The major tilt tilt ah ha moment for me about Grace was that the ONLY way to get saved is by God's GIFT of salvation through His Son Jesus. Knowing when I came to Jesus way back when in the 80s hearing that I can't EARN God's love., can't come to Him without Jesus no matter how much I tried or even wanted to. What a GREAT relief!! I had tried as a young Catholic girl to be good. Hearing the Gospel for the first time in John 3:16-19
For God so loved the world, He GAVE His only begotten Son that WHOSOEVER believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him.
He who believes in Him is not judged, he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
And this is the judgement, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their deeds were evil.
Speaking as a very religious individual since the time I was aware of life., who tried to be a good girl to my parents. Who tried to do good in school... And seemed to miss the mark every time. But kept trying and hoping God would see I reeeeeeeallllly was trying. Even if no one saw or understood how hard I tried and failed., God knew how much I wanted to do well., He saw me in my failed attempts and my striving and weeping at the failed attempts for years.
Finding out about Grace., free gift of love and acceptance from the MOST important ONE even above my parents who I so tried to get to love me back and it was a hit and miss at best with them. With people and parents it was all performance based.
Later after hearing the Gospel and accepting Jesus, went to church and soon learned we get the free gift, but then came the mess up word (BUT)... "we must maintain it. There is no free ride... NOW THE REAL WORK BEGINS and we are now set on a path of works. Keep God happy and everyone else". Although I was saved and a life changing transaction took place between Jesus and me., I was soon entangled in religion again. Work to get.
For years I walked as a saved person who was trying to maintain my saved position. For God to reeeealllly love me., I had to work work work and show Him how much I appreciated what Jesus did. I exchanged one religion for another. The Bible says INSTEAD.... If you began in grace, how can you try and live in works??? We do not grow in works and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ... We grow in the GRACE and KNOWLEDGE of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Grace is not the milk of the Word as some here have said. Grace is something we NEED to apply in our walk as mature believers. It is the reason we are Christians., Jesus gave to us undeserved love., Unmerited., un attainable in ourselves. He just GAVE it FREE. We could not earn Jesus sacrifice for us.,we cannot pay for it once it is given., it was motivated by Love. A love we don't have in ourselves. It's supernatural. It is stronger than sin and failure.
We are admonished to grow in the GRACE and KNOWLEDGE of our LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST. If you have a working understanding of grace., you also have a working ability to be holy and set apart. Grace and holiness go hand in hand. As a preacher said., having grace and holiness is like having water and wet. One is not exclusive of the other. And yet have many of us Christians been taught this? I never was aware of this until learning about Grace needed in the daily life as a Christian person. It always points to Jesus.,not to our works for Jesus.
So this whole question about grace being an excuse to sin is not applicable if you truly know the meaning of grace. If you want to sin and think grace is for that, you don't understand grace and you will not have a working knowledge or walk in and of it in your life. If grace does not cause you to be holy you don't have grace., you have a mis understanding of it and you need to learn the truth.
That is why it is so important for us believers to share the truth with one another. The Joy of our salvation is based on beholding Jesus not ourselves. Grace teaches us how to live godly soberly and righteously. A righteous person will be and do righteously. Someone who has a working knowledge of grace will be able to accept the promises in the Bible as their own.
If we walk out our Christian life in our own strength and ability we can't have joy that lasts. In our human-ness we grow faint at times., we fail the test at times., we are limited. But in Christ we claim grace., imputed righteousness for our lives. Our position is secure because it is not held together by us.
It is IN Christ and sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise. He that has begun a good work in you WILL perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
If we do not have JOY in our life., we don't understand what salvation is and how grace is at it's core.
We cannot deserve or earn Jesus. He comes to us apart from our worthiness. That is not human reasoning. That is the meat of the Word. That is growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That is what enables us to mount up with wings as eagles., to run and not be weary to not faint. It's the good news., the too good to be true good news but it is true in Christ.