Even though baptism is for [in order to obtain] the remission of sins, and even though when we’re baptized sins are “washed away,” Acts 22:16, and the Bible says it “saves us,” 1 Peter 3:21, baptism doesn’t earn anything, it doesn’t deserve anything, and it doesn’t repay anything. We shouldn’t have sinned in the first place! But we did. We’ll talk more about that tonight, the Lord willing, when we talk about “Since By Grace, Why Aren’t All Saved?”

So grace, then, is something that can’t be earned, can’t be deserved, and can’t be repaid. And, in the case of life, even though when the baby is born he has to do all those things, he’s not earning it, he’s just simply accepting it on the conditions that it was given. And the farmer, when he puts that seed in the earth, he’s not earning the life, he’s not deserving it, and he’s not repaying it. He’s simply accepting that which, by grace, God gave, you see.

Well, the Bible said that Jesus, by grace, “tasted death” for every man, Hebrews 2:9. That doesn’t mean there is nothing for us to do. There is a part that we should play. When we talk about obedience, God has always required obedience. From the very beginning, in the Garden of Eden, had man not disobeyed, we wouldn’t be in the situation we’re in now.

So grace, then, must be understood by what it is. God’s part is that He provided what we couldn’t possibly provide for ourselves. In Romans 3, verses 23 to 26, the Bible said, “that He might be just and the justifier” of him who had sinned. If it weren’t for God’s justice, grace would be superficial. Keep that in mind! If it weren’t for God’s justice, there wouldn’t be any such thing as grace. It would be meaningless! You see, God must be just—He “cannot deny Himself,” 2 Timothy 2:13. He can’t be out of character with Himself. He can’t be less than He’s been, or greater than He’s been, because whatever He is, He is to perfection. His perfect holiness requires that He can’t consider sin lightly. That’s by His very nature.

His perfect justice means that He can’t forgive sins without an atonement. So an atonement must be made, but man couldn’t possibly make that atonement. You see, there isn’t anything that we could ever do or be that we don’t already owe to God. We could never put God in our debt. We could never make God give us something because He had to do it. No! We can’t deserve a sunset; we can’t deserve a breath; we can’t deserve the beauty of the Grand Canyon, because we could never make God obligated to us. We are always obligated to God.

So when the Lord said, “by grace have you been saved through faith,” faith, then, accepts that which God, by grace, gave to us, and faith is very important. In fact, “this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith,” 1 John 5:4. Or consider Ephesians 6:16, which says that faith is the “shield” that “quenches all the fiery darts of the evil one.”

So with this understanding of what grace really is, I want you to think seriously that no man could possibly take care of the sins that he’s committed. And yet we’ve “all sinned,” Romans 3:23. “There is none righteous, no, not one,” Romans 3:10. And, “if we say that we have not sinned,” we’re wrong, 1 John 1, verses 8 to 10. So that being the case [So that being true], we’re all guilty. And, sin “separates” man from God, Isaiah 59, verses 1 and 2.

So then, why is there anything else, if by grace we are saved? Well, because God won’t save a man against his will. He won’t barge in! Man must accept. On the Day of Pentecost, who were baptized? “Those who gladly received the Word,” [Acts 2:41]. What about those who didn’t “gladly receive” it. They weren’t baptized, you see! Well, was everybody then [saved]? No, there were some who didn’t accept it. Only those who did receive the Word were the ones whose sins were remitted [remit: to forgive or pardon; to refrain from exacting (a payment), to refrain from inflicting (punishment)]. They were the ones who were given the promise of the Holy Spirit. They were the ones who were pleasing unto the All Mighty. The Lord said, “I stand at the door and knock,” Revelation 3:20. In Matthew 11:28, He said, “you come unto Me.” He didn’t say, “I’ll jump over to you.” He said, “You come to Me,” and “I will in no wise cast out,” [John 6:37]. “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” [Matthew 11:28]. So man must come to the Lord, and that’s very important! Man does have a part to play!

When we think about grace, if man’s part were eliminated completely, we wouldn’t need to build a building like this [building we are gathered in]. We wouldn’t need to have services like this. We wouldn’t even need a Bible. We wouldn’t need anything! But you see, God never does for man what man can do for himself. And from the very beginning, He put responsibility on man. Some people think, “Well, if man had never sinned, we wouldn’t have anything to do.” Yes we would! You see, man was put in the Garden to dress it and to keep it even before he sinned. God made man a being that would be doing something—not just sitting idly—not just standing with nothing to do. Man had a service to perform. Throughout all the years, God has expected man to respond. The Bible said we can receive the grace of God in vain, or we can fall from the grace of God as mentioned in Galatians 5:4.