sin, He must punish it. Yet this same awesome, imposing, magnificent God is also loving, gracious and merciful toward sinners. He desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth in Jesus Christ. These biblical facts concerning God explain why the nature of salvation must be by grace, through faith, in Jesus Christ. Salvation is God’s gracious gift to man. Man is sinful. He cannot save himself or earn his salvation. Man does not deserve salvation.