Paul wrote, “For by grace you have been saved…” (Ephesians 2:8). Thank God for His grace. Grace refers to God’s unmerited favor and emphasizes the unearned and undeserved nature of our salvation. God saves man out of the goodness of His heart. The Psalmist once said, “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for His is good” (Psalms 118:1). We should all be thankful for God’s goodness, for it was out of that goodness that He sacrificed His Son for the redemption of mankind. In fact, at the time that God delivered up His Son, we were His enemies (Romans 5:10). Everything God did for our salvation was gracious. He did not owe us anything because our sinful condition is our fault alone. Some blame God for our sinful nature. However, the truth is, we are sinners, not because God created us that way, but because we were drawn away by our own lust.

James 1:14-15 (ESV)
¹⁴ But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. ¹⁵ Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin…

Where is God to blame in this? He created man morally upright (Ecclesiastes 7:29), but by Noah’s day all men were corrupt. They were not created that way; they became that way on their own. Listen to Moses explain it.

Genesis 6:11-12 (ESV)
¹¹ Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. ¹² And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

Sin is man’s fault, not God’s; thus, God could have left man in sin, and He would have been perfectly just in doing so. Thankfully, God’s mercy superseded justice. He decided to give man a second chance by sending His Son to be the propitiation for our sins (Romans 3:25). So then, those of us who have obeyed the gospel have been justified by grace as a gift from God (Romans 3:24; Ephesians 2:8). In Psalm 32, David described the great blessing involved in God forgiving our sins

Psalm 32:1-2 (ESV)
¹ Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven; whose sin is covered. ² Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

The blessed person is not the one who has never sinned, but the one whose sins are forgiven or covered. Since we have all sinned (Romans 3:23), this passage describes us. We are extremely blessed because, even though we have sinned against God, he has removed that sin from our account. How did He do that. Well, one thing we know about God is that He cannot ignore, tolerate, or just brush aside sin. That would be unjust. So, what makes it possible for God to remove sin from our account? The answer is Jesus. Jesus made it possible by condemning sin in the flesh (Romans 8:3). Do you think that was easy? God had to watch His only begotten Son be tortured to death. Jesus had to endure the pain and shame dying on a tree. They loved us so much that they were willing to go to such lengths to save us. Did we deserve it. Absolutely not. It was God’s grace that rescued us from sin and the horrible consequences of it. Not a day should go by that we do not thank our God for His saving grace.

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