FBC Morning Light – June 16, 2022

Well, a good Thursday to you. I hope your week's gone well thus far. Today we are starting in the letter of Ephesians in our Bible reading, Ephesians chapter 1. I've got to tell you, I think this chapter, Ephesians 1, is a mountain peak of Scripture.

It's just one of the high points of the Scripture. Let me ask you this. Have you come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you one of God's children and you're absolutely confident of that? You know that by the grace of God you have been saved from your sin, you are a child of God, you are redeemed.

Can you say yes to that? You're confident of that? What this chapter shows you is that this is all of God. This is not of you. Even in chapter 2, we're going to get to in a couple of days probably, verses 8 and 9 says this, for by grace you have been saved through faith.

That, I believe, is referring to your faith. That is not of yourselves. It is a gift of God. Your faith is a gift of God. Your salvation is not of works, lest you should boast. That summarizes what Paul has said in chapter 1, that your salvation is by the grace of God, by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone.

It is by God's grace. The theme of the chapter, if you will, a recurring theme that keeps coming up, is that this is to the praise of his glory, the praise of the glory of his grace. For example, in verse 6, it says, all of this is to the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he made us accepted in the beloved.

What is it that God in his grace has done for you who have been saved by grace through faith in Christ? What has his grace done? Look at the list. Listen to what he says. In the first place, blessed be God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us, he has already blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

The heavenly blessings are already yours. He's blessed you with those spiritual blessings in the heavenly places. But then he goes on to say that he also chose us in him before the foundation of the world.

This is an incredible mystery, and it is beyond the scope of our comprehension. We cannot even understand this. Before the world was ever created, before matter existed, God chose us in Christ before the world began.

What he also did in choosing us is predestined us to adoption, to adopt us as his children by Jesus Christ to himself. What was the basis of this? Why did he do this? Some argue that God's election or choosing of sinners to be saved is based upon something in them, how they would respond, how they would react, or whatever, to the gospel, blah, blah, blah.

But no, that's not what it says. The text says he did this according to the good pleasure of his will. It's simply according to the good pleasure of his will. This, he says, is to the praise of the glory of his grace.

What I want us to grasp is that our salvation is holy by the grace of God. In his grace, he chose you. In his grace, he predestined you to become a child of his. In his grace, he did all of this according to the good pleasure of his will.

It goes on in the text to say that we have redemption through his blood. In his grace, he redeemed you by the blood of Christ. In his grace, he has forgiven you of his sins according to the riches of his grace.

In his grace, he has given us an inheritance. Verse 11 says, in him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.

He did all of this to the praise of the glory of his grace. My friend, listen. If you have come to faith in Jesus Christ, you have no reason to boast whatsoever, none whatsoever. There are some who want to say, if you believe in this doctrine of election, that God chose you, you must think you're really special.

No, not at all. This is all of God's grace. It has nothing to do with me. There is no merit in me whatsoever. There is no good thing in me whatsoever that God would save me, that God would choose me. There is nothing in me.

It is all of his grace. You magnify God's grace. There is nothing of works that you have to boast of. There is only a gracious heavenly Father that you have to praise and thank. Give praise to him for his marvelous, wonderful, matchless grace.

As Paul says, this is all to the praise of his glorious grace. God has an objective in all this. He has a purpose, a practical purpose in our lives, in calling us and choosing us and predestining us to adoption as sons.

He has a purpose in all of this. It comes out in verse four. He chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him. We should be holy and without blame before him.

He will ultimately make us completely holy and completely without blame before him through the process of sanctification that culminates in our glorification, in our perfection. In the meantime, as we walk this pilgrim path here in this world, in this life in which we've been given, we need to pursue holiness that we might be holy and blameless before him.

Make that your objective. Make that your pursuit. This is his purpose for us. Let's give thanks to our God today for his marvelous grace, and let's be determined that by his grace we will pursue a holy and blameless path.

And so, our Father and our God, we are overwhelmed by your marvelous grace, your matchless grace. You're so unworthy. Why would you save sinners such as we are? There's no good thing in us. We're just dead trespasses and sins.

Thank you for your grace. Thank you for your grace. May we respond to that saving grace with a desire and a passion and an endeavor to be holy and blameless before you, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. All right.

Well, have a good rest of your Thursday, and I trust that God will bless you in it. Good day.