Things to Boast About
“… let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me…” declares the LORD.
Jeremiah 9:24
GOD, the Father
Already visible in Creation, revealed Himself in the person of His Son (Romans 1)
He prepared Christ’s body to be an offering (Hebrews 10:57)
He revealed the mystery of His eternal plan to save His people (Matthew 11:25)
He revealed the holiness of His love, His righteous justice, and its penalties (Romans 23)
He revealed Himself as Israel’s covenant God (Romans 3:2126)
He fulfilled His eternal covenant (Hebrews 13:2021)
He loved us before we loved Him (1 John 4:10)
He destroyed the barrier of our rebellion and His wrath (Ephesians 2:1219)
He averted His righteous anger with us (1 John 2:2)
He rescued us from the coming judgment—we were condemned (John 3:17)
He restored our relationship, presenting Christ as atonement for our sin (Romans 3:25)
He graciously forgave our sins (Eph. 2:7; Hebrews 10:17)
He promised to forget our sins (Psalm 103:2; Hebrews 10:17)
He freed us from the guilt of our sins (Hebrews 10:22)
He has pronounced us not guilty/not condemned (Romans 8:1)
He declared us (who are in Christ) ‘righteous’ (Romans 4:2324)
He cancelled our record of debt with its legal demands (Colossians 2:1314)
He also cancelled our liability to punishment (Col. 2:1314)
He adopted us into His family (Romans 8:15-16; Eph. 1:4)
He makes us members of His household (Ephesians 2:19)
He makes us His heirs (Romans 8:17; Galatians 4:7)
He makes us ‘saints’ (Eph. 1:1; Philippians 1:1)
He gives us the joy of a right relationship with Him (Romans 5:13)
He regenerated and re-created us ‘in Christ’ (John 3:5-8; 2 Corinthians 5:17)
He gave us new birth by the Holy Spirit (John 3:37)
He has given us the gift of faith (Ephesians 2:8)
He poured His love into our hearts by the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 5:5)
He comforts us in all our troubles, enabling us to comfort others (2 Corinthians 1:35)
He began a new work in us and will carry it on to completion (Philippians 1:6)
He has given us eternal life, instead of the death we deserved (Romans 6:23)
He made us alive with Christ when we were dead in our sins (Colossians 2:13)
He promises nothing can ever separate us from His love (Romans 8:39)
He has promised that in all circumstances, He works for our good (Romans 8:28)
He has prepared good works for us to do (Ephesians 2:10)
He equips us with everything good so we can do His will (Hebrews 13:20-21)
He has made us His ambassadors of reconciliation with others (2 Corinthians 5:20)
He not only reconciles us to Himself, but also to each other (2 Corinthians 5:20; John 13:34)
He sets us apart as His new community of His people/His church (Romans 10:12-13; Titus 2:14; Ephesians 5; Revelation 5:9)
He sent Jesus to rescue us from the present evil age (Galatians 1:4)
He destroyed Satan who held the power of death; we need not fear death (Hebrews 2:1418)
He has also given us what we need to have victory over Satan (Ephesians 6)
He shows us the evidence as we turn from sin and believe in Christ (Romans 6:123)
He gave us His written Word, with instructions for resisting Satan (Ephesians 6:1018)
He gives us what we need to resist Satan, and stand firm (Romans 8:3839)
He has set a day for Satan’s total destruction (Rev. 20:2,10)
He moved us from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of His Son (Colossians 1:13)
He did all this because of His grace (Ephesians 1:7)
JESUS CHRIST, the Son
He left His glory for our sake (John 17:5)
He came in submission to the Father who loves us (Phil. 2:58)
He came as the agent of reconciliation (Romans 5:10)
He came to restore our relationship with the Father (Romans 5:11)
He humbled Himself and came as a Servant (Isaiah 42:1; Philippians 2:58)
He gave Himself up as a… sacrifice for us (Ephesians 5:2)
He revealed the Father’s love for His chosen people (John 1:31)
He came as our Mediator of the new covenant (Hebrews 9:15)
He ratified the new covenant (Luke 22:20)
He entered into our sinful condition (Galatians 3:13)
He bore the sin of the world (1 Timothy 1:15)
He became sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21)
He became a curse for us (Galatians 3:13)
He suffered physically in our place: shame, torture, agony, mockers (John 1819)
He endured judgment in our place (John 19)
He forgave His enemies, resisting the temptation to retaliate (Luke 23:34)
He honoured His human mother despite His agony (John 19:2527)
He died for us while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8)
He thus justified us (just as if we died) (Romans 8:3033)
He shed His blood so we would have forgiveness of sins (Matthew 26:27)
He paid for us with the high price of His blood so we are His (1 Corinthians 6:1920)
He gave his life as a ransom for us (Mark 10:45)
He redeemed us from our captivity to sin (Galatians 3:22)
He has set us free from slavery to “all wickedness” (Titus 2:14)
He did this to purify us and make us His very own people, eager to do good (Titus 2:14)
He has done away with our need to make sacrifices of any kind (Hebrews 10:1112)
He has done away with the need for physical circumcision of God’s people (Galatians 6:12)
He has left us with nothing to pay for our sins (Hebrews 10:18)
He meets all our needs before God (Hebrews 7:26)
He became “the first-born among many brothers” (Romans 8:29)
He has freed us from the power of death (John 11:25)
He has cleansed our consciences (Hebrews 10:22)
He is our (unpaid!) defence before God (1 John 2:1)
He declares us righteous before God (Philippians 3:89)
He sanctifies us—a continuous life-long process (1 Thess. 5:23; 1 Peter 1:2)
He gave us the right to become children of God (John 1:2)
He has enabled us to approach God with freedom and confidence (Ephesians 3:12)
He gives us permission to address God as “Our Father...” (Luke 11:2; Galatians 4:6)
He loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy (Ephesians 5:2526)
He promises that those who remain faithful will “share His throne” (Revelation 3:21)
He now intercedes for us (Hebrews 7:25)
He has brought us into a kingdom that cannot be ‘shaken’ (Hebrews 12:28)
He has also reconciled all things—created and cosmic (Colossians 1:1516)
He triumphed over Satan and all powers at his command (Colossians 2:15; 1 Peter 3:2122)
He unifies us in Himself (reconciling us to each other) (Galatians 3:28; Philippians 2:12)
He has taught us how to live in the power of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:1626)
He has prepared us for works of service (Ephesians 4:1113)
He will meet all our needs (Philippians 4:19)
He will transform our bodies so they will be like His glorious body (Philippians 3:2021)
He showed us the Father’s glory (John 1:14)
He fulfilled all the scriptures (John 19:24)
He redeemed all of us who believe (the church) with His own blood (Acts 20:28)
He will never turn away anyone who comes to Him (John 6:37)
He has gone to prepare a place for us (John 14:2)
He has promised to return and take us to His place (John 14:34)
He is the risen, ascended, glorified and living Lord
He is our Saviour, Redeemer, Lord, Shepherd, Priest, Brother, Friend, Son of God, Servant King, Prophet, the Way, the Truth, the Life
GOD, THE HOLY SPIRIT
He is the only Spirit of God (Ephesians 4:46)
He is the Spirit of truth (John 15:26)
He gives life (John 6:63)
He is God’s anointing (blessing) on us (2 Corinthians 1:2122)
He honours our bodies with His presence, so that we honour God (1 Corinthians 6:1920)
He has made us new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17); the old has gone, the new has come!
He seals us in Christ (Eph. 1:13) as a seal is on a document
He is God’s seal of ownership on us (2 Corinthians 1:22) as purchased property
He is God’s deposit in us (Ephesians 1:14)
He is our guarantee of God’s redemption of His people (Ephesians 1:14)
He pours God’s love into our hearts (Romans 5:5)
He is the Spirit of life and peace (Romans 8:16) when He controls our minds
He will give life to our mortal bodies, just as Christ was raised from death (Romans 8:11)
He will give us wisdom, revealing God so that we may know Him better (Ephesians 1:17)
His power helps us know the extent of Christ’s love (Ephesians 3:1619)
He enables us to have the hope of our inheritance (Eph. 1:18)
He is our power to live in God’s mighty strength (Eph. 1:1920)
He helps us put to death the misdeeds of our bodies (Romans 8:13)
His presence in us enables us (the church) to be God’s dwelling place (Ephesians 2:2122)
He thus ensures nothing can ever separate us from God’s love (Romans 8:3839)
He is our Counsellor, promised to us by Jesus (John 14:16)
He reminds us of everything Jesus said (John 14:26)
He testifies to us about the truth He hears from the Father and the Son (John 15:26)
He reminds us we are children of God (Romans 8:16)
He gives us the ability to call God our Father (Gal. 4:67)
He struggles with us when we rebel against God (Genesis 6:3)
He may be grieved when we don’t live as children of the Light (Ephesians 4:30)
He helps us in our weakness (Romans 8:26)
He helps us to pray (Romans 8:2627)
He intercedes for us (Romans 8:2627)
He guides us in God’s truth (John 16:13)
He leads us to serve in a new way (Romans 7:6)
He enables us to worship, serve and build one another up with His gifts (Acts 2:4)
He spoke long ago through David concerning what was to come (Acts 1:1517) He inspired all scripture (2 Timothy 3:16)
He enables us to proclaim Christ (Joel 2:2832; Acts 2:17)
In His power we go out as witnesses of all that God has done in Christ (Acts 1:8)
Jesus said, ‘… out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.’
Luke 6:45