Romans 5:1-11 Grace is God's goodness and kindness to those who do not deserve it and cannot earn it. Its benefits are available to everyone. Each day God causes hearts to beat, bodies to heal, and love to be given and received, regardless of peoples' opinions of Him. He offers forgiveness to the rebellious, freedom to sinners, and intimacy with Himself to all who trust Christ as Savior. Through Jesus, He offers access to the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16), where the Savior serves as high priest, interceding for His own (Hebrews 7:25). We know we can approach God confidently because there is no condemnation for those who belong to Him (Romans 8:1). What amazing grace! It was not always so. Israel, God's chosen people, lived under the Law, not under grace. They, like us, were a disobedient people; God in His mercy established the sacrificial system to symbolically provide a way for them to be forgiven of their wrongdoing. However, Jesus gives us permanent forgiveness because He died once for all sins (Hebrews 7:27). It was humanly impossible to obey every aspect of all 613 commandments God handed down through Moses, but Jesus fulfilled the Law for us, and grace makes it count on our behalf. Because our Savior sacrificed His life for us, we can approach God's throne directly. As believers, we stand upon the immovable foundation of God's grace. It is over us like a canopy and surrounds like a protective wall. As the truth of it permeates our hearts and minds, we become expressions of the Lord's love, kindness, and goodness to others.