"To The Praise Of The Glory Of His Grace"  

Ephesians 1:6

 

In the first chapter of Ephesians the Apostle Paul tells us three times that the purpose of God in the salvation of our souls is, "To the praise of the glory of his grace." There are other Divine attributes that are manifest in the salvation of sinners by Christ. The wisdom of God devised the plan of redemption. The power of God accomplishes the work of regeneration. And the immutability of God is the security of our souls.  In fact, all the attributes of the triune God are gloriously displayed in the salvation of sinners! But grace is the fountain head of salvation. Grace is conspicuous throughout the whole work.

 

Grace is to be seen in our election. "There is a remnant according to the election of grace. Grace is evident in our redemption. We have been "justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." Grace is the basis of our calling. God "hath saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." Certainly, all who are born of God know that we are justified, pardoned, adopted, accepted and blessed of God according to the riches of his grace toward us in Christ Jesus.

 

I see a golden thread of grace running through the whole of the believer's history, from his election before all worlds to his admission into eternal glory in heaven. All along the way, "Grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life." There is no point in the history of a saved soul upon which man can put his finger and say, "I did that. This part of my salvation was my own work. I have this by my own merit." Every blessing we receive from God, in time or eternity, comes to us through the channel of free and sovereign grace in Christ. "Boasting excluded, pride I abase, I'm only a sinner, saved by grace." Boasting is excluded because all human merit is excluded, in the vocabulary of God's church "merit" is an unknown word. It is banished from our speech forever. Our only shoutings over the foundation stone and the top stone are. "Grace, grace unto it!"

 

In its planning, in its purchase, in its performance, in its preservation, and in its perfection our salvation is "to the praise of the glory of his grace!"

 

 

Don Fortner