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.
It is utterly and absolutely vital to maintain and defend the doctrine of justification by grace alone. It is necessary to do so because it is biblical, but also because the freedom of God in giving grace and salvation must be asserted at all costs. It is also necessary to maintain this because of the attributes of God. While self-absorbed and self-centered humans think of themselves at the center of all things even if they have a God-centered theory, the fact of the matter is that God is the center of all things. Some non-Christians see how little they are and they are the ones defending the protection of the earth and animals to the detriment of human beings. It gives them the idea that they are serving something larger than themselves.
In verse 6 above we see that God freely bestows grace on sinners in the Beloved. This “freely” teaches us that grace comes to sinners because of God and not because of some good found in us. This teaches us that grace comes to sinners solely because of who God is and not because of something worthy or meritorious about us or done by us. Grace is given to sinners without any cause found in them or done by them, but instead all the cause of grace is found in God. This is also seen in the fact that this grace is given to sinners in the Beloved. Sinners must be in Christ to have this grace. In one sense we can see this because all spiritual blessings are only given in Christ (v. 3). It is only those who are united to Christ by grace who receive grace because of Christ who alone has merited and procured grace for His people. This is a great encouragement to sinners who have sensitive consciences and who see something of the gravity of sin. They don’t deserve grace, but that is no bar to them receiving grace. The bar to receiving grace is to think that one can be worthy of it to some degree.
This freedom of God to show grace quite apart from sinners deserving it does not lead people into sin when they understand it, but it leads and drives them to a thirst for God and His glory. Only those who have unregenerate hearts will think of grace as an excuse to sin. But the grace that saves is the grace that will give men a hunger and thirst for righteousness instead of sin. This grace is what moves men to holiness and it is what drives men to behold the glory of God in His grace. Grace comes to sinners in Christ and because of Christ and those who are in Christ live by the life of Christ and their life is Christ. Those who are in Christ have life because of grace and they walk by grace. Those who are in Christ are in the Beloved and while their hearts may stray here and there and nothing they do is perfect, nevertheless they live by grace and grace alone instead of their own imperfect hearts.
The greatness and freeness of this grace because God shows grace because of Himself rather than the sinner is a great encouragement to the worst of sinners to come to God. The poor believer with enlightened eyes may see himself as beyond hope, but his eyes need to be adjusted to behold the grace of God in the Beloved. Sinners are loved in Christ and because of Christ. Sinners are beheld by God in Christ and not standing by themselves. Saved sinners have grace procured for them by Christ and they are to seek it for the sake of His name and not for their own names. It is true that the holier a person is the more that person will have access to grace, but let us never ever make a mistake about where this holiness comes from. True holiness comes by grace and the soul that receives that grace receives more grace. If grace comes because of holiness then that turns grace into something we can obtain by our works. No, no, and a thousand times a thousand no. Holiness comes by grace and the one made holy by grace receives grace upon grace (John 1:16). It is of the fullness of Christ that we receive grace, not because we have worked for it.
What this should and perhaps must teach us is that all should seek grace because of Christ and in the name of Christ. Sinners of all kinds (regenerate and unregenerate) should seek grace because that is the only thing that can regenerate them or make them holy and give them (freely) more of God in Christ. The freeness of grace in terms of its coming apart from our own merit and works should drive us to seek Christ. God loves to save sinners and bring saved sinners to Himself to the praise of the glory of His grace. Seek Him by grace as it is the only way!
God Loves... Himself 
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