If you have your Bibles, I want
to invite you to turn with me to the book of Ephesians, Ephesians
chapter 1. And the title of the message
that has been assigned to me today is, To the Praise of His
Glory. Ephesians chapter 1, I want to
begin by reading the passage that will be our focus during
this session. Ephesians chapter 1, beginning
in verse 3, this is the inspired, the inerrant, and the infallible
Word of the living God. And as Dr. Sproul does each Sunday
here at St. Andrews, I want to ask you the
same. Would you stand for the reading of the Word of God? The Apostle Paul is the author,
writing by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with
every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Just as he chose us in him before
the foundation of the world. that we would be holy and blameless
before Him. In love, He predestined us to
adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according
to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory
of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. May the Lord bless our hearts
and lives this day through the ministry of His Word. You may
be seated. As is so clearly obvious as we
look at these verses, all that God does, He does to the praise
of His glory. All things are from Him and through
Him and to Him. To God be the glory forever and
ever. Amen. This is the summum bonum. The highest good. The supreme
value. The chief end of all of God's
works is the magnification and the exaltation of His own glory. All else is secondary. All else
is a means to this one highest end. It is the master theme of
all of God's works. It is the grand aim. It is the
overriding goal. It is the chief purpose. It is
the highest good. The pursuit of the glory of God. And this is the chief passion
within God's own heart. And it must be the passion within
the hearts of all of God's people. This is precisely what we read
in these opening verses of Paul's letter to the Ephesians. Here
is Paul's elevation of the praise that belongs exclusively to God
alone. This entire opening section,
beginning in verse 3 and extending through verse 14, is one unfolding
hallelujah chorus. It is one unfolding anthem of
praise to God. And this is only right for Ephesians
to begin with this declaration of adoration to God. Because this is the beginning
and the end of all things. In this opening section in verses
3-14 there are three lofty summits of praise. of three towering majestic mountain
peaks of adoration to God, three crescendos in this opening symphony
of praise, and it reaches its apex in verse 6, and in verse
12, and in verse 14, related to God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit, all things are to the praise of the
glory of His grace. In our session today, we want
to look at verses 3 through 6. And we want to see Paul as he
opens his heart and he lifts high the name of our great God
in heaven. And for every one of us who know
the Lord, this causes our hearts to rise to the heights of heaven. I want you to note first in verse
three the resounding of praise. This teaching in this section
on sovereign election is found in the context, not of a debate
hall, but of doxology, being offered up to God. And so he
begins, be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." This
word, blessed, means to give praise to God, to give honor
to God, to glorify the name of God. Paul's heart is ignited
with holy passion. for God in heaven." And as he
begins this letter, he cannot even hold himself back as his
pen now begins to write, and as he dictates this, be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And specifically, he
identifies here the first person of the Trinity as the original
source of all of our blessings. Every blessing is coming down
from the Godhead, but at the height of the Godhead is God
the Father who has set this all in motion. Notice, it says, who
has blessed us, who has opened the windows of heaven and poured
out His grace and lavished His goodness upon us, he says, with
every spiritual blessing. Now, sometimes I have people
ask me, have you had the second blessing? And I say, brother,
I've had every spiritual blessing. And the second blessing is really
to realize you got it all the first time. That when you were
brought into the family of God, God poured out every spiritual
blessing upon His people. That is what this says. And notice
He says every spiritual blessing. Now, every material blessing
is from God. Providentially, we know that.
But Paul's emphasis here is not upon the material, but something
far more valuable. That which money cannot buy,
and that which death cannot take away. Every spiritual blessing. These spiritual blessings, he
says, are in the heavenly In other words, they are not to
be found in this world. These blessings do not arise
from the culture. They do not come from within
ourselves. These blessings of God come down
from His throne of grace. They originate in heaven, and
they come to us, note, in Christ. This little phrase, in Christ,
in many ways is the key that unlocks these spiritual blessings. It's Paul's favorite prepositional
phrase. He uses it 164 times in his letters.
And to be in Christ means to be joined to Christ. It means to be in union with
Christ. It means to find our position
in Him and our oneness in Christ. And apart from being in Christ,
there are no blessings, no spiritual blessings that come to us. He is our sole mediator from
God the Father to us. And every spiritual blessing
that we have is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. And as Paul
will walk through these blessings with us in this opening section,
we will find that we are chosen in Christ, verse 4. We are predestined
in Christ, verse 5. We are redeemed in Christ, verse
7. We are forgiven in Christ, verse
7. We are sealed, secure in Christ,
in verse 13. And even as we continue into
chapter 2, we read in verse 5 that we are made alive in Christ.
And in verse 6, we are raised with Christ. And in verse 10,
we are recreated in Christ. There are no spiritual blessings
outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so Paul begins his letter
with this resounding of praise. And as he writes this, his body
is in Rome. He is imprisoned. He will be
confined here for two long years. He is chained to Roman soldiers
24 hours a day, seven days a week. He is restricted. He is held
captive as a prisoner of Rome. He is awaiting trial before Caesar,
who has the power of life and death over him. And yet, as we
read this, you would think that Paul is sitting in a palace. Because his heart is soaring
to the heights of heaven. And Paul is not whining, he is
worshiping. He is not pouting, he is praising. He is not sour, he is soaring
within his own heart and soul because of these spiritual blessings,
regardless of what his circumstances are. His blessings are transcendent
and rise above the circumstances and the times and the events
in which he finds himself. John Calvin writes concerning
this, whatever happens to us, let us always assure ourselves
that we have good cause to praise our God. that even if we are
poor and miserable in this world, the happiness of heaven is enough
to appease us and to sweeten all of our afflictions and sorrows,
to give us such contentment that we may nevertheless have our
mouths open to bless God for showing Himself so kind-hearted
to us." no matter where you are today,
no matter how challenging or difficult the circumstances may
be in which you find yourself, regardless of what is going on
around you. I want you to know that the uplook
has never been brighter, that God is upon His throne, and every
good gift and every perfect gift comes down from the throne of
God above. And we must join with Paul. in
giving this anthem of praise to our God. And I trust at this
day that your soul and your heart is an altar upon which the sweet-smelling
aroma of praise to our God is ascending upward. Let the redeemed
of the Lord say so. Number one, the resounding of
praise. But I want you to note now second,
the reasons for praise. Because praise always has its
reasons. Our doxology rests upon our theology. And it is our doctrine that is
igniting our devotion to God. And so beginning in verse 4 and
extending through verse 5, Paul now gives the reason for praise. And as we look at this, it is
rooted and grounded in the sovereign election of God. And before I begin to take us
through this, I do want to point this out. Please note Paul is
not hiding this at the end of the epistle. Paul is putting
this on the front doorstep. that this presupposes that these
Ephesians were well taught and instructed in the doctrines of
grace, and that they understood the sovereign grace of God well. that Paul could begin this letter
at such a high altitude as he begins to write this letter. So as we look now, beginning
in verse 4, under the reason for praise, I want to move carefully
through this with you. And I want you to know several
features about the doctrine of sovereign election. I want you to note first the
author of election. Verse 4 begins, just as He. Who is the He? The He is God
the Father. God the Father takes the lead
in the divine work of election. He is the architect and the author
of our election. And so the author is not we,
the author is He. Second, note the act of election. He says, just as He chose us. This word chose. is a Greek word
that means to choose one out of the many. The main root means
to choose. There is a prefix put at the
beginning of the main verb, which means out of. To choose out of
the many those whom God would set His grace upon. When the Old Testament was translated
into the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament,
This very word was used of David when he went down to the riverbed
and picked out five stones to put into his slingshot. I can
assure you there were more than five stones in that riverbed. But he chose five according to
his own purpose, five according to that which would meet the
need within him. That is the very same word that
is used here. that out of all of the human
race, God has made a distinguishing choice. God has sovereignly and
individually chosen His people. This word was also used of Joshua
as he stood before the nation. And he said, choose you this
day whom you will serve. As though there were many gods
and many idols, and they must select out of the many the one
God whom they would serve. That is the very word that is
used here. That out of a fallen human race,
God sovereignly set His heart upon those whom He would save. As it says, He chose us. It is in a verb tense and voice
and mood that indicates that God chose by Himself and for
Himself. The idea is that it is not based
upon anything within us. In fact, it is in spite of us,
not because of us, that God chose His people to be a bride for
His Son from before the foundation of the world. And you will also
note that this is stated as a statement of fact. This is really not up
for debate. It's not to be entered into an
argument. It is simply the way that it
is, that God chose – please note third – the objects of election. He chose us. The us refers to
the vast number of those who one day would find themselves
around the throne of God. It would be myriads of myriads
and thousands of thousands. This us refers to all the saints
in verse 1 and all those who would receive grace and peace
in verse 2. It is a specific number of believers. And not just a number, but with
specific names. And those names recorded in the
Lamb's Book of Life from before the foundation of the world. These are the objects of election. And if you're a believer in Jesus
Christ, it is because God, in eternity past, sovereignly chose
you to be His. But let's continue. Fourth, note
the sphere of election. It says, just as He chose us,
note, in Him. Here is this phrase again, in
Him, and what this indicates that all that is true of Christ
becomes true for us. His riches become our riches
by this sovereign election and His redeeming death. His position
is now our position. He is seated at the right hand
of the Father, and we are seated with Him in heavenly places. He is seated upon His throne.
In Revelation it even says, we are seated with Him above. Where He is, we are. What He
is, we are. What He has, we have. All this because He chose us
in Christ on the basis of what Christ would do for us. A fifth note, the time of election. It says, before the foundation
of the world. Do you see that in verse 4? Just
as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. Charles Haddon Spurgeon said,
God would have had to have chosen me before time. He would have
never chosen me within time. Before there was even the heavens
and the earth. Before there was the angelic
host. Before God flung out the planets
and put the stars in their place, God chose us. It is before the beginning of
time, from eternity past. Psalm 3 indicates it's from days
of old. Titus 1-2, from long ages ago. 2 Timothy 1-9, from all eternity. God has had His heart set upon
His people from ages ago. Sixth, note the purpose of election. It says in verse 4, that we may
be holy and blameless before Him." Here is the reason why. We, the elect, that we may be
holy. It's not just that He has chosen
us for heaven. It's that He has chosen us for
holiness, for Christlikeness. for purity. And this word holy
would indicate holy in every sense of the word. positionally
holy, practically holy, progressively holy, perfectly holy one day. And then he adds, and blameless. And this really speaks to the
end of election. That one day we would stand faultless
before the throne of God, holy and blameless before Him. This word blameless means to
be without blemish. It means to be spotless, to be
faultless. And it is the desire of the father
that the son would have a bride and that this bride would be
spotless and blameless as she would be joined to the son in
heaven one day in glory." In fact, turn back to Ephesians
5 just for a moment. To Ephesians 5 and verse 27,
we see this same phrase, holy and blameless, used again by
Paul. And so he says in Ephesians 5
verse 27, that he might present to himself
the church. in all her glory, having no spot
or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that she would be," here
are the same two words, holy and blameless. This is really
the end of election. that from eternity past God would
make a distinguishing choice that those whom He elected would
in eternity future be presented before the throne holy and blameless. He chose in eternity past that
we would be in eternity future blameless before God in heaven,
that we would be conformed into the very image of God's Son. And when it says, before Him,
you'll note this in verse 4. It's a very intense preposition
here that means before the face of God, in the very presence
of God, in the immediate presence of God, that day when we will
find our place with the redeemed multitude around the throne of
God. I want you to note seventh, the
motive of election. The last two words in verse 4,
it says, in love. God is not a stoic sovereign. God is not a robotic redeemer. God has made this choice not
on a purely cognitive basis. But within the very heart of
God, if we could say that, it is His love for His people in
Christ that He has chosen us. In Romans 9 verse 13 he says,
Jacob I loved and Esau I hated. In Romans 9.15 he said, I will
have mercy upon whom I will have mercy. And I will have compassion
upon whom I will have compassion. In Romans 9.16 it says, So it
does not depend upon the man who wills, or upon the man who
runs, but upon God who has mercy. When we trace this river of grace
upstream to the very source where it first began to flow from the
throne of God, it was the distinguishing love of God that put this in
motion. And again, it is not because
of us, it is in spite of us. God has not chosen us because
there is anything special about us. God has chosen us for reasons
known only to Himself, according to the secret counsel of God
Almighty in heaven. This is the motive of election,
and no Christian, no believer should ever doubt the love of
God towards them. First we just look to the cross
and we see the great demonstration of the love of God for us. But
we can trace that stream even further back into eternity past
when God first chose us. And it was in love that He did
this. Please note number eight, the
guarantee of election. It says, in love he predestined
us. The word predestined means that
the destiny is determined before the journey begins. It's a Greek
word that means the horizon is marked out before one begins
the journey towards that horizon. that God has already foreordained
the salvation of those whom He has chosen. It is determined. It is settled. There is nothing
that can undo the sovereign choice of God in eternity past toward
us. Note number nine, the result
of election. It says in verse five, to adoption as sons. Adoption is the highest privilege
of all of the blessings of God. Justification and forgiveness
of sin is one thing. But adoption stands on the shoulders
of even justification and forgiveness. Because in justification, we
stand before a holy God, before His judgment bar. And God, because
of the perfect righteousness of Christ, imputes that righteousness
to us, and we are declared, forensically, to be the righteousness of God
in Christ. But it is possible that that
judge would then simply dismiss the court, and he would go his
way, and we would go our way, now justified and washed and
cleansed. But in the act of redemption,
God goes yet further. And those whom he has justified,
rather than parting, he says, come home with me. And we enter
into his family. And He bestows upon us a full
inheritance in the riches that belong to Him. And we become
joint heirs in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are more than citizens. We are more than servants. We
are more than friends. We are sons. And we are daughters
in the very family of God. And we are given all of the privileges
of an adult son and daughter in God's family. So he says that
we have been chosen before the foundation of the world to adoption
as sons, he says, through Jesus Christ. through His merit, through
His saving life, and through His saving death, and then He
says, to Himself, meaning for His own glory, for us to be His
own possession, for His own pleasure, God has done this. Now, note
number ten, the root of election. He says at the end of verse 5,
Paul writes, according to the kind intention of His will. Sometimes people think of the
doctrine of election as a harsh truth. Nothing could be further from
the truth. This is according to the kind intention of the
will of God. This is according to His loving
choice, His gracious bestowing of His favor upon those who are
undeserving Someone may say, well, that's not fair that God
would choose some and not choose others. You and I don't want
fair. Fair is that we would all go
to hell forever. That's what we deserve. that
God would show grace and mercy to even one person out of the
human race is amazing grace beyond which we can even comprehend.
That there would be two or three or ten who would be the objects
of this eternal love of God is incomprehensible. but that God
would open up the treasure vaults of heaven and pour out oceans
and galaxies of His sovereign love upon us is beyond our understanding. No, it is according to the kind
intention of His will. As you're in chapter 1, Look
at verse 11, because there are two words that we have looked
at already. The word predestined in verse
5, and the word will in verse 5. Verse 11 also contains the
word predestined, and it also contains the word will, but there
are two other words. that you will see. It is the
word purpose and the word counsel. Let me read this verse. We have
obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to
His purpose, who works all things after the counsel of His will. A good theologian lines up these
four words in the proper order, predestined, purpose, counsel,
and will. I want you to come with me to
eternity past. I want you to go back with me
before the foundation of the world, to a time, if it could
even be called time, before time began, when there
was only God the Father, and God the Son, and God the Holy
Spirit. First, there was God's counsel. It is a word that refers to divine
deliberation. as though the Godhead, Father,
Son, and Spirit came into counsel together. And out of God's counsel
came God's will. Out of His counsel came His will. And out of His divine deliberation,
there was a divine decision. what God would decree for everything
that would come to pass. You will note in verse 11 that
he says that God works all things, not some things, not most things,
not just good things, but that God works all things after the
counsel of His will. And this will of God after His
counsel encompasses all that comes to pass. And in this will
was the sovereign choice of God mentioned in verse 5, when He
chose us in Christ. And then third is the word predestined. Out of God's counsel came His
will. And out of God's will has come
His predestination. Excuse me, the word purpose.
Has come his purpose. And this word speaks of his divine
determination. His resolve to carry out his
will. That there would be no turning
back with God once God has chosen us in eternity past, and God
has become the author of His eternal decree that takes into
account everything that comes to pass, even including sin,
yet He is not the author of sin. God then purposed and resolved
and set Himself irrevocably to carry out His will. And then
finally, the word predestined. And the word predestined guarantees
the inevitable reality of what He has sovereignly chosen to
do. It is by predestination, as it
were, that God pours concrete into His plans. And God puts
steel into His plans, and there is no augmenting or changing
of what He has purposed to do from all eternity past. First His counsel, then His will
that is all-inclusive and comprehensive of all things. then God-purposed,
and then God-predestined, that it will come to pass, such that
now, within time, all of God's elect will be brought to faith
in Christ at the appointed time, by the appointed means, And as
Paul is sitting under house arrest in Rome, as Paul is chained to
Roman praetorian guard 24 hours a day, and rotating through his
house arrest, as Paul is confined, almost like an animal, like a
caged animal who can't be let loose. Nevertheless, Paul understands
that the purposes of God cannot be imprisoned. And that the will
of God will march forward triumphantly. And it causes Paul to rise up
within his own heart and soul and say, blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every
spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. And so we too
here today, regardless of where we may be confined or find ourselves,
let us rise up as the people of God and give glory to our
God who sovereignly chose us for Himself according to the
kind intention of His will. And no matter what happens within
time, it cannot thwart the eternal purposes of God that are marching
forward and advancing through the circumstances of our lives. This is the reason of praise. And Paul with his great theological
mind, under the control of the Holy Spirit, And Paul now layers
out for us in verses 4 and 5 with precision and detail, tightly
worded prepositional phrases and clauses and verb tenses to
magnify the sovereign election of God. And Paul is unashamed
to declare it. Paul shouts it from the housetops,
if you will. that it is God's free will who
has set in motion His great salvation. I want you to note finally in
verse 6 the reaffirmation of praise. We've seen in verse 3
the resounding of praise and in verses 4 and 5 the reasons
for praise. But now I want you to note the
reaffirmation of praise because this now ends where it began. Paul goes full circle. He begins
by praising God the Father. He now concludes by praising
God the Father. It is really a literary device
known as inclusion. It's like bookends around God
the Father. beginning with praise for the
Father, reaching the summit now with praise for the Father. And
so he says in verse 6, and here's the title for the message that
has been given to me, to the praise of the glory of His grace. The Bible uses the word glory
in two basic ways. There is God's intrinsic glory,
and there is ascribed glory. God's intrinsic glory is the
sum and the substance of all that God is. It is God's attributes,
God's person, God's being. All that God is is in His intrinsic
glory. We cannot add to the intrinsic
glory of God. We cannot take away from the
intrinsic glory of God. He is the one who was and who
is and who shall be forever. He is forever this intrinsic
glory of God. And in the Old Testament, the
word for glory is a word that means heaviness or weight. And the greatness of any man
was measured by the weight of his silver and the weight of
his gold, the weight of his assets. And it gave him weight in the
community. And it gave him weight with his
peers, the more weight that he had in assets. It's the very
word that is used here for glory. That the infinite weightiness
of all that God is, holy, sovereign, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient. Immutable, truth, grace, mercy,
vengeance, wrath. All that God is, is His intrinsic
glory. Never increasing in intrinsic
glory, never decreasing in intrinsic glory. From everlasting to everlasting,
you are God. That is God's intrinsic glory. But there is also God's ascribed
glory, which is the glory that we are to give to God. And we are not to rob God of
His glory. And He says He will not share
His glory with another. And the ascribed glory is the
praise and the honor and the magnification of the name of
God that we are to rise up and bless His holy name forever and
ever and ever. Now understand this. The more
you understand of the intrinsic glory of God, the more you will
ascribe glory to God. The greater your God, the greater
will be your worship. It is high theology that produces
high doxology. And as we grow in the grace and
knowledge of our God, of His intrinsic glory, that is revealed
to us supremely through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the more
we have every reason to rise up and to bless His name. It's not created by mood music. It is created by truth. It is
created by theology and sound doctrine that causes us now to
want to sing to God. And so as we come to verse 6
here, as Paul says, to the praise of the glory of His grace, the
word glory here refers to His intrinsic glory. And it is a
Greek word, doxa, from which we derive the English word doxology. And it literally means the splendor
of God, the brilliant radiance of God, the outshining of the
majesty of our God. Paul is saying in verse 6 that
as he has now described for the Ephesians, this eternal, sovereign,
electing love. and predestining purposes of
God towards us as His people, it causes His heart to burst
aflame with passionate affection for God the Father in heaven. To the praise, that's a scribe
glory. To the praise of the glory, that's
intrinsic glory. of His grace. And all of this is of grace. It's electing grace. It is predestining
grace. It will be, in the later verses
here, redeeming grace and forgiving grace and securing grace. It is all of grace. God's unmerited favor freely
bestowed upon His creatures who are defiled and corrupted by
sin. He says in verse 6, this reaffirmation
of praise. And how amazing it is, he's just
expressed this in verse 3, but he cannot contain himself so
quickly now in verse 6. To the praise of the glory of
His grace, which He, God the Father, freely bestowed on us,
not upon all, but upon us, whom He has chosen, His elect. And all of this because at the
end of verse 6, this prepositional phrase again, this tiny little
prepositional phrase by which every spiritual blessing is mediated
to us from the Father, which He freely bestowed without
cost, without merit, on us in the Beloved." Referring
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Literally, in the deeply loved
one is how the Father refers to His own Son. May I remind
you that we are in the Son, who is the deeply loved Son, and
this now puts us in the sphere of this eternal love of God. In John 17, as Jesus would pray,
He thanks the Father that the Father has loved us even as the
Father has loved Him. This is to the praise of the
glory of His grace. And one day when we stand presented,
holy and blameless, before the throne of God above, and we are
given a crown. And the moment we have this crown
in our hand, we will know all the more fully
that we were chosen in Christ, predestined in Christ, redeemed
in Christ, forgiven in Christ, secured in Christ, I cannot hang on to this crown.
I must cast it back at the feet of Him who set this all in motion
towards me. And as we stand in eternity future
before the throne of God, we will know all the more clearly
that it was purposed by the Father that we would be there from all
eternity past. To the praise of the glory of
His grace. soli Deo gloria, for the glory
of God above. For those of us who know the
Lord Jesus Christ and have been brought into a saving relationship
with Him, we understand the bigger picture, and we understand how
it is that we have come to believe in Christ. It is because of the
Father's choice of us before time began, according to the
kind intention of His will. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, words seem to be inadequate and even the depths of our heart
seem to be too shallow, to even begin to properly praise
and magnify Your name, that You would not have passed over us
and left us where we so deserve to be, but that You individually,
personally, chose us for yourself. You are the potter and we are
the clay, and we humbly bless your name that you chose us to
be vessels of mercy from before the foundation of the world.
We are deeply humbled by this, and we desire out of the depths
of a contrite spirit to rise up to the heights of heaven with
our praise and declare the greatness of who you are. Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In His name we pray,
amen.