Seeking for the help of the Lord, I direct your prayer for attention to Paul's epistle to the Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 12. That we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ. Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 12. we should be to the praise of his glory.

The apostle is speaking, firstly, of those who trusted or hoped in Christ, that is, the apostles first, and then he says to the Ephesians, in whom ye also trusted. And really, this word that we should be to the praise of his glory is applying to all of God's people, but it was especially so in the early church with the apostles as the gospel was being sent forth, how vital it was that the very person of the apostles, their behavior, their testimony, their ministry, everything, it was to the praise and glory of God.

This is also taken up by Peter, this is why we read the portion in 1 Peter chapter 2. He says, but ye are, this is in verse 9, but ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood and holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous

This is God's will for his people. When we think of the creation, we look at the sun, moon and stars, we look at all of creation, and that shows forth his handiwork. It shows forth the wisdom and the greatness and the glory of God. But in the way of grace and in the redemption through Christ Jesus, It is not the creation, it is those that are created in Christ Jesus unto good works. It is those that are saved, redeemed, the people of God, they are those that in their lives and in their witness are to show forth His praise.

The great mark of those that are blessed is that they Trust in Christ. The words are very put here in our text, that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ. That is a mark of a believer, a mark of one that is called. They first trust in Christ, or in the margin, they first hope in Christ. Not in self, not in their own works, not in any other. but God's only beloved Son. And so it is particularly in this passage the glory of God's grace that is shown in sinners.

The Apostle Paul himself could say, I am what I am by the grace of God. And all that the churches saw and even the heathen saw in him It was to God's praise, he that had called him on that Damascus road, who had changed him, who had brought him to be from the persecutor to being one that was persecuted, but more than that, to preach the name that he once sought to destroy.

And so the apostle is very careful to set before these Ephesians that they would know how they became what they were. That it wasn't just something of today, but eternal decrees. It wasn't something from them, but the grace of God. And it wasn't something that was a small matter, but the same power that was put forth to raise the Lord Jesus from the dead. was put forth in them to bring them out of nature's darkness and into his marvellous light.

He would have them know that the reason for the whole of salvation is for this great wondrous plan of the gospel and the gathering together of the people of God from every nation, kindred and tongue, to be a people of the Lord, showing forth his praise here below and at last, to be with Him in heaven as His inheritance and the Lord Jesus Christ being their inheritance.

I want to look this evening at three points. Firstly, a people without God's grace cannot be to the praise of His glory. And then secondly, what God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has done so his people can and will be to the praise of his glory. And then thirdly, how we should be to the praise of his glory.

But firstly, I want to consider what it is without grace, without God, without hope in the world. We are God's creatures. We are formed by Him. In Him we live and move and have our being. But in the fallen state and condition that we are in, we live without God. We live independent from Him. We are alienated from Him by wicked works. We have gone every one our own way. We have walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, and the spirit that even now works in the children of disobedience.

Those that are walking, however they might try and be upright, and maybe good citizens, and maybe do good works, commendable works, these things do not show forth the glory of God nor the grace of God, where it is done just in creature strength for one's own power and own glory, and God's glory is not given, and those that do it confess their independence of God. An imitation of grace does not bring glory to God. A dependence upon grace and a testifying of that does.

But by nature the natural man receiveth not the things of God, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. And before being called we cannot, we do not, give praise and honour and glory unto God. We live after the flesh, we live according to the flesh, we follow the things of the flesh, we do not seek that help from God, we do not look to him, we do not show forth his praise.

The Apostle Paul would well know this. Religious flesh, as he had as a Pharisee, making long prayers, professing, like the Pharisee our Lord spoke of in prayer, what his good works were, that did not glorify God. The publican, God be merciful to me a sinner, did. But Paul, in all his zeal, and he speaks of this with his countrymen in Romans 10, that they had a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. They being ignorant of God's righteousness, they are going about to establish their own righteousness. And that will be in no way to the praise and glory of God.

It is those that feel their sinnership, feel their helplessness, feel how distant they are from God, feel their dependence upon Him, to even think any thought aright, let alone act aright and walk aright, those that feel that they have a heart that is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, those who feel they are amongst the all that are under condemnation, that there is none that doeth good, no, not one, all their righteousnesses are as filthy rags.

Without the grace of God, without God's help, All we do, if we bring something imitation, is like Cain's blessing. He seeks to worship God, but he only brings the fruit of the ground. Or it's like Dathan and Abiram, who seek to bring senses and to worship the Lord, but their fire does not come from the altar. It is a strange fire. It's like those that walk in the sparks of their own kindling, who have their own reward in that which they do. Those that worship God, but do not worship him after the due order, or those that in Ezekiel's day, worship the Lord on one hand, then turn their backs on him, and worship idols as well. The heart deceitful is not fully after the Lord.

And we would remember this, that by nature we cannot please God, we cannot know Him, we cannot approach to Him, we are dead in trespasses and sins. And it is what God does with those sinners, with those that are lost, those that are dead in trespasses and sins, what He does with them that is to His honour and glory, not any honour to them.

When we think of characters like Jacob, so blessed of God, but a supplanter, one that deceived his father, one that walked not in any better way in himself than Esau, but sovereignly blessed and favoured, and yes, having to reap his deceits many times over.

with Laban changing his wages ten times, deceiving him regarding Rachel, and then his sons making out Joseph had been slain by an animal and deceiving him all those years. Jacob had to reap that, but by the grace of God, he was what he was, not in himself.

There's no honour, glory or praise to ourselves. Not unto us, the Sama says, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory. And the reason why it's not unto us is because of our state and condition by nature.

Dear friends, do not look on nature's ground. Even if you were to follow all the rules of man and be able to somehow subdue our old nature, and to reign it in by that willpower still would not bring glory and honour to God.

God's aim is His honour and glory and He does that in His people. He doesn't do that, He cannot do that in those that are righteous in their own eyes and those who have no felt need of a saviour or of a redeemer, those that are feelingly sinners, Those are the hopes that He will show forth His power and grace.

You know, if we were to have two builders, and you gave one all brand new materials, nice materials, and said, you go and build a house. And the other one, we gave them a scrapyard and all secondhand broken materials. And we said to him, you build the house too. And they both built beautiful houses.

But the one that would be most glorified in what he had done in building was the one that had used that inferior building materials, what he'd made out of it, what he'd done with it, how he'd fashioned it, how he'd made it so beautiful. Not the one that had started with beautiful things, but the one through his skill that had made it to be beautiful.

So on to look then, secondly, what God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has done so that his people can and will be to the praise of his glory. Now this is set forth in this passage where our text is. I want to just step through the seven verses or seven passages where It clearly shows what God has done.

And remember, this is God's work, God's work for us and in us. The first one is in verse three. He has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. In the Lord Jesus Christ, there is a store of spiritual blessings.

We read in Colossians, that it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. Joseph at the right hand of Pharaoh, when there was a famine in the land, Pharaoh says, go unto Joseph. Why? Because he had the full store. He had everything there that they needed.

There is stored up then for a people that have nothing of their own, a full store of blessings. If David could say, my cup runneth over, those blessings that filled his cup and he'd been blessed with had come forth from God. There is no lack in God. There is every spiritual blessing that a poor soul could have.

What an encouragement, dear friends, to pray and to ask for these blessings. Ask for life. Ask for love. Ask for the peace of God. Ask for the grace of God. Ask for guidance. Ask for instruction. Ask for holiness and purity of thoughts and affections. Ask for understanding, light upon the word, the bread of heaven for our souls. Ask for those things that the Lord has pleasure in giving. Open thy hand, he does and supplies the desire of every living thing.

Those who long for grace, for pardon, forgiveness, all of those blessings of the covenant, of the spirit of adoption, of the love to the brethren, the love to God and his people, and the desire for heaven and the things above. He has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.

Those blessings are in Christ. It flows from what Christ has done at Calvary, what he has accomplished and purchased for his people. So that is the first thing that God the Father has done so that we should be to the praise of His glory, especially as in verse 6, to the praise of the glory of His grace.

Then in verse 4, we have chosen in Him. Again, it is in Christ, inseparable from Him. This is before the foundation of the world. And this is stated in this verse to the end of our text. that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. So here's to this end, he has chosen a people, separated them from before the foundation of the world, chosen them in Christ.

This people have I formed for myself, they shall show forth my praise. When our Lord came, his name was called Jesus, for he shall save his people, these chosen ones, from their sins. So it is in that choice that God prepares a people to pray with the praise of his glory.

Then we have in verse five, the predestination. It's spoken of in a way, in two ways in this chapter. In verse 5, it is predestinated unto us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ. That is, God has appointed that in this life we shall be like Him. We shall be adopted into His living family, that we, as He was persecuted, so will we, that we shall be in the world as He was, that we shall be called by his grace, that we shall be what he'd have us to be here below.

Later on, he speaks in verse 11, and we look at that later on, but being predestinated, and there he's pointing more to heaven, to the inheritance. So the Lord has appointed not just the heaven for his people, but their path in this life, what they should be in this life.

And then in verse seven, we have redemption. Redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. And again, this is according to the riches of his grace. On Calvary, The Lord Jesus Christ redeemed or paid a price and set free by payment of a price his people, brought them out of Satan's slavery, brought them out of death, brought them to life, paid their debt, brought them so that their sins would be forgiven and washed away and that they would then be able to live to his honour and glory without having that sentence of death, without having that debt over them, with having their sins forgiven.

A people set at liberty and set free to serve the Lord, to obey him, to look to him who had set them free and released them from their bondage. How vital that that be so. If we are to serve the Lord, we think of how it was with Moses sent to the children of Israel in Egypt. And Moses was emphatic, we cannot serve the Lord here in Egypt. We must go out into the wilderness. We must all go. We must take everything. We will go out and we will serve the Lord. And how hard it was, how impossible it was for them to be released and set free and given liberty to serve the Lord until the blood was shed. And when the blood was shed, the Passover, then they were immediately thrust down, beautifully setting forth what was done by our Lord at Calvary in His death and blood shedding, and for that same purpose, that His people not be free to sin, free to do what they like or just to be their own.

Paul says, you are bought with a price, wherefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are his. And this is the aim, this is what is before us in this text, that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ.

So the very necessary part is that release through the shedding of Christ's blood and the forgiveness of our sins. Then we have in verse 8, how that he's abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence.

The Lord has given to his people understanding and wisdom and brought them to know those things that are hidden from the wise and prudent and revealed unto babes. It is through this that we understand what the will of God is, that he's given us the eyes to see and ear to hear.

And as the Lord told the parables, many, they couldn't understand them. But the disciples, they were no different than any others, but the Lord expounded to them and opened up their understanding, like the two in the way to Emmaus, that they might understand the scriptures, the wisdom of God.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Then we have in verses 9 and 10, making known unto us the mystery of his will, and especially in 10, in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ.

We have an overview of this picture of God gathering his people from every nation, creating a new heavens and a new earth, but before that having a kingdom here on this world in the hearts and lives of his people.

really a picture of these gospel days, when his word goes forth, when Christ is preached, when there's that entered into which it is said in Isaiah and the Old Testament saints, it had not entered into the heart of man, what God hath prepared for them that love him.

The Old Testament saints could hardly have pictured what it is today with the churches scattered through the world, the fishers, the preachers, preaching the gospel, and many right through the Gentile world brought to know the Lord and to glorify Him, give Him thanks and praise for what He has done, bring them out of nature's darkness, quickening them, giving them spiritual life, giving them every blessing in Christ.

It's a beautiful thing to have an overall picture, not a narrow picture, and see this wonderful, glorious plan of God, a plan that extends right into eternity, and as much as the Old Testament saints, it hadn't entered into their hearts what God hath prepared in these gospel days, neither has it entered really into our hearts what God hath prepared in heaven, and then the new heavens and new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

And so it is a blessed thing where the Lord shows us enough to realize God has a plan, a wonderful plan, a beautiful plan. He's put us in that plan. And in this particular time, like David, we are to serve God and serve our day and our generation and to show forth his glory.

Then in verse 11, I've already alluded just a bit to it, but what he has done is to give us to obtain an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. This is what leads up to our text. An inheritance in heaven. It's like the Levites, they had not an inheritance in the earth and land, but the Lord was their inheritance. He was their God. And the people of God, they have their Lord as well. And they have in heaven a far more enduring and eternal weight of glory.

And with that in view, what incentive it is for us here below to live as those that were living for eternity, to have the same witness of Moses choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, to have the same witness as those who confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims in the earth, and they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a city that is, a city which is to come.

Those whose testimony is that this world is not our rest, that what Christ has purchased for us is much greater than the world and the Church, they see us hold the world with a loose hand. These are earth things. They are things that will soon pass away. They are not heavenly things. They are not spiritual things.

and all their life and all their conversation, it sets forth that our citizenship is in heaven. That is where we look for the Savior. That is where our hopes are, beyond the grave.

The apostle says to the Corinthians, if in this life only you have hope in Christ, we have all men most miserable. But what the Father has done so that we are to the praise of his glory. He's given us to know here below that we have a treasure in heaven and that must surely have an effect how we live and what we do here below.

So these are some of those things what God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has done so his people can and will be to the praise of his glory. with these things is bound up the call, the call by grace, those that are chosen, those that are predestinated to be called and to be changed, that is vital for these things then to be manifested and shown in the hearts and lives of the people of God.

With all of these blessings they have, but they're not unlocked or not imparted until they are called and then they become aware of them and the receipt of them and have those blessings affecting their hearts and affecting their lives.

And so if we can see, like the Apostle Paul, and like he said in the opening verse of the next chapter of Ephesians 2, that we have been quickened who are dead in sins, may we also have a real view of what God the Father has done for us, and the end that he has in view, why he has called us.

Don't just think, well, he's called us just to give us heaven, just to pardon and forgive us our sins. That's what it's for, no. It's a much, much greater use and glory that Lord should take a sinner and use that sinner to show his glory and his praise, that he should do that.

We've used the illustration many times of, like we have electricity in a building, and there might be a lot of power there, a lot of potential power there, but until you join something with it, then you don't see that power, but you start to put lights or put a heater there, or something that is wonderfully using and displaying that power, then that thing, it shows forth the power.

And if the thing has been wonderfully designed and made, it shows forth the Creator as well.

When they heard that, those of Antioch had received the grace of God that they'd believed, Then they sent Barnabas, and when he saw the grace of God, he was glad. They were a people that were showing forth the effect of God's work, the effect of grace, and it was to the glory and honour of God. I want to look then thirdly at how we should be to the praise of God. We are living creatures, rational creatures. When God calls by grace, he opens the ear and we are then obedient to the Word of God. And how are we then to fashion our lives or to walk according to the light given and these blessings that are given so that we more perfectly show forth that praise of His glory.

Well, the first thing that I'd put is to seek to live close to Him. Our Lord told the parable of the vine, and He says that, I am the vine, ye are the branches, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, neither can ye except ye abide in me. And if we are to show forth God's glory and His grace, then we need to be recipients of that, and seek from that fountainhead, seek from that fullness, as realizing we have nothing in ourselves, that we cannot, and even if we could by our own efforts, it would not show forth God's praise.

But if we, as feeling the empty and dependent, that we're coming unto the Lord, we can say then, like Hannah, for this child I prayed, for this grace I prayed, I didn't know how to walk in this way, how to bear this cross, How to bear this thorn, Paul would say. I tried and prayed and prayed the Lord would take away my thorn in the flesh, but he didn't, but he gave me grace, and I esteem that grace better than taking away the cross. I would rather then glory, he said, in my infirmity, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. He saw that those things that God brought him into were a means of showing forth that grace.

We might look upon one of the Lord's people and you think, how do they bear that tribulation? How do they bear that cross? I couldn't bear that. I couldn't endure that. I couldn't go through that. If the Lord called you and I to go through it, we'd have to see the same place as them for grace and help. Never think that when we look upon the Lord's people, we think, well, that's a godly man. Well, by nature, he's not. Every blessing he has, he gets from the Lord. Struggles for it, wrestles for it, struggles against, resistance to prayer, hardness in reading the Word of God, going over one verse again and again, struggling to stay awake, to concentrate on the Word. They're fashioned alike, you know. Religion doesn't come easy to some and not to others. And so it is that seeking that from the Lord, if we are to glorify Him, coming as empty, naked, helpless, and asking for these things, that He is glorified in giving.

There's a second way is in our person. If the Lord has given us a new heart, and he's given us and made us to be new creatures in Christ, you think of Peter in his second epistle, the third chapter, he says, seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. And then he exhorts in this way, he says, Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot and blameless. And so, that which we spoke of in Ephesians, of the inheritance, the incentive, then Peter is using that as a reason why we should be such a manner of persons. You know, when David sent to have things given him from Nabal, Nabal wouldn't give him those things. And David was going to slay all the men of his household. And Abigail stayed him. But she said of her husband, solemn word, that he was such a man that you could not speak to him, an unreasonable man, an ungodly man.

What a solemn thing to have a reputation, one that we, people would fear to come to, it would be unreasonable. What a difference to be like our Lord, as meek and lowly in heart, and one that was approachable, our very disposition, our nature and what we are can go a long way to recommending the glory of God and can on the other hand do great damage to the cause of our Lord.

It's always a sad thing, sometimes I've seen, God in mind, several, that make a profession of religion. But they look the most unhappy persons I've ever seen. When they're walking around the town, they never say hello, they're always grumpy, always an unhappy face. And you think, what is wrong? How much do you know of Christ that you should go around just looking like that?

It can't be always that we're bowed down by a sense of our sin and the evil of the heart. There is sometimes that, well, we can't lift ourselves up. But if we have such a realization of what a miracle grace we are and what a blessing we are, what a treasure we are, that of all people on the earth, we are blessed, we have a heavenly home, haven't we got something that the world thinks, well, I wish I knew their secret? Why are they so happy? Why are they so joyful even in tribulation? How can they still smile? How can they still go on even with those afflictions and with those trials? What is the secret? What have they got that keeps them going like that?

It would be much better to be a person like that. Another way is that our actions, doers of the Word, not just hearers only, how many times that is set forth in the word. God's children, if we are to show forth his praise, instead of doing our own will, it is, Lord, what thou wouldst thou have me to do? Instead of not being like an employee that would just do the bidding of their employer, that they say, oh, I don't like that job. I'd rather that man's job. I'd like to do his job and in his position. What a trouble that man would be to his employer. But all the time he says, I'm wanting to be very helpful. I want to be more useful. I could be more useful in that sphere and in that way. And if I didn't have this, this affliction or this trouble, we can be like that with the Lord.

Instead of saying with the Prophet Isaiah, here am I, send me. And our Lord, he spoke the, parable of the man that built his house upon the sand and one on the rock, the difference, one that hears the word and is a doer of the word. And James, he says, faith without works is dead. If we are to give glory to God, should be to the praise of his glory, then we are to be found obeying him and walking in his way as obedient children.

But another way is in our words, how we actually speak. Later on in this epistle, and we think that a lot of what Paul is writing to the Ephesians is to this end, in chapter 4, And verse 20, he follows on from those that are walking in uncleanness, and he says, but ye have not so learned Christ. If so be that ye have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus. I think that's a beautiful statement on its own, isn't it? The truth is in Jesus. Then he goes on in verse 22, that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind that you put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness wherefore putting away lying speak every man truth with his neighbor For ye are members one of another.

Be ye angry and sin not, let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Neither give praise to the devil, let him that stole steal no more. But rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. And concerning our words, let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth. but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it minister grace unto the hearers.

And he goes on, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption, that all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, Even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you.

And right through this epistle, he is enlarging and giving clearer direction in a very practical and real way as those called, those given a will, given a mind, a desire to serve the Lord. What wilt thou have me to do? The apostle would say, hear Ephesians, This is what I'd have you to do.

God has worked in you to will and to do of his good pleasure. He's done all that from eternity, choosing you, predestinating you, redeeming you. He's done all these things and he has grace, grace in abundance in the day of grace to enable us to walk to the praise and glory of his name, that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ.

We are not automatically, when called by grace, just automatically made one, that everything we do and say is to the honour and glory of God. God's children are brought to have an ear to what the Spirit saith unto the churches. They are brought to hear the Word of God, and it is through that faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.

And it is through this way that we are kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last day. We are not called to say, well, we're called, we're changed, we've got a new nature, and then to treat the word lightly and to not think that it is speaking to us as to how to regulate our lives, what we say and what we don't.

May there be those times that we go forth from the house of God and we have to stop doing what we have been doing and start to do what we have not been doing and rectify what we have been doing wrong, and that the Word then is a lamp unto our feet, a light unto our path, and it glorifies God, because we are walking and escorting to the light of His Word.

May we have a very high view of the Word of God in the place of giving glory to God in the lives of the people of God, because it is through the Word that they then show forth God's praise and glory. That we should be to the praise of his glory. He first trusted in Christ, but really all of us, those that followed after, all of the people of God.

This is God's purpose in calling and quickening a people. to show forth his praise. May we count that such a privilege, such a wonderful thing, and be held to do so day by day.