God’s grace is amazing in the lives of all his people. For even the most righteous man falls painfully short of the perfection that God requires of those who will be with him in heaven. The Bible says that at the end of time only those without any sin, none at all, will be able to stand in God’s presence. This causes us problems, big problems, for none of us qualifies.

If I were to ask you whether you were sure of your salvation, I wonder if every one of you could honestly say, "When I die, I feel certain that I would be with God in heaven." Anyone who loves the Lord and cannot state that conviction does not understand how amazing God’s grace really is.

The reason that many of us are uncertain about eternal life is because we are so aware of our faults, and we believe that we must somehow do better before we can come to God and receive complete forgiveness. We think that we must change, keep the Ten Commandments, not get angry so easily, and a hundred other things.

Those of us who feel that way are heading down a dead end street - we’ll never make it to heaven under our own recognizance. Instead we must recognize that we need help and lots of it. We need to tap into God’s unconditional love. A love that inexplicably hangs in with us even when we spurn it again and again. A love that accepts us in spite of our faults. One that flowed from the lips of a crucified rabbi when he said, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do."

God’s grace is tough love - no slushy sentimentality - love that flows out of the cross where all demands of justice were met. God’s grace through Jesus Christ provides us a place to stand where we do not need to try to do what we can’t do anyway, that is, make things right with God by our own efforts.

God’s good news for us today is that we are accepted. We have been accepted by that which is greater than we. We did nothing to earn that acceptance - nor can we do anything to merit it.

We must simply accept the fact that we are accepted. And when we do, we can then experience God’s amazing grace. Grace is God’s gift of acceptance that becomes ours by faith.

I can’t believe for you, you must do it for yourself. God’s grace can only become amazing for you when you accept the fact that you are accepted.