Ephesians 1:3 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.
The Gospel of grace alone is the Gospel which glorifies God alone as it strips man of any hope in his own works and glory. The Gospel of grace alone is the Gospel which is focused on what God does and on God saving sinners according to Himself and for His own purposes. Those who believe that God saves them for what they do and because of who they are in themselves have no basis for salvation at all. Sinners either believe that God loves them because of who they are or what they have done or they believe He loves them based on who He is. Since God alone is the origin and source of all true love, He must love sinners based on who He is rather than on what sinners are. This is part of the glory of grace. God saves sinners and gives them spiritual blessings according to Himself. God loves sinners because of who He is. God predestines sinners and adopts them because of who He is. God is motivated to save sinners for Himself.
The self-sufficient God saves sinners according to the good pleasure of His will (literal translation) and not according to their own good pleasure. This is getting at the heart of true grace. It was the pleasure of God’s will that moved Him to save sinners and not because the sinner was worthy or did anything that had merit or worth. God saves sinners because He is pleased to save sinners and it is His pleasure to save sinners because it glorifies His grace to do so. Most people seem to think that God will save them whenever they decide that they want to be saved, but that is precisely backwards. God saves sinners according to His own pleasure and when and if He decides to save them. If God saves sinners to the praise of the glory of His grace, then sinners are saved by grace and grace alone. If sinners are saved by grace alone, then there is nothing in them worth saving and no merit in them at all either. Salvation by grace alone means salvation by God alone. God saves according to Himself and the glory of His grace as He pleases. Anything else is something other than grace alone.
The text also shows us this by setting out how grace is given. It tells us that God saves to the praise of the glory of His grace “which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.” Once again, clearly, grace is only found in the Beloved or in Christ. All spiritual blessings are only found in Christ and are given in Christ alone. But even more, grace is given in manner consistent with grace. While the English word is “freely” and that is at least part of it, we must understand something of the concept as well. For grace to be given freely, it must be given apart from worth, merit, or causation on the part of the one receiving it. If God saved for any other reason that because of who He is and because of His grace, salvation is because of another reason and not because of His grace alone.
If God is to save sinners on the basis of grace and give that grace freely, then God saves by grace and gives grace in accordance with grace. Sinners are saved by a grace that is free of merit on the part of sinners. Sinners are saved by a grace that is free of worth on the part of sinners. Sinners are saved by a grace that is free from the works of the sinner. Sinners are saved by a grace that is free from the morality of the sinner. Sinners are saved by a grace that is free from the righteousness of the sinner. Sinners are saved by a grace that will only save in accordance with grace and so that it is to the praise of the glory of the grace of God. There is no room for the sinner to be a part of any cause in his or her own salvation as that would diminish and detract from the grace of God in saving sinners for His own glory. There is absolutely no room at all for sinners to glory in themselves as they have nothing to boast in. They are saved apart from their own worth and merit and all causation, which leaves them nothing to boast in but the glory of His grace and the glory of the cross of Christ. The Gospel of grace alone was planned by grace, purchased by grace, and applied by grace. This grace is freely bestowed on sinners and so they have nothing to praise and glory in but His grace. Away with the glory of self.
God Loves... Himself 
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