What made it possible for you to be saved?
God’s grace is the sole basis of salvation. It is His unmerited favor, not anything deserved. No one deserves to be saved or to remain saved, yet salvation and preservation are both by grace. This grace is not license to sin; it is God’s merciful provision for believers.
Les explains that God’s grace made salvation possible, and the same grace keeps those who are His. He asks whether the person deserved it, and the answer is no. He states that none of us deserve to stay saved, but we do because of His grace, if we have been truly saved in the first place. He points to Galatians chapter 2, where believers stand blameless because of the grace of God, His unmerited favor. He clarifies that grace is not license to sin; it does not tell the believer to go out and do what they please. When a believer is under the power of the Holy Spirit, trying his best in the light of Scripture to walk pleasing in God’s sight, and he fails, God does not kick him out. Les uses the illustration of a parent whose little one has begun to take first faltering steps. When the child falls, the parent does not get upset and give him a boot; instead, the parent picks him up, gets him on those little wobbly feet, and gets him going. That is what God does.