That we are saved by grace is undeniable. It is one of the great themes of the New Testament.

Ephesians 2:8–9 (ESV)
⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

9not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 

It must be emphatically stated, however, that salvation by grace does not mean that salvation is unconditional.  Perhaps the best example of this is Noah.  During his lifetime, the world became so dominated by sin that the patience of God was exhausted.

Genesis 6:6–7 (ESV)
⁶ And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.    ⁷ So the LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”

This demonstrates how quickly sin can spread and destroy societies.  Man was created in the image of God and after His likeness, meaning he was created without sin.  Sadly, in Genesis three, Adam and Eve transgressed the law of God and sin entered into the world.  By Genesis six, man was so corrupt that the Bible that “every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil…”

Because man became so corrupt, God determined that He would destroy the world by flood.  However, one man found favor with God.  His name was Noah and he was saved by grace.

Genesis 6:7–8 (NKJV)
⁷ So the LORD said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” ⁸ But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

Noah did not deserve to be saved.  He sinned just like everybody else.  But because Noah was a man of faith, God showed him mercy and arranged for his salvation.

While the story of Noah gives us the strength we need to be saved now and go to heaven at the appointed time, it also reminds us that there are some things that grace does not exclude.  Let’s look at a few of them.

• Grace does not exclude works of obedience (Genesis 6:14, 22).

Building the ark was not only work, it was hard work.  It was work that was necessary because it was commanded by God (ver. 22).  Grace does not exclude God from giving commandments to his people, and a command from God is never optional.  God demands obedience and such has always been the case (Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Hebrews 5:8-9; James 2:14-26; Philippians 2:12).

• Grace does not exclude the necessity of following the commandments of God precisely (Genesis 6:14-22).

The instructions that God gives cannot be followed half-heartedly.  We cannot improvise when it comes to doing God’s will.  God knows what He wants and how He wants it done.  Our only duty is to do it.  And when we attempt to do things our way instead of God’s way, the results are almost always going to be disastrous (Genesis 4:1-7; Numbers 20:1-12; Hebrews 8:1-5; Colossians 3:17).

• Grace does not exclude punishment for sin (Genesis 7:1-5, 16). 

God only offers His grace for so long.  At some point, He withdraws His grace and begins to meet out punishment for sins committed.  The universal destruction wrought by the flood is a testimony of this.  The wicked people of Noah’s day had a chance to repent, but once the door of the ark was closed, their grace period was overt.

Yes, we should spend a lot of time thinking about what the grace of God does for us, but we should also consider what it does not exclude from time to time.  It will help us to live better.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.