“The Blessings and Benefits of Salvation”: Part #1
Dr. Gary M. Barker
The apostle Paul wrote in 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”. Salvation has provided many wonderful blessings that cause a believer to be happy and full of joy. The unique characteristic of each of the blessings is that they will last forever. Eternity future will be a time of everlasting joy and happiness for every believer. Experiencing everlasting life in heaven will cause a believer to have everlasting satisfaction and contentment. This is the hope that every believer possesses. I recently finished a long series of messages in my church on the blessings and benefits of salvation. We discussed over twenty of these blessings. Today I want to briefly begin to share these blessings with you in this meditation. We’ll discuss about 5 blessings in each article.
- Salvation has provided everlasting life thru the new birth: John 1:12-13, 3:16, 36, 5:24, 6:40,47, 10:27-28. Jesus promised to give everlasting life to everyone who believed in Him. Salvation delivers a sinner from perishing in hell and provides assurance that a believer will live forever in heaven. A believer has assurance of where he will spend eternity.
- Salvation makes a believer righteous or justified in God’s sight: Romans 3:23-24, 5:1, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Titus 3:7. By faith in the gospel of Christ’s death for sin, burial and resurrection, God takes away a believer’s sin thru forgiveness and gives him the righteousness of Christ as a gift. A believer becomes as righteous as Christ which allows a believer to go to heaven and live in the presence of God.
- Salvation makes a believer holy, or sanctified in God’s sight: 1 Corinthians 1:2, 30, 6:11, Hebrews 10:10-14. A believer receives Christ’s holiness by believing the gospel. Without being holy, no one can live in the presence of God.
- Salvation provides reconciliation with God: Romans 5:8-11, 2 Corinthians 5:18-21, Colossians 1:19-22. As a forgiven sinner, God restores a personal relationship with a believer. By grace, God accepts a believer as His own child.
- Salvation causes a believer to become an adopted child of God. Ephesians 1:3-6. By faith a believer is transferred from being a member of the Devil’s family and is adopted by God as a member of His family (Colossians 1:13-14). A believer begins to have a new relationship with God as his Heavenly Father. This new relationship gives a believer the privilege of praying to God.: Ephesians 3:14-19, Hebrews 4:16
This is just the beginning of all the ways God has blessed us. It is an awesome privilege to be saved and know that in eternity future we will have everlasting joy in God’s presence and with other believers. I sincerely pray and hope that your eternity future will be filled with joy and happiness.