by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.(Colossians 2:14 – ESV)
There was a real record of our sin debt. There was a real record of transgressions made by you, sins against God. They are real, and God the Father took those out and said, “Who’s going to pay this bill?” God the Father told Christ it must be paid. If that sin debt weren’t paid then no one would be allowed to enter into heaven.
Our Savior told His Father that He would pay, and God handed His Son the record with its legal demands. Jesus Christ accepted His role as redeemer; He agreed to pay the sin debt of humanity with His own life, given for His own people who would call to Him in faith. Jesus wrote the check that paid for our sins with His own blood signature. God put the record of our sins in the palm of Christ’s hand and then He put a nail through it! Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands (Isaiah 49:16).
Now being pronounced spiritually pure doesn't remove all the temporal consequences. God forgives us for the sin, but we might still have the broken heart, the addicted body, and we still have to care for the child out of wedlock. We still have repentance to do, restitution to seek, restoration to build upon. However, we act from forgiveness, we don’t act for it.
Often we want forgiveness to be a magic pill that does away with all the consequences of our actions. We often fall into this trap especially with "personal" sins that no one else knows about. We need the integrity to deal with the consequences of the sin that no one sees. But remember, we act from forgiveness, we don’t act for it. We are truly guilty, but we have been declared righteous, and God brings us to Him after we see both sides. Remember that when you feel like you are in the devil’s grip. Satan has no power to control you, he only fools you into thinking you are his instrument, but instead yield yourself to be an instrument of Christ’s righteousness. Jesus has got you in the palm of His hand.
2 comments:
The Gospel. It is incredible.
Feels good to be forgiven. The truth of His gracious forgiveness, and what it cost the Father, and the Son, is our motivation to hate our sin.
I heard a preacher make a point about forgiveness once. He said, "Some will say, 'Well since all my sins are forgiven, then when I sin it doesn't really matter'. He said, 'If i were to commit adultery against my wonderful wife, I'm certain she would forgive me, because she is that gracious. So, do I want to sin against her, because of this. God forbid.
It's because I love her, that I despise the thought of adultery.'
And so it is with our Lord Jesus Christ. We love Him, and obey Him. For He loved us first.
Amen, Don...if we cannot get excited about the gospel, if we get all worked up over some "revival", and yet the gospel itself does not animate us, it is because we are still dead...the gospel continues to give life to those who have been born again by it...
Post a Comment