Salvation’s Instant Rewards Program

 

At the moment we call out to Jesus in prayer, realizing that we are a wretched sinner in desperate need of Him as our personal Savior, and we place our faith in His death, burial, and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only way to Heaven (John 14:6), we are automatically enrolled in an instant rewards program beyond compare!

We are positionally justified in Christ.(Romans 3:24,25,28; 5:1,9; 8:30; Galatians 3:11,24) All our sins, past, present and future, are forgiven and paid for by Christ’s death on the cross (Psalm 103:12). When God looks at us, He no longer sees our sins, but only the perfect righteousness of His Son (Ephesians 4:24; 1 Peter 3:14). In His eyes, it is “just as if” we had never sinned (1 John 2:2;4:10).

We are adopted as a child of God the Father, and a joint heir with Christ, through our relationship to Our Father and as the betrothed of God the Son (Romans 8:16-17). When we are born again, we become part of the church, which is the bride of Christ. (Revelation 19:7-9). Just as an earthly bride gains access to the family, legal, and financial heritage of her husband, every believer is elevated to heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 1:3; 2:6) and entitled to live, rule, and reign in His kingdom (Romans 5:17; Revelation 20:6).

We are a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). This doesn’t mean that we will never sin again, because we still have our sin nature, but we will no longer want to sin (Romans 7:14-25). We will want to yield to the Holy Spirit, pleasing Him with our life, choices, habits, words, and thoughts (Romans 8:1-5). Others recognize that we are different from what we used to be and different from the world (1 Peter 1:14-16), because we are sealed with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13).

We are indwelled by the Holy Spirit (John 14:17).  He enters our heart and remains there throughout our earthly life, guiding us, teaching us from God’s Word, convicting us of sin, comforting us in difficult times and giving us wisdom. He is our constant Comforter (John 16:7), Companion, and Guide. How can He leave us, for He inhabits our very body as His temple! (1 Corinthians 3:16).

At the moment of salvation, the Holy Spirit give us at least one spiritual gift to be used to tell others about Jesus, to encourage and teach other believers, and to glorify God.in all that we do (1 Corinthians 12:13-28).

We have immediate, continuous access to God the Father on His throne 24/7, because Christ is the perfect sacrifice and the Great High Priest Who tore away the veil separating sinners from Holy God (Hebrews 10:5-20). We never have to make an appointment or worry that His line is busy, for we can boldly approach the throne of grace! (Hebrews 4:14-16). The Spirit makes our prayer requests clearly known to the Father when we don’t even know how or what to pray! (Romans 8:26).

We have abundant life (John 10:10) beginning at the moment of salvation. Life is richer and more meaningful because the Holy Spirit leads us, and we are never alone, because He will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).He is the Friend Who sticks closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24).

We have the assurance of security that nothing can separate us from God’s love. We did nothing to earn our salvation, and there is nothing we can do to lose it (Romans 8:35-39), for we are held securely in the double grip of Jesus’ hand clasped tightly in the Father’s hand (John 10:28-29).

All this is just the beginning! From the moment of salvation, we begin our Christian journey of progressive sanctification – of becoming more like Christ as we yield increasingly to the Holy Spirit. And one day, we shall be raised to our glorified bodies and be forever complete in Him!

© 2013 Laurie Collett

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