What does it mean that God's grace is unmerited favor?
God's grace as unmerited favor means salvation and keeping are not earned or deserved. A person is saved and kept blameless before God solely because of His grace, not personal merit. It is not license to sin; the believer, though failing, is restored by God rather than cast out.
Les explains that when asked what made salvation possible, the answer is His grace, and the person did not deserve it. The same grace keeps those who are His even though we do not deserve it. None of us deserve to stay saved, but we do because of His grace, if we have been truly saved. In Galatians 2, believers stand before Him blameless because of the grace of God, that unmerited favor. But this is not license; 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 fails, God does not kick him out. Les uses the illustration of a parent with a little one taking first faltering steps: when the child falls, the parent does not give him a boot but picks him up, gets him on those wobbly feet, and gets him going. That is what God does.