Ephesians 2:8

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—

(v8, NIV)

Grace is giving of something to someone that they don't deserve. This is applied to the giving of something "good". We don't deserve to be saved; we deserve death and eternal separation from God. How could God who is holy and pure even allow us in his presence? We are dirty and unclean, but he is spotless and righteous. But it is by grace that we have been saved and it is through faith.

That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

(Romans 10:9-10, NIV)

It is through our faith in Jesus that we are saved. We believe in God's son as Lord and savior and that God raised him from the dead and we can receive God's saving grace. Some people may quickly imagine people who simply believe and nothing more. By that I mean, they say they believe and are a follower of Jesus, but they continue living in sin. I would argue that they do not truly believe in their hearts that Jesus is Lord. If you can come up with some sort of exception, judge it against all of scripture. Simply look at Romans and you can ask whether they truly believe in their hearts that God raised him from the dead.

We are saved by God. We being saved have nothing to do with our own doing. We were dead in our trespasses. However, God stepped in and then we were given a way to be reunited with him. It is not until God's intervening in our lives that we can come into a personal relationship with him. As a result, it is not from us but it is God's own doing.

God's saving grace upon us is also a gift. A gift requires the receiver to actually take it. If you don't reach out and accept or take the gift, then you have not received it yet. God offers up the gift, but only those who actually take it will receive it. Not everyone is going to heaven and not everyone is going to be saved.

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

(Matthew 7:13-14, NIV)