To the Praise of His Glory ( Ephesians 1:14 )

 A Sermon on Ephesians 1.14

"We tend to think of sin in terms of "sins" - actions, things we do, and things from which we suffer consequences. 

In other words, our tendency is to think of sin entirely in terms of ourselves, our own actions, and our own reactions. 

But that's not the biblical view of sin. 

What is sin? 

Well, sin is this. The essence of sin is not to give unto God the glory that is due unto His holy name." - (Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones )

What should be the starting point of all a Christian's thought? 

How ought their thinking about any particular doctrine be finally assessed? 

The answer is simple: the glory of God. 

In this sermon on Ephesians 1:14 titled "To the Praise of His Glory," Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones points out that the apostle Paul in Ephesians is primarily concerned with the praise of His glory. 

Many religious people miss this crucial point. 

Their thinking upon any particular religious topic - whether sin or salvation - begins first with themselves. 

Dr. Lloyd-Jones warns this is a grave mistake. 

Any Christian doctrine that begins with something other than the glory of God wil negatively be affected. 

If one's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, how often do they ask God to forgive them for not glorifying Him? 

How often do they consider salvation as what only benefits or brings happiness to themselves and not as a right relationship to God? 

These are all hard questions which Dr. Lloyd-Jones provokes in this sermon on one of the highest thoughts human beings can ever contemplate. 

Sermon Breakdown 

¶ The glory of God must be the starting point of all our thought and the test of all our thinking. 

¶ Our view of sin is inadequate if it does not recognize that the essence of sin is not giving God the glory due to His name. 

¶ Our view of salvation is inadequate if it does not recognize that the supreme object of salvation is to glorify God. 

¶ A true view of salvation ascribes the entirety of salvation to God. It recognizes salvation is something huge, not small or easy. 

¶ We glorify God by seeing how His plan of salvation perfectly meets our every need. 

¶ We glorify God by recognizing the certainty of salvation - that God will complete the work He began. 

¶ We are meant to glorify God not just in our thinking but in everything we do and say. Our lives should point others to God. 

¶ Our experiences as Christians should glorify God - we should have joy, assurance and delight in God. 

¶ We glorify God by living lives that match and adorn the gospel. Our conduct should fit with the doctrine. 

¶ Everything in the Christian life is meant to glorify One Almighty God , through the name of LORD JESUS CHRIST.

I should like to call your attention this morning to the last phrase in the 14th verse of the first chapter of Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians. 

The Epistle to the Ephesians, chapter 1, and the last phrase in the 14th verse.

Unto the praise of His glory.

Now, obviously, that connects with what has been going before. 

So, I will start reading at the beginning of verse 13.

¹³ In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, ¹⁴ Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory. 

(NIV; ¹³ And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of His glory.)

Now, we consider this morning that final phrase.

We must stop at this and consider it.

I'm almost tempted to ask a question.

There are many present, most indeed present probably, have been attending regularly as we have thus been working our way through this tremendous introduction to this Epistle to the Ephesians.

And many were present last Sunday morning when we looked at that statement about the Holy Spirit  being the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession. 

The question I'm tempted to ask is, how many expected that this morning we would be going on to verse 15?

And that we'd finished with verse 14. That we had indeed finished with this entire great introductory statement. But, we haven't.

The apostle Paul doesn't stop at the words purchased possession. He adds this, "unto the praise of His glory."

And this is no mere addition.

This is no mere idle addition. Apostle Paul does not throw in these words, as it were, just to make  a statement appear to be complete from the literary standpoint. 

This phrase is an essential part of the apostle's teaching. 

It is as much a part of his teaching as all that we've been considering about the sealing of the Spirit and about earnest of the Spirit.

Indeed, you notice that the apostle Paul has already used this selfsame phase. He has used this phrase before in verse six, where he says, "to the praise of the glory of His grace." 

He's done it again in verse 12, "that we should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ." And here it is once more, in verse 14.

You can, if you like, divide up this great statement into three sections.

The section ending at verse six, the section ending at verse 12, and the ends here at verse 14. And the important thing for us to observe is that the apostle Paul ends each one of the sections on precisely the same note.

He is not content merely with making his statements. He must add this to it. It is all to the praise of the glory of God's grace.

And therefore, we cannot pass on verse 15. Indeed, it would be very wrong of us to do so without giving the due weight and importance to this statement which the apostle obviously intended.

Because here in this last phrase, he reaches again one of his climaxes. He brings us up to the point which he regards as being most important.

Now, who first trusted in Christ." And here it is once more. it wouldn't be a bad thing therefore for us this morning just to look in general once more at this tremendous statement which we've been considering after our lecture beginning at verse three and going on to the end of this verse 14. 

Those who are interested in statistics, this is incidentally the 27th Sunday morning that we've been looking at these first 14 verses of this epistle.

Now, you notice that certain things stand out very prominently.

One of them is the way in which the Apostle Paul ends each section with this phrase about the praise of His glory or the glory of His grace. 

And the other striking thing is, of course, the constant reference to our Lord