Replies

Well, since we know that an angel, Lucifer fell from the grace of God

It was God's will, his plan. God created the heavens and the earth, thus everything happens according to his plan.

I don’t see how we are exempt.

Those who will be with the Lord at the moment they die, and are thus saved, were saved from the foundation of the world:

Matthew 25:34 "Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:"

Ephesians 1:4 "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:"

Acts 13:48 "And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed."

Romans 8:29-30 "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified."

Ephesians 1:5 "Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,"

Ephesians 1:11 "In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:"

God, as Creator, knows what his creation will be; all happens according to his will, and this is mentioned in many places in the Bible.

God is everlasting; he has no beginning and no end. We, as the creature, not the creator, do not have any idea how the future will unfold. We thus have no excuse to be slack in what God commands of us in his revealed Word, the Bible - which exhorts us to have faith and live according to the Bible. We see things from our space-time perspective; we are limited. Thus we see the Bible exhort us to have the faith of a child. And the Bible exhorts us to persevere. This is because we are human and we need the exhortations of the Bible.

I do admit that without Christ’s sacrifice, all we do would be for naught.

Yes, because God's Law is eternal, and his perfect justice requires that the penalty for sin be paid. There is no justice if sin goes unpunished. Thus the ancient Israelits were required to give blood sacrifice to expiate their sins. There are various examples in the Old Testament of what happens when one is in God's presence.

But if we do nothing are we worthy of his sacrifice and thus his grace?

Even the true believer is still born into sin, they are not perfect. Thus they, like unbelievers, in and of themselves are not worthy of salvation. Even our best works are tainted with sin and are unacceptable to God. That's what Grace is, a gift. A gift freely given, that's why it's called Grace. We're saved by the Grace of God, not because of anything we've done or could ever do to merit him saving us.

Romans 3

"20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;"

The true believer is exhorted, even commanded, by Christ to follow his commandments:

John 14:15 "If ye love me, keep my commandments."

They will desire to be obedient to Christ and thus their good works are a necessary accompaniment to their conversion to Christ, when God's Holy Spirit came to dwell within them:

1 Corinthians 6:19 "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?"

Ephesians 2:10 "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."

A Christian should become confident of their salvation as they learn and study the Bible. Yet - have they really understood it and taken God's Law to heart ? They should add to this intellectual understanding with practical application in their lives, in not being only a hearer of the Word, but a doer of the Word as well.

James 1:22 "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves."

James 2:17 "Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone."

Philippians 2:13 "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure."

Collossians 1:10 "That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;"

Titus 2:14 "Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works."

Hebrews 10:24 "And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:"

We therefore know from Scripture that we can never make ourselves worthy of salvation by doing good works. We should always me mindful of the fact that we will never merit our salvation - we will always rely on Christ alone, who IS our salvation.

In fact, the only way we can approach God is through the mediation of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. If he is one's Savior - he is also one's Lord, thus one needs to follow his commandments. For the true believer, it is no longer an option. For the true believer, there is only joyful obedience to his commandments, the Law Word of God, i.e., the Bible.