Ephesians 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 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, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He lavished on us
Martin Luther, John Calvin, and the Reformers that followed after them stressed justification by faith alone. But the reason that they did this is so that justification would be by grace alone which is to say that justification would be by Christ alone and to the glory of God alone. Underneath this grand teaching stressed by the Reformers is that God saves sinners based on nothing found in the sinner or anything that the sinner can produce or do. The Gospel stands firmly on the concept that God saves sinners to the glory of His grace and that alone. God not only saves sinners apart from any value, righteousness, or merit found in them or done by them, but He saves sinners when they are His enemies and have an infinite amount of anti-righteousness and de-merit to their account. There is absolutely no reason for God to save sinners unless He is motivated by Himself and His own glory.
When sinners seek forgiveness based on anything they can find in themselves or do themselves, they are not seeking forgiveness on the same basis that God actually forgives. In the Fall man turned from complete dependence and reliance on God for all things to dependence on self. In the Gospel man must be turned by God from a dependence and reliance on self to a complete dependence and reliance on God. As long as man looks to himself for a little worth or a little righteousness of merit, man is not looking to God in complete dependence and reliance.
In the passage above we see that it is God’s choice and not the choice of man in matters of salvation. We can see that it is the will of God and not the will of man. We can see that it is according to the pleasure of God and not the pleasure of man. We can see that sinners are saved to the praise of the glory of His grace rather than according to the praise of anything found in them. We see that sinners are saved by grace which He freely bestowed on them rather than waiting for them to do something so He could respond to them. We see that sinners are forgiven and have redemption according to the riches of His grace (alone) as opposed to something found in them or done by them plus grace. When we put those things together, it is so crystal clear that God saves according to Himself and what He has done rather than according to the worth or merit of the sinner.
Because God saves according to Himself He can save sinners with a grace that He lavishes upon them. If sinners had something that they could contribute to salvation that God had not done, then grace would be given according to something found in the sinner (which would mean that sinners would no longer be saved by a real grace at all) and grace would not and could not be lavished upon them. It is only when sinners are forgiven based upon who God is and what He has done that they can have grace lavished upon them.
It is only because of blindness and pride that sinners will not look to God and His grace alone rather than their constant efforts to rest in something about them or what they have done. It is a horrid pride that would rather depend on some little something regarding self or the efforts of self rather than look in complete dependence to God and His grace alone. It is an effort to want God to be moved by some pathetic little something (actually, sin) rather than to be moved by love for Himself and His own glory to save sinners. But the desire sinners have in wanting God to save them based on them rather than on Himself is actually the desire for the sinner to be God. The sinner wants to have the choice and control in the matter rather than God. The sinner wants to have God love the sinner rather than for God to love Himself. If the desire on the part of the sinner was actually fulfilled, God could no longer be holy and just in saving sinners. Not only does that desire (if carried to its logical end) overthrow the Gospel, it would tear God from His throne and change His very nature. But God will not be torn from the throne and He will not be changed. God does all out of love for His own name and His own glory.
God Loves... Himself 
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