The New Testament writer Jude speaks of certain people who have “perverted the grace of our God (v.4),” which means they have twisted the meaning of grace to be something different than God intended. This breaks down into still living selfish lives and yet expecting God to bless us.
So what is grace?
1. Grace begins with the fact that we have sinned against God and rightly deserve His righteous judgment. To let our sin go unpunished is a blemish against His holiness.
2. Grace is God not giving us what we deserve. Instead of pouring out His righteous wrath upon us, He sends His Son to suffer in our place.
3. Grace is not ignoring the seriousness of our sin. It is handling the punishment for our sin in a different way.
Our God is perfectly just and at the same time perfectly loving and full of grace.
