In the very nature of the case as long as the person is under grace he is entirely free from any claim that the law may have on him through sin. For one to be saved through grace means that God is no longer treating him as he deserves but that He has sovereignly set the law aside and that He saves him in spite of his ill-desert, cleansing him from his sin, of course, before he is fit to enter the divine presence. Paul goes to great pains to make it clear that the grace of God is not earned by us, is not secured by us in any way, but is just given to us. If it be earned, it ceases by that very fact to be grace, Rom. In the present state of the race all men stand before God, not as citizens of a state, all of whom must be treated alike and given the same chance for salvation, but rather as guilty and condemned criminals before a righteous judge.
None have any claim to salvation.
For reasons known to Himself He sees that it is not best to pardon all, but that some should be permitted to have their own way and be left to eternal punishment in order that it may be shown what an awful thing is sin and rebellion against God. Time and again the Scriptures repeat the assertion that salvation is of grace, as if anticipating the difficulty which men would have in coming to the conclusion that they could not earn salvation by their own works. Thus also they destroy the widespread notion that God owes salvation to any. By the works of the law shall no flesh be justified, Rom. Now to him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but as of debt, Born.