ACCEPTED BY GOD

How is it that we humans can be "accepted" by God?  It's a great question.  We ask it in a variety of ways - how do we get to heaven, or how can we be "right" with God, or how can we be "acceptable" so that we'll be included in God's family?
 
Sometimes we try to find that acceptance by earning it (if we just work hard enough and our "good" outweighs our "bad"), or by belonging to the right group (by affiliation).
 
Paul argues in Romans chapter 4, that God's acceptance of us comes through faith; through our belief and trust in Jesus Christ.  He sets up his argument in Romans 3:28 - "For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law."
 
Faith alone, Paul says, saves us.  Nothing else. There is no "faith + something".  It's just faith.  God does the rest.