I may have a solution for healing most of the personal and relational heartache so many people experience today.
As a Christian Pastor for over forty years, it amazes me how so many professing Christians believe in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ but live their lives continually crucifying themselves and others repeatedly. Sadly, many believers in Jesus, for some non-biblical reasons, hold on to sin that was nailed to Christ’s Cross. Our scripture for this week makes me want to jump out of my chair and shout Hallelujah! as loud and as far as I can. “And when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all of our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” Colossians 2:13-14 Paul says that when we were “dead” in our sins, unable to pay their debt and redeem ourselves, God made us “alive together with Him” (Jesus). You and I moved from death to life. How? Through forgiveness of sins. How did Jesus pull that off? The not so favorable (“hostile to us”) certificate of debt, the list of our sins, was canceled. Negated. Torn up. Jesus, when He became sin for us, bearing our sins in His body on the Cross, nailed your and my sins to the Cross where His precious blood covered them. What we owed was paid in full!
II Corinthians 5:21 states “He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
BOTTOM LINE: OUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN. FORGOTTEN. TO BE REMEMBERED NO MORE. NAILED TO AN OLD RUGGED CROSS. NOT JUST SOME CROSS. THE CROSS OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST~.
Considering this incredible truth, I have some questions we need to answer. Serious Questions That Need Answered Ø Why do we keep dragging up old lists of our sins and drawing up new lists of sin? Ø Why do we put up with people who point fingers at us and shame us with past sins? Ø Why do we think that nailing people and their sins to the cross makes us superior in some way? Ø Why do we drive nails into our hearts when Jesus took the nails for us? Ø Why do we rehearse and nurse past sins that have been washed away? Ø Why do we pin others and try to exact a pound or two of flesh from them when Jesus’ flesh was ripped apart for all of us? Ø Who do we think we are when we hold people’s sins against them when Jesus doesn’t? Ø Do we really think it is all right to crucify people who do not agree with us, offend us, or make life difficult for us? Take a minute to chew on these important questions. Was His sacrifice not good enough? Was Christ’s blood not holy enough? Not pure and strong enough to wash us clean? Does sin somehow have more power than forgiveness? Oh my, we are on extremely dangerous ground if we believe we must overrule or override His crucifixion in some way. How could the holy blood of God’s only Son not be enough? The nailing is done. The blood was shed. It is finished. Forgiveness is complete.
Please listen to me for a moment. If you confess Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, put your hammer and nails down. Stop making sin lists. Stop crucifying yourself. Stop crucifying others. Jesus Christ was crucified once and for all for all of us.
“Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.” I Peter 1:18-19 A Word For Your Week: Christ’s death on the cross means we can stop nailing ourselves and others to a c |
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