It's clearly established we must be saved by God's grace. But how do we access that grace? Anybody can become a part of that grace, but how do we access that? God's grace has appeared to all men, and let's see what we must do in order to gain access to it.
First of all, how has God's grace appeared to all men? I recently talked to a teacher recently of a denomination. He was a false teacher. And he said that we are saved by grace only. And I said “Now, if we're saved by grace only, then that would mean that everybody saved because Titus 2:11 says that ‘the grace of God has appeared to all men.’†I said, “Is that what you believe? Everybody's going to be saved? The Bible clearly teaches that not everyone's going to be saved, Matthew 7:13-14.†And so obviously when it says that God's grace has appeared to all men, that doesn't mean that everybody's going to be saved. So how has God's grace appeared? Well, first, God's grace has appeared to us in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. In the book of Romans chapter 3, the Bible says, “being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.†Romans 3:24. How are we justified? Freely by His grace.
But where? Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. You see, the grace is found in the redemption of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The Hebrews writer writes in Hebrews 2:9, “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.†It is the grace of God that allowed Jesus Christ to die to on the cross- that sent him to that cruel cross. John 3:16, the Bible says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.†In 1 John 2:2, John is talking about the great sacrifice of Jesus Christ and how He is our propitiation. And the Bible says in 1 John 2:2, “That He Himself,†Christ, “is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.†And so we see God's grace in His love, we see God's grace in the sacrifice, God's grace has appeared to all men through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ.
Another way that God's grace has appeared to us and to all men is by giving us his word. Because it's only through the Bible, it's only through his word we can even know anything about the grace of God. In John 17:17, Jesus said that all of His followers are to be sanctified or set apart by truth, and He goes on to tell us what truth is. God's word is truth. In John 8:32 the Bible says, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.†We can only be set free from obeying the truth and obeying God's word, 2 Timothy 3:16-17. And so God's grace is seen by giving us and preserving his word so that we can know about grace, so that we can know what we have to do in order to go to heaven. In Acts chapter 20, Paul is in Ephesus, and he was about to leave. And in verse 32 the Bible says, “So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.†The what? The word of His grace. It's the word of God that's going to build us up. It's the word of God that we learn how to be sanctified and how we are to be saved. And thank God for giving that to us, and preserving it so that we can study, so that we can read, apply it to our own lives, and also go out and teach others.
