The Many Blessings of the Grace Believer

A Five-Part Study Series

⁹ But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 1 Corinthians 2:9 (KJV)

God has provided wonderful and glorious blessings to the one who has put his faith in Christ. He has given these marvelous blessings to us because he loves us. Paul wrote that God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Paul proclaimed many of these blessings in the opening verses of Ephesians, one of the most magnificent passages in the Scriptures. He emphasized that these blessings to the believer in Christ are to the praise of the glory of God’s grace. Below is the passage with specific blessings emboldened.

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 [His] 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. In all wisdom and insight ⁹ He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him ¹⁰ with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him ¹¹ also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, ¹² to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. ¹³ In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, ¹⁴ who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory (Ephesians 1.3-14).

Some of these blessings enumerated above are explained below. These blessing are a “package.” When a person believes the gospel (1 Corinthians 15.1-4) he has a new relationship with God. He is no longer an enemy but a son or daughter of God. He stands in an unending stream of God’s grace from which all blessings flow. These blessings, though real, must be appropriated by faith for the believer to experience them. Faith gives victory in the Christian life. The Scriptures declare what God says about the present possessions for those who have put their trust in His Son. Believe them! Victory in the Christian life is through faith. Hebrews 11 declares how believers in the past had victory in their lives. It was all by faith; they believed what God said!

The blessings enumerated here are for those who have put their trust in Christ. For those who reject Christ’s redemption and love, only judgment and condemnation await. Jesus came to save mankind. His death and resurrection solved the problem of sin and death. But Jesus warned that judgment awaited those who refuse His offer of salvation. Listen to the words of Jesus,

¹⁶ “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish [be destroyed], but have [His] eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. ¹⁸ He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (John 3.16-18).

²¹ For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes. ²² For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, ²³ so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him (John 5.21-23).

For those willing to put their trust in Christ, God has provided incomprehensible blessings. We are rich beyond imagining. Some of the specific blessings are the following:

1. Justification
2. Redemption
3. Regeneration
4. Sonship
5. Joint-Heirs
6. Reconciliation
7. Forgiveness
8. Eternal Life
9. Indwelling of the Holy Spirit
10. Resurrection