What is "God's Grace"?

Grace is unmerited favor.  It is God's free action for the benefit of His people.  God's grace can be compared to the pardon that a governor of a state can give to a prisoner who is facing execution (the punishment of death) for something that he or she did.  Without this pardon, without this grace, they will die. 

We are deserving of death because all of us have sinned Romans 3:23, 6:23, yet God offers us a pardon (grace).  Jesus died for us so that we could live, but His death can only be our "salvation" if we accept it.  Just like the prisoner above, we can turn it down or we can accept this pardon that God offers John 3:16.

Grace is the power of God to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves and the fact is that we cannot do anything for ourselves.  Jesus says, "...without me ye can do nothing."  John 15:5

The Bible gives us a beautiful example of what grace is and does.  When Moses took the Children of Israel out of Egypt and into the desert the people soon became thirsty, but there wasn't any water to be found, especially not for 2,000,000 people, plus their herds of animals.  God told Moses to strike a specific rock and He (God) would give the people water.  The water that came out of that rock demonstrates the grace of God flowing out to all who would drink.  It also caused the parched and barren land to blossom which in turn gave the animals something to eat.  Without this water, without God's grace supplying the needs of the people, the people would have died.  Christ is the Rock, He is also the Living Water.  Without the grace He gives us, we would die.  His grace costs us nothing, yet it supplies all we need.

Quotes:

 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness".  1 John 1:9

"The grace of Christ can accomplish for us that which all our efforts will fail to do." Counsels on Health, page 424

"The grace of Christ and the law of God are inseparable. In Jesus mercy and truth are met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other. In His life and character He not only reveals the character of God, but the possibility of man. He was the representative of God and the exemplar of humanity. He presented to the world what humanity might become when united by faith with divinity. The only-begotten Son of God took upon Him the nature of man, and established His cross between earth and heaven. Through the cross, man was drawn to God, and God to man. Justice moved from its high and awful position, and the heavenly hosts, the armies of holiness, drew near to the cross, bowing with reverence; for at the cross justice was satisfied. Through the cross the sinner was drawn from the stronghold of sin, from the confederacy of evil, and at every approach to the cross his heart relents and in penitence he cries, "It was my sins that crucified the Son of God." At the cross he leaves his sins, and through the grace of Christ his character is transformed. The Redeemer raises the sinner from the dust, and places him under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. As the sinner looks upon the Redeemer, he finds hope, assurance, and joy. Faith takes hold of Christ in love. Faith works by love, and purifies the soul."  Selected Messages, Vol. 1, page 349

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