Open your Bibles if you would to the book of Ephesians chapter 1. We'll be looking at verse 6 today. We'll be breaking it down. The first part of verse 6 we'll be looking at today. And next week, Lord willing, we'll look at the latter part of this verse. Wonderful verse. Wonderful verse. This has been a wonderful study in this book of Ephesians.

And this is a book written by Paul to people just like us. Right? Who live in the city of Ephesus in ancient Rome. Common folks just like us, who've been saved by the grace of God. Former idol worshipers. Former haters of the one true God, who now love him and praise him. All because of his grace and mercy shown to them. Right? To the praise of the glory of his grace. That's the name of the message. Praising God's glory and grace. My, oh my.

Let's read verses three to seven to see verse six's context. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved in whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace you notice how much of that is past tense it's already done it's already done look at look at these wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved in whom we have redemption we have it now through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. And we know that he chose us in Christ and he planned to choose us in Christ before the foundation of the world.

It's wonderful. Our salvation is complete. I preach a complete salvation. It's already done. The Lord Jesus Christ successfully did it. It's wonderful. All we do is look to Christ. We look and live, don't we? That's all we do. We see the whole reason for the redeemed of the Lord being given all spiritual blessings in Christ and also the reason for God choosing us in Christ before the foundation of the world. being predestinated unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself is all according to the good pleasure and will of God. Let us just let that sink in. We who are redeemed are redeemed according to God's good pleasure from eternity. And then we see in verse 6, to the praise of the glory of his grace.

I was saying to Vicki this week, we were talking about this section, and I said, you know, isn't it amazing that God takes absolute rebels at heart? Absolute rebels. And turns them into now people who praise God. And the world doesn't think they're sinners. And here we are. Saying we're just a bunch of sinners saved by grace and why now we praise him don't we because of it, right? We give him all the glory look what the lord's done for me I didn't seek it. I certainly didn't deserve it. There's no merit in me at all God didn't look down through time and see that I would choose him. He saw that I was a sinner and needed to be saved And he chose us in Christ.

Isn't that wonderful, Sister Barb? That's wonderful, isn't it? Oh my. That's absolutely wonderful. All to the praise of the glory of his grace. It's absolutely amazing. So let us marvel at the fact that God saves sinners not because of anything inherent in them, in us. but solely for the purpose of glorifying his own grace and his own glory. Now he's the only one worthy to be praised, right? Man likes the praise of man. Right?

That's one thing as preachers, you got to beat that down. And remember, we're just sinners saved like everyone else. And that's true for all believers, isn't it? Yeah, it's true for all of us. Gotta beat down that pride, don't we? And how do we do that? By looking at what Christ done for us. And that we didn't even deserve it. Not at all.

And yet he chose, before we ever were, to save us. I think that's part of the amazing thing of grace is that in society now and in mankind, we have a, I do this and I get that. And people even have that with the gods of their imagination. Thinking, okay, well, if I do this, then God will bless me. God blesses us despite ourselves. You know, there's none good, no, not one. There's none that seeketh after God. Why do we seek God? Because He made us willing, didn't He, Brother Chris? In the day of His power. He did it all. He chose to bless sinners through Christ. Chosen sinners. Sinners of His choosing.

Isn't that wonderful? That's glorious. And he accepts us in Christ to the praise of the glory of his grace. He hath made us. Notice that text. He made us accepted in the beloved. We didn't do it. He made us accepted. You know, I was thinking more and more about this this week.

We're just recipients of the mercy of God. We're just recipients of the grace of God. That's all we are. It comes to us in Christ. It comes to us through Christ. And we're just mere receivers of that grace and mercy. That's absolutely amazing. That's absolutely incredible. Let's read verse six again. To the praise and the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us, look at that, It's all Him. What are we here? He hath made us accepted and abloved. Does it say, well, wherein He made us after we prayed a prayer?

Doesn't say that, does it? Do you know nowhere in this Bible will you ever find, bow your head and repeat this prayer, and now you're part of the kingdom of God? You will not find it in this word. That's a man-made, contraption But you will see To the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved that's accepted in Christ You know, I wasn't seeking God when he found me Not at all I Was content in my little religion I Which wasn't, I was a Catholic, so I went to church twice a year.

And I held that badge of a Catholic. But I had no idea who Christ was. Absolutely no idea. I did not know who He was. And He manifested Himself to me through His Word. First of all, He showed me I was a sinner. dead dog sinner. Then he showed me his grace and his mercy. Isn't that wonderful? Oh my. We studied this chapter.

We have seen emphasized that salvation is an eternal act of God according to his good pleasure and according to his will. not based on any human merit, not based on anything in us, but grounded in God's sovereign choice of a people, in Christ. That's the key right there, in Christ. And he chose to bless and to save sinners through Christ. And the ultimate aim of redemption through the Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal praise and magnification of God's glory and grace. It's seen a transformation of former enemies, as I said earlier, into worshipers now. Into worshipers who now praise his mighty name. Only God can do that. Only God can do that.

Now we who are the redeemed of the Lord, we rejoice in the fact that God saves sinners, don't we? Oh my, because we could never save ourselves. So we rejoice in that fact. And there's all God's born-again blood-washed people are people who have been saved from their sins. I stand before you, a man who's been saved from my sins by the perfect sinatonic work of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am a sinner saved by grace. And that's, there's nothing I did. Through the blood and righteousness of Christ, we've been accepted, we've been made acceptable to be in God's presence through Christ.

He's qualified us for heaven through Christ. Colossians chapter 1 brings that forth. When it says we're made meat, in the Greek that word is qualified. We're qualified for heaven through Christ. We ain't qualified for heaven in anything we do, are we? No, we're qualified for hell, aren't we? But look at the mercy and grace of God. He makes us accepted in the beloved. That's wonderful, isn't it, Sister Julia? It's wonderful. We're accepted in Christ. All because of his perfect work. It's wonderful.

And we see in our text, God saves sinners by, we know by the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, through redemption through his blood. All to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in Christ.

Let's read verse 6 again. To the praise of the glory of His grace. To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. Look at verse 12. That we should be the praise of His glory, who first trusted Christ. the praise and the glory of his grace. Then look at verse 14, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of purchased possession under the praise of his glory.

Look at that. To the praise and the glory of his grace. So we see and let us rejoice over this wonderful fact that God saves sinners by grace through the merits of the substitute. Through the merits of a substitute, singular, right? The Lord Jesus Christ. God incarnated in the flesh.

And what is it for? To the praise of the glory of his grace. Makes you want to shout, doesn't it, sister? It's so wonderful. It's so wonderful. To the praise of the glory of his grace. My Look at these words. To the praise of the glory of his grace. That we should be to the praise of the glory of his grace. That we should be to the praise of his glory. Unto the praise of his glory.

My, it's repeated for us. We desire, don't we sister, to praise him. We desire to praise Him now. There was a time when we didn't desire to praise Him. And let us remember that the unsaved are in the same place we were. Oh Lord, give us a heart. Give us a heart for those around us who we work with, those around us who we see and talk to each week. My, because they're just like we were. And the only difference between them and us is we're saved sinners by the grace and mercy of God. It's only God who made us to differ from them. We got no ground to boast on. We got no thing to be proud of.

You know, I was reading an article by Joe Terrell. I just love Joe. I know he's gone home to be with the Lord, but he was talking about the worst kind of pride is pride of grace. To be proud that we know what we know and to be proud that we are who we are in Christ.

That ought not to be so. Because we don't have nothing to be proud about, do we? And let us not look down on others who don't agree with us. Go, oh, look at those. They don't know nothing. We were there. Chris and I, we've often talked about that. We were there. That was us. Let us not get pride and grace. Oh no. Let us pray for those around us. My.

Pray that the Lord would reveal himself if they're not saved. And if they are, pray that he would teach them in the truth and build them up. That they might know that this is wonderful truth we're looking at. This is, you know what this is? Soul securing truth. This gives me I don't know if it does for you, but it gives me such assurance because I'm just a receiver.

God's already done it all. And he's speaking to us in the past tense. And God, the Holy Spirit, is the true author of this, isn't he? Paul's just a pen man, just like a preacher, just a boop, out it goes. Right? Oh yeah. So let us rejoice to the praise of the glory of God's grace that we're saved. That we're washed in the blood. And this is a wonderful fact that God has saved us in Christ. It's a fact. It's not up for debate.

Those who God sends His Spirit into their hearts who now cry, Abba, Father, they are the ones who have been chosen in Christ from before the foundation of the world, and for whom Christ died for on the cross. And because we're sons, God sends the Spirit of His Son. Who's doing the work? God sends the Spirit of His Son into our hearts. We're born again, whereby we now cry, Abba, Father.

And who gets all the glory? To the praise of the glory of his grace. Isn't it wonderful? My, I just wanted to shout that all week this week. Oh my. It's beautiful. God passed by multitudes. Now think of this. God passed by multitudes of people upon this earth.

And look what it says, but for we who are redeemed, he has blessed us. My, the cause of God's blessing upon us is not in us at all, but all in himself. All in himself. And every saved sinner knows and acknowledges that fact, that we do not deserve God's favor, we do not deserve God's blessing, But beloved, the scripture declares, he hath mercy on whom he hath mercy.

And what's that? To the praise of the glory of his grace. Isn't that wonderful? I'll tell you, makes you want to shout, doesn't it? Oh, my. Beloved God, let we who are the redeemed of the Lord rejoice that God has saved us so that we might praise him. so that we might glorify in his wondrous mercy and grace for all eternity. Do you know in eternity? Do you know? This is wonderful, Sister Diane.

In heaven, the cry of the saints is, worthy is the lamb who was slain. Worthy is he. The praise on earth, worthy is the lamb. He redeemed me. Same song, isn't it? From all my sins. Oh, what a Savior. Oh, what a Redeemer is Jesus Christ our Lord. Now we add nothing to God's glory. We add nothing to God's happiness or majesty. He's God. He's self-sufficient. He doesn't need us. We need Him. He doesn't need us. You know, the way people talk sometimes, they think that God needs them to accomplish His purpose. God don't need nobody. That's what makes salvation absolutely incredible in Christ. Because He saved us according to His mercy and according to His grace.

Isn't that wonderful? Because it pleased Him to do so. My, oh my, oh my. It's just amazing. He is absolutely independent. He is full of majesty, our great God. He is holiness. Perfect holiness. He is perfect righteousness. And he saved our souls to the praise of the glory of his grace because it pleased him to do so. Now, I'll tell you what. What a Savior. What a Savior. And we can praise Him, beloved of God, because all He's done for us. He redeemed us. He saved us from all our sins. He saved us from God's wrath. He saved us from God's justice, which is real. He saved us from hell.

Oh, my. And how do we praise God? By simply trusting in Him. We can praise Him with our lips, but when we trust Him, we're praising Him too, aren't we? Because, oh my, He saved me. I'm just going to rest in Him. I'm going to try. I'm just going to look to Him. I'm just going to look to Him. And we can celebrate His glorious attributes. We can celebrate His holiness. by praising him, we can celebrate the fact that God himself has saved us?

See, with man it's impossible to save ourselves, but with God all things are possible. So God becomes a man, the Lord Jesus Christ, the word of God becomes a man. I love to talk about Christ becoming incarnate. It's wonderful. That's how he saved me from my sins. I had one person tell me one time, you say, you say God became flesh too much. Can I ever say that enough? If God hadn't became flesh, I wouldn't be saved and neither would you, beloved. Let us rejoice that God became flesh to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he has made us accepted in Christ, who's God in the flesh.

It's wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. Let us praise him for his holiness. Let us praise him for his righteousness. Let us praise him for his majesty. Let us praise him for his power. Let us praise him for his great grace and his great mercy. And let us praise him for his greatness, which is incomprehensible.

We think God, and our little finite minds start to fuzz out, but He's so much greater than we even think He is. My, let us praise our great God for giving us faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us praise God for His Son, the Word of God, who He sent to save us from our sins. How?

By the shedding of his blood, by redeeming us out from underneath the law. And that's what his blood did. His blood was offered up as a payment for our sins. People say, well, you talk about that too much. Well, I'm going to keep talking about it. Because it's by the blood that we're redeemed, isn't it?

By the blood of the God-man. Oh my. my oh my and that's what ransom our souls that's what that that's what why god is satisfied with the sacrifice of christ because of how precious his blood is the blood of the god man the sinless one offered up for sinners such as we my what to the praise of the glory of his grace Wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved. Accepted in Christ. Accepted in the God-man. Why? Through his blood and righteousness, Beloved. Oh, it's glorious. I'll tell you why. We could just sit on that topic for the rest of our lives, couldn't we? Oh, never get old. Never get old.

My, so let Let again we who are the redeemed of the Lord praise our great God for the fact that he has saved us to the praise of the glory of his grace, and that he has accepted us in Christ. God the Father's done this. Mine. And the ultimate end of all things we see is the glory of God. Why did God create the heavens and the earth? For its glory. Why is there a flower that grows in the Amazon or someplace that no man sees? What's it doing there? To the praise and the glory of God's grace.

We're finding creatures in the sea. They're still discovering insects and other things that they've never seen. No eye had seen those. but they're for the praise and the glory of God's grace. They glorify God. They show his majesty and splendor. I love those shows that show underneath, way deep in the water, in the pure darkness, and they take a light down there, and there's these translucent jellies, or box fish, they call them. No one's seen them until they got down that deep. And they're absolutely stunning.

They magnify the glory of God. Everything made in this world is made to magnify the glory of God. And we live in a fallen world. What's it going to be like in the new heaven and new earth where in dwells righteousness? It's going to be amazing. So the ultimate end of salvation through Christ is the glory of God. Do you know God would be just as much glorified in our damnation as in our salvation? But praise God, He chose to save us. Oh, praise God.

I was sitting at the breakfast table today with Josh and Vicki, and I said, you know, Lost souls live for eternity, too, in hell. We don't hardly ever think of that, do we? Oh, God's people live in joy for eternity. Lost people live in torment for eternity. So when someone says, I don't care what happens to me when I die, you say, It's appointed on a man once to die, but after this is the judgment.

You will see God, either as a judge or a savior. Aren't you thankful to the praise and the glory of God's grace that he made us accepted in the beloved? And the only one who made us to differ from those in hell, in torment forever, is the grace and mercy of God, period. no other reason to the praise the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in christ amen and amen brother chris can you close us in prayer