory of God, 24and are justified freely by his grace
through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
* What does it mean to
be justified in the eyes of God?
* How are we justified according to this passage?
Ephesians 1:7-8
In him we have redemption through his
blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of
God's grace 8 that he lavished on us with all wisdom
and understanding.
* What does the word
"redemption" mean?
* How do we receive redemption from our sins?
Ephesians 2:4-5
But because of his great love for us, God,
who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even
when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been
saved.
* What does it mean to
be "dead in transgressions?"
* How are we saved?
Ephesians 2:8-16
For it is by grace you have been saved,
through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of
God--not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God
prepared in advance for us to do. Therefore, remember that
formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called
"uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the
circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of
men)--remember that at that time you were separate from Christ,
excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the
covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the
world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have
been brought near through the blood of Christ. For he himself is
our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier,
the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law
with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create
in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in
this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross,
by which he put to death their hostility.
* What does this passage
teach us about working our way to heaven?
* What does the word "reconcile" mean?
* How are we reconciled to God?
Romans 5:6-8
You see, at just the right time, when we
were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely
will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone
might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for
us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
* What does this passage teach us about
God’s motivation for sending Christ to die for our sins?
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