And if y'all would if the rest of you would take your Bibles and turn to Ephesians chapter one. Ephesians chapter one. I was about to let my twelve years in Georgia show up as I about said you all or y'all. But anyway, I changed it to all of you. So Ephesians chapter one, we will continue what we started last week talking about, our salvation.

Couple weeks ago, we talked about, the cost of our salvation. What does it cost you? I mean, what, or what did it cost Jesus? Salvation is a gift. That means it's what?

It's free to who? It's free to us, but it came at a great cost to who? To Jesus Christ who gave his life for us, who suffered our punishment on the cross. And then we looked a couple weeks ago after that at the obligations of salvation. Does being a child of God come with some obligations?

Does being a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ come with some obligations? Being a child of the king, yes. Yes. It does. Yes.

They do. Though salvation is free, there are expectations that God rightly has for us his children. And glory and worship and praise and gratitude and love and service that he deserves who gave his life for us. We began last week to look at the benefits of salvation from Ephesians chapter one. Couple other verses, I read last week, Psalm one zero three two up here on the screen.

Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not all his what? Benefits. Yes. The Lord talks about benefits in the Bible. Second Peter one three says this, according to all his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that have called us to glory and virtue.

Oh, he hath given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. They are gifts from God. They are benefits to our salvation. They are great and they are wonderful. One of the questions often asked today by someone seeking employment is what are the benefits?

The salary, the the hourly wage, the number of hours I will get. How about my health insurance or or paid time off or bonuses or retirement? We call all of those things benefits. And when you're going to look for a job, often if people ask that question, those are the type of things they're talking about, they're asking about. For most part, those benefits revolve around something called money.

But there are other benefits which may not involve money, like who you'll be working with. That can be a benefit or not a benefit. Or is it is is it something you enjoy? That can be a benefit if you have a job that you actually enjoy doing. Or is it worthwhile and fulfilling?

Those can be benefits also to employment, not just money. I'm reminded of Peter and John at the beautiful gate entering the temple. There was a man a lame man sitting there in front of the gate. He couldn't walk, hadn't been he had been lame since birth. Somebody brought him and placed him there in front of the gate that led into the temple for him to beg probably most every morning.

And as Peter walked up, he said to the man, there's silver silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, I give thee give I thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And immediately, the lame man jumped to his feet and began to dance around with joy, drawing attention from many onlookers to whom Peter then stopped and began to preach the what? And began to preach the gospel, to proclaim the good news both to this man and others that were there. While the gift of healing this man received was wonderful, it was not that alone which Peter spoke about.

No. The gift that he had to give that was greater than silver and gold was greater than mended bones in this man's legs. It was the gift of salvation from sin that he shared by the gospel to this man and others and many were saved that day. Don't buy into the low expectation gospel of prosperity preachers. Christ has so much more to offer you than money, so much more to offer you than material possessions or health or physical blessings.

Though some of those things are nice, and God does sometimes help with those things. Salvation is not about your bank account for those things are passing away. It is about your eternity and it is about your joy and is about your opportunity to serve the Lord Jesus, to have hope and peace and fulfillment in this life that money cannot buy. John ten twenty seven and twenty eight says this, Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give them what? Help me out.

I know there's few of you, but eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. What is what's Jesus offer? To his sheep, he offers them eternal life, not just healing from a particular ailment or or money in the bank or to get out of a particular spot that we're in. Though the Lord does care about those things, he has something to offer you that nobody else can, salvation from sin and many benefits that follow with everlasting life. Life from above through the new birth, a spiritual birth into a new life in Christ.

That's what God has to offer, and there are many benefits, many spiritual blessings. Look, if you would, to Ephesians one and verse three. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Blessings that come from where? From above.

From heavenly places. According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of the children of children by Jesus Christ himself according to the good pleasure of his own of his will. To the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted into the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace.

Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself that in the dispensation of the fullness of times that he might gather together in all things in Christ, in one, all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are in earth even in him, and whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted Jesus Christ. In whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, whom also after that ye believed ye were sealed with that holy spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance unto the redemption of the purchased possession to to the praise of his glory. Mouthful. We covered some last week. We'll review quickly, and then I wanna get to the one we didn't make it to last week.

Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, thank you for your word. Thank you for your son who gave his life for us. Thank you for the salvation that you give through him. To everyone who believes, thank you for the opportunity to share the gospel with others today and each day.

Lord, help us to keep our eyes open to see those around us who need Jesus. Lord, we pray that you would be honored and exalted in our service today and that you would draw us closer to you, inform us more to the image of Jesus Christ, your son, and draw the unsaved to salvation. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Okay.

So the benefits of salvation that we read about here in Ephesians chapter one. Number one, last week, we looked at that we should be this is in verse verse four, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. That is a benefit of salvation. That you would be holy. The word holy means to be set apart.

To be set apart from the world, to be set apart from sin, to be set apart from the lake of fire, the penalty of sin, to be set apart in Christ, Jesus, as his own. Sanctified. The gift of sanctification whereby we are declared holy and set apart in Christ is a benefit of salvation. You have been declared holy. As in the Old Testament, the the, only certain items and sacrifices and utensils could be used in the worship of Lord because they had to be what?

They had to be clean and they had to be holy. They had to be consecrated under the service of the Lord so we are a peculiar people. The word peculiar in first Peter meaning special. We are sanctified, set apart in Christ Jesus, called saints. The word saint means holy one.

It doesn't refer to the fact to to your behavior yet because we're not always holy. But in Christ, we have been declared holy before the throne of grace. The gift of justification, being blameless, he mentions here, declared righteous, guiltless before God's throne in heaven. No. We're not innocent.

We are guilty. But in Christ, we have been declared guiltless because we are robed in the righteousness of the one who gave his life for us, the righteous one, Jesus Christ. And therefore, we have been declared guiltless in Christ. I would call those benefits. Would you not?

First Corinthians six nine eleven, know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Paul goes into a long list there of different sins of which many are guilty. But then he ends with this, and such were some of you, but you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God. It is impossible for us to sanctify and justify ourselves. Only the righteous judge can do that and only through Jesus Christ his son, only by his grace.

Salvation brings us justification and sanctification. In verse five, we read about our adoption. Verse five and six. We've been adopted into a new family by God's grace through salvation. We have been born again into God's family.

You are now a child of who? Is that not a benefit of salvation? You who were, as a song we sung, a child of hell are now a child of who? Our child of God. Because we are just such great and wonderful people?

No. Because we have a great and wonderful savior, Jesus Christ. We have been accepted as he writes here into the beloved. In John one twelve, but as many as received him, to them gave you power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name. If you believed on his name, if you put your faith in Jesus Christ, if you've entrusted him with your soul to forgive you and give you everlasting life, you are now a child of the king of kings and the Lord of lords.

And he is waiting to hear from you. He's there to help you, to listen to you because you are his child. We're accepted into a wonderful family. We have a new inheritance in Christ, a new family of brothers and sisters in Jesus. Number three, that we should be redeemed and forgiven all our sins.

Verse seven, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. What is redemption? Redemption is the act whereby we have been bought back from sin and Satan who held us captive to a debt that we could not pay. A sin debt that could only be paid by the righteous one, Jesus Christ. What is the benefit of salvation?

You've been redeemed. You've been redeemed from sin and Satan. You've been bought back by the blood of Jesus Christ, by the price that he paid to pay the debt that you could not. And as such, that sin debt has been what? Forgiven.

It has been forgiven. Oftentimes in scripture, that's the way the word forgiveness is used in the forgiveness of a debt. And we owe a debt because of our sin, a penalty which we cannot pay. But because Christ has paid it and you received Jesus Christ by God's grace through faith, your debt has been forgiven. And there is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus.

We have been freed from that debt because part of it's been paid or all of it's been paid? The answer is all of it. Jesus paid it all. And that brings us down if you wanna move down to verse 13 in our passage this morning, 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 you were what? Sealed with that holy spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of his glory.

What is the next benefit? The next benefit is someone, not something. That benefit is the Holy Spirit. God the father, God the son, God the Holy Spirit. God the father, though he is omnipresent, has a throne in heaven.

At his side is Jesus Christ, the one who shed his blood for us, the one who intercedes in our behalf at the right hand of the father. Jesus promised when he went back to heaven after his resurrection that he would send the promise of the father to help us. The word comforter as it's translated in King James, that word comforter means helper. He is our helper. God Jesus promised when he ascended up to his place at the right hand of the father that he would send a helper.

Not just any helper. The third person of the trinity, God himself, to baptize us into God's family, to empower us in his service, to guide us in the way, to seal us as his children and as the guarantor, the earnest of the home that is awaiting me and you, our inheritance in heaven. Acts one four and five says this, and being assembled together with them, commanded them, that is Jesus commanded them, that they should not depart from heaven but wait for the promise of the father, which saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. Matter of fact, forty days after Christ no.

10 after Christ's ascension. Forty days after his resurrection followed by ten days after his ascension. The Holy Spirit came in Acts two as Christ foretold. And we have been sealed by the Holy Spirit that came into our heart the day we were born again and trusted Christ. Ephesians four thirty says, and grieve not the holy spirit why whereby ye are sealed until the day of redemption.

What's the day of redemption? That's the day that the final part of my redemption takes place. That's the day when I get a new body and I stand before Christ. The Bible says, we shall see him as he is for we shall be like him. We are sealed.

That is we have been marked as who? We have been marked as Christ. What is our mark? What is our seal that he has put upon us? That seal is the Holy Spirit that he has given to us.

The Holy Spirit is our seal. The one who seals us as his own until the day that we are with him in heaven. A seal which cannot be altered nor broken, which assures us of better things to come. In Revelation, we read about the mark of the what? The beast.

Okay? The mark of the beast, those choosing to take his seal or mark upon themselves indeed seal their doom. We have a better mark. We have a wonderful seal upon our lives. Not not a mark upon our our hands or our forehead, but a mark where?

In our heart, the holy spirit of promise. Jeremiah in the Old Testament, Jeremiah wrote to Israel who struggled and struggled and failed and failed to follow the Lord. He said, one day, I am going to give you a new heart. I am going to make a new covenant with you. And the laws will not just be written on stone, but the laws will be written in your what?

In your heart. And indeed they are today in the person of the Holy Spirit that God has given to us. How wonderful is our salvation that God lives inside of you. You are the temple of the holy you don't have to come to here to worship God, to pray and talk to God. You can do that in your own home.

You can do that in your car. You can do that at work. Yes. You need to come together to encourage and praise the Lord together, but this is not the temple. You are the temple of the Holy Spirit who lives inside of you, and you are marked as his.

Hereby know we that we dwell with him and he in us because he has given to us his his spirit. He is the earnest as the writer here writes in verse 14, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, until the praise of his glory. How do we know that there is a home awaiting in heaven for us, for you who are the redeemed in Christ? How do we know? Because he has given us his what?

Holy Spirit who is the earnest of our it's our piece of heaven on earth that guarantees us that the rest of it is just waiting for us up there. The part of the whole which guarantees the rest of our inheritance is on its way. This here in first Peter is one of my favorite passages of scripture. Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance. Whose inheritance is this?

It's Christ's inheritance. But if you're in Christ, now it's also whose? Yours. And what is the mark that God has given us? The the guarantee that it's ours?

The Holy Spirit. To an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. I would call those some pretty good benefits, but we're not done. The Holy Spirit who places us by spiritual life and baptism into the body of Christ, That that new family that you were adopted into, well, that's also the work of who? That's the work of the Holy Spirit who gives us new life in Christ and who brings us into the family of God, places us into the family of God by spiritual baptism, not by dunking you in water.

Though that's a wonderful and needful illustration of our salvation in Christ and our obedience to him. But the baptism of the spirit is not water. It is the coming in of the Holy Spirit into your life who then makes you part of the family of God. For we by one spirit, are we all baptized into one body whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we bond or free, and have been all made to drink of one spirit. When did that happen?

That happened the moment that you received Christ as your Lord and savior. When you called upon him, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. You were baptized into the family of God by his spirit who now lives inside of you. Jesus said to his disciples, and I will pray the father and he shall give you another comforter, another helper, another confidant that he may abide with you forever. See, the disciples were concerned because Jesus said, I'm gonna leave you and they didn't wanna hear, I'm gonna leave you.

And Jesus said, it's okay if I leave you because if I leave you, I will send the spirit and he will be with you. He continues on. Even the spirit of truths which the world cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him, but ye know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be what? In you. In you.

Jesus said, he's with you now, but it's going to be better when I go back to heaven. Because he won't just be with you, he will be what? He will be in you. The Holy Spirit doesn't walk beside me. The Holy Spirit lives within me.

Wherever I go, he goes. Whatever I do, he is there. Good or bad, he's there. He's there and he said he'll never leave me nor forsake me. And it's a good thing because if it was up to me, I'd be in trouble.

But I have a loving, merciful, and patient God who has given me his spirit and I am marked as one of his and he will always be with me. As such, the Holy Spirit is the source of all our spiritual blessings in Christ. They all come to us through the conduit and work of the Holy Spirit, the promise of the Father who indwells every born again believer in Christ Jesus. As such, gives us understanding into the word of God, into the the mystery as Paul puts it here in verse eight when he says, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence having made known unto us the mystery of his will. The Holy Spirit takes the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, and he reveals to his children his will in ways that the world just cannot receive or understand.

John sixteen thirteen, Jesus writes, howbeit when he, the spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth. He shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come. Mysteries, as Paul puts it. We read about those throughout the the New Testament and in the book of Revelation, what God has given to us so we will know what's coming. The victory is ours in Christ Jesus.

And there's a place awaiting for us that is beyond description where there are streets of gold, where we will dwell in the presence of the holiness and love of Christ for all eternity. Holy Spirit was given to help us to understand and to apply the word of God that he has given to us. But the comforter, is the Holy Ghost, whom the father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you. There there's an enemy called the devil and sometimes our flesh and the world, they're they're the enemy too. And, we have a lot of obstacles to to get through and but we're not alone.

And there is one, a teacher that lives inside your heart who will help you to grasp the mysteries of heaven, to help you to grasp the will of God and the nature of God and the will of God for you, and he lives inside your heart. He gives you enlightenment and understanding that the world does not have. Let me read just a few verses quickly from first Corinthians, chapter two. First Corinthians two seven says this, but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto your our glory, which none of the princes of the world knew. For they if they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

But as it is written, high hath not seen nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto who? Unto us by his spirit. For the spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God. He goes on to say that they are spiritually discerned and the spirit helps us to understand, apply the word of God.

He is our our guide and our teacher to help us through the pitfalls of life, to help us to grow in knowledge and in grace. He empowers and strengthens and gifts us that we might be powerful and effective witnesses for Christ in this world to fulfill his great commission. Matthew 28, Jesus said, what all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth, go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, the son, and of the holy ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And in acts one eight, he says to his disciples, you go back and you wait in Jerusalem. I don't want you to leave Jerusalem yet.

I want you to stay together. I want you to wait for the coming of the what? The Holy Spirit. And he says, but ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. Ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, all Judea, and Samaria, and to the uttermost part of the earth.

Jesus said there's one thing you yet need, and that is the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. So go back and wait. When the Holy Spirit came, Peter preached, 3,000 souls were saved. Now think for just a moment. The Peter that preached that day who put his life on the line because he knew the authorities did not like what he was going to say.

Was the same Peter that fifty days prior denied the Lord three times because he was scared just as Jesus told him he would. The Peter before Pentecost was a man who thought he could do anything and had to be taught by Christ that the spirit may be willing, but the flesh is what? The flesh is weak. But the Peter of Pentecost was a man empowered and emboldened with the power of God. And confidence not in the flesh and not in Peter, but confidence in God's power, the power of the risen savior that he served.

And he preached with boldness and 3,000 souls were saved. It says in Acts four thirty one, and when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together and they were all filled, empowered with the Holy Ghost and they spake the word of God with boldness and more souls were saved despite the persecution they were under. The Holy Spirit will empower us too if you let him. You'll give him opportunity. Open your mouth.

Find somebody to witness to. He intercedes in prayer for us when we don't know what to say. Romans eight twenty six, likewise, the spirit helpeth our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the spirit itself make it intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. When you don't know what to say, how to pray, he does and he steps in. He gives us victory over sin and temptation.

Galatians five sixteen, This I say then walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust. You are not left helpless to the whims of the flesh because you have who? The Holy Spirit living inside your heart. And if you will walk with him, if you will listen to him, if you will yield yourself to him and to his word, you can have what? Victory, not just an eternity, but you can have victory win today over that sin that stubbornly is hanging on in your life.

Don't listen to the lies of the devil. Greater is he that's in you than he that is in the world. Who is that? Who is it? It's the Holy Spirit that lives inside of your heart.

It is God himself. And greater is he that's in you than he that's in the world. Couple questions in closing. Have you yet to receive your gift? The gift of salvation.

Salvation from sin, redemption, forgiveness, justification, eternal life. Have you yet to receive your gift? For it is a gift that can yet but be received by faith. If you have, you also have the Holy Spirit. He lives inside your heart.

Are you walking with him? Are you living each day in his power according to his word, confessing your sins, seeking his answers and his guidance in prayer? Or are we kind of just ignoring the greatest gift that anyone could ever have? The Holy Spirit who lives inside of us. Are we not seeking his guidance?

Are we ignoring him, his conviction, or his word? If so, we are taking for granted something so precious that is ours, and we are so missing out. Walk in the spirit. You will have victory over the flesh. You will see souls come to the savior.

You will see lives changed. You will have a hope that is with you every day of your life. You will have wisdom from above and understanding into the scriptures as you read them. You will have the realization every day that you have a helper and you are not alone, but you are sealed by the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption? Are you saved?

Are you also walking in the spirit today? Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, we thank you, Lord, for your word and for the reminder today of the benefits of our salvation, which we have just begun to scratch the surface. But, we thank you today most gratefully for the gift of the Holy Spirit that you have given to us to help us, to empower us, to guide us, to lead us, to remind us, to assure us that we belong to you and that you are on the throne and that you're preparing a place in heaven for us. And, Lord, we thank you for that gift, and we pray, Lord.

I pray that if we're not walking in the spirit, that we will repent of our complacency. We will repent of taking for granted the most wonderful gift anyone can have and that we would spend more time with you seeking your guidance and strength in our life. We pray, Lord, if there is one here today that's yet to receive Christ as savior and all the benefits that come with salvation, I pray as we give this hymn of invitation that they would come, that we could share with them how they might be saved today and know it and receive God's wonderful gift of everlasting life. In Jesus' name we do pray. Amen.