Only the grace of God disentangles the cords of pride that holds the heart of the natural man captive, profanes it, and prevents it from seeking after God. Grace pulls us out of the dark and filthy pit that imprisons our souls, and gives us a new heart and a new mind that accept and understand the things of the Spirit. In other words, it is by God’s grace alone that we are emptied of our moral corruption, freed from the bondage of sin and the sting of death, and fuelled with love for Christ. God’s grace is foundational to our spiritual birth and life; it is the foundation of our ability to love God and to love one another. It is by grace alone that we are delivered from the yoke of corruption and adopted into the family of Christ. It is by God’s grace alone that we can live a fulfilled life. Grace is sufficient for our reconciliation with our Heavenly Father and for the fulfilment of the life He has prepared for us in Christ Jesus.

The works of man cannot cover him. It does not matter how hard he labours, he remains naked before the Holy God, alienated from his glory. Only Christ the Lord and Saviour, in Whom grace is found, can cover the nakedness of those who humble themselves, count their works as refuse, cast themselves on the tender mercies and seek the righteousness of the perfect Lamb of God. It is Christ who takes away the sins of every repentant sinner who trusts in Him and confesses Him as Lord and Saviour. The prideful and self-righteous, those who store up for themselves earthly treasures, anyone who seeks the glory of men or that in which the Lord does not delight, cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, for thus says the Lord in Is. 66:2, “on this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word.”

Saving grace is fundamental to our reconciliation with God. Without the grace given to us in our Saviour Jesus Christ, we would forever remain separated from God. God grants us his grace to set us free from the dreadful effects of the curse brought about by the fall of man – we are all born in sin, and in sin we live, separated from our God by sin and prisoners of death. But although the Lord has no obligation to us, from Him we receive grace and forgiveness, from Him we receive the gift of faith. And by that faith we now have life, a life that we live in union with our God. For in his grace, the Lord has sent his Son Jesus to live the perfect life that we can never live and to take upon Himself all our sins. Christ died as our substitute and credited to us his own righteousness. As a result of Christ’s redemptive work, we are freely justified before God. As Paul writes in Rom. 8:33, “[…] It is God who justifies.” It is by his grace that we are justified and reconciled with Him. He graciously justifies us, wicked as we may be. Our justification secures us in our Heavenly Father’s everlasting love. Redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, our Saviour and Lord, we inherit a new nature and a new identity. We are born of the Spirit, with a new heart and a new mind, our enmity with God ends, we are reconciled and adopted into the family of Christ and thus become children of God. Moreover, we are given victory over death, sin and Satan.

Christ is the most precious gift, the greatest revelation of God’s grace to us, sinners; for the Father offered Him as a propitiation for our sins, not as a result of what we ourselves have done, but according to his own mercy, grace and love. We were dead in our transgressions. Without hope, we lived in fear of eternal damnation because of our culpability. We were not able to make peace with the Holy and Righteous One, i.e. to atone for our iniquities, to appease God’s wrath and to be right with Him. But “God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (Jn. 3:16). God gave his Son as the ransom for sin, to reconcile to Him those who believe in his Son. Christ willingly died as our substitute on Calvary, so that anyone who believes in Him may be freely justified before God and graciously granted eternal life. Salvation is God’s gift to us, sinners, and a manifestation of his grace. We cannot earn it, we do not deserve to be saved, nor is the Lord God under any obligation to save us. Our fate as sinners is eternal damnation. But God offers salvation to anyone who puts his faith in Christ. For “in Him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace” (Eph. 1:7).

Common grace relates to God’s beneficence and benevolence toward men whether they are believers or unbelievers. A general revelation of God’s common grace is found in the blessings the Lord bestows upon all men and in all that He does to sustain them, fallen as they may be. However, it must be noted that this form of grace does not bring salvation. Its purpose is to preserve and sustain God’s creation. This means that those who do not turn away from their sins and seek forgiveness in Christ will be condemned. Anyone who continues to live in disobedience and refuses to worship the Lord will succumb to his wrath on the Day of Judgment. “The Lord will come with fire and with his chariots, like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by his sword the Lord will judge all flesh; and the slain of the Lord shall be many” (Is. 66:15-16). Thus declares the Lord in Jn. 12:48, “He who rejects Me, and does not receive my words, has that which judges him – the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.”

Wickedness dominates the heart of man, but the grace of God abounds. Were it not for the grace of God, no life would have been spared because God is holy and righteous; his eyes are too pure to look at evil. If He were to judge every one of us and execute judgment on us right away, no one would be alive today. But the Lord graciously continues to preserve his creation, He continues to preserve the life of men regardless of their deeds. However, it must be noted that the grace of God does not negate his wrath against the sons of disobedience, the grace of God does preclude his justice “because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:31). So the day is coming when the Lord will judge those who refuse to worship Him, those who refuse to repent of their sins and believe in Christ the Saviour. On that day, anyone who rejects the grace of God will be destroyed just like those in the day of Noah.

What we all deserve, as a result of our sinfulness and hostility toward the Lord our God, is death, eternity in hell. Yet He has not banished us, but rather He continuously sustains us in spite of our sinfulness and hostility toward Him.

However, it must be noted that although the Lord always sustains his creation, all that He does is neither a requirement He has to fulfill, nor a reward for our merits or good works. How, then, are we to understand God’s continuous provision and care for us, sinful and rebellious as we may be? It must be understood that all that God does is a manifestation of his intrinsic character. I.e. the only explanation for God’s ongoing care and preservation of men is found in God’s character. God sustains us not because we deserve to be cared for, but instead all that the Lord does is a revelation of who He is, a manifestation of his attributes – He is the LORD, and thus He does what is inherent in his nature. God’s supreme greatness and uniqueness contrast with human depravity.

If we continue to exist today, it is only by the grace and mercy of our God. However, for us to properly value the abounding grace of God in our lives, we must first grasp the biblical meaning of the word grace.

Grace is an unmerited and unearned favor bestowed freely by God on undeserving sinners. In other words, grace is God’s undeserved gift to us, sinners; it cannot be earned; it is not something that is merited nor are we worthy to receive it. Rather, it is a favor, a free gift from God, not something that is required of Him; for God does not owe us anything. Rather, we owe Him everything “since He gives to all life, breath, and all things” (Acts 17:25), and we can do nothing without Him. God’s abundant grace in our lives reveals who He is and is perceived in what He does to preserve, sustain and to redeem his creation (cf. Rom. 5:15).

Exodus 20:7 reads, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.” The Lord is holy and so is his name. Any attack on God's name is an attack on his person. We honor the Lord's name for who He is - the Lord alone is God; hence his name must be reverenced, glorified, honored and praise. Thus says the LORD in Isaiah 42:8, “I alone am the LORD your God. No other god may share my glory; I will not let idols share my praise.”

I urge you to abstain from sexual immorality, discipline your body and pursue holiness. Do not let your sinful desires control you. Anyone who is sexually perverted destroys his own soul and paves his way to hell. As the Scripture says: “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the Kingdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10).

In Revelation 21:6-8, the Lord says, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

Thus says the Lord in John 6:35, “I am the bread of life. Those who come to Me will never be hungry; those who believe in Me will never be thirsty.” Verse 47-48, “Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.” Christ came into the world and gave his life so that everyone who believes in Him may not die but have eternal life. Thus declares the Lord in verse 53, “If you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in yourselves.” That is to say if you reject the blood of God’s covenant that sets people free, if you dishonour the Son of God, your sins will not be forgiven; you will remain under God’s judgement and be sent to hell on the last day.

Christ is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of anyone who believes in Him. Verse 54, the Lord says: “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them to life on the last day. For my flesh is the real food; my blood is the real drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in Me, and I live in them. The Living Father sent Me, and because of Him I live also. In the same way whoever eats Me will live because of Me.”

Unless you repent of your sins and believe the Word of God, unless you put your trust in God’s Son, you cannot receive the Holy Spirit. Unlike water baptism which can be accessed by almost everyone, baptism by the Holy Spirit is for repentant sinners who have responded with faith to the Word of God. Genuine faith is the condition for salvation, and thus what gives us access to the baptism of the Spirit. Whoever does not believe in Christ, whoever does not have a genuine faith in God’s Son cannot receive the Holy Spirit. They are not born again, they are not baptised in the family of God. They are children of Satan. Baptism with the Spirit is administered by God to his children, to those who turn away from their sins, renounce to self, carry their cross and submit to the Lordship of Christ the Saviour. The Holy Spirit is God’s gift to his children. Christ Himself marks his sheep by baptizing them with the Holy Spirit. So whether you receive water baptism by sprinkling or pouring of water on your head, or by immersion, this does not make you a born again Christian nor does it save you. Water baptism cannot turn you into a child of God.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit is the act by which the Holy Spirit, at salvation's birth, unites into the body of Christ repentant sinners who believe the Word of God and have faith in his Son Jesus Christ. Simultaneous with this baptism is the regeneration of their hearts. In other words, the baptism of the Holy Spirit regenerates us; we are born in Christ and baptised into his family. We are born of the Spirit through our baptism by the Spirit of Christ and we are blessed with the gift of salvation the very moment Christ baptizes us with his Spirit. The baptism by the Holy Spirit is the mark of a genuine believer, the proof that someone is born again. It is the Spirit of God alone who regenerates us through the instrumentality of God’s Word. For thus says the Lord in John 6:63, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” This explains why those who do not believe but reject the Gospel are doomed. They are condemned because of their rejection of the words that bring life. Such cannot receive God’s life-giving Spirit.

To justify their heresy, many of those who believe that water baptism saves wrongly adduce Mark 16:15-16, where the Lord commands his disciples, “Go throughout the whole world and preach the Gospel to the whole human race. Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned.” They misinterpret the declaration made by our Lord in verse 16. This verse, however, can easily be interpreted by considering other verses on the doctrine of salvation – the Bible is its own interpreter. The Lord is not saying that water baptism is what saves people. To be saved you must believe the Gospel, you must put your trust in Christ. Salvation is by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. The Apostle Paul affirms this truth when he reminds the believers in Ephesus how they were saved. Paul writes, “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation; in Whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.” (Ephesians 1:13-14).