SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/20/2017 8:34 PM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2
Complete Forgiveness
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Colossians
2:13-14
Message of the verses: “13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”
After the story that we talked about
in our last SD on this subject we have to begin to look at this very important
subject of complete forgiveness for without complete forgiveness we have no
forgiveness at all, and that would be tragic.
We spent three Spiritual Diaries
looking at complete salvation and now what we are looking at in this section,
complete forgiveness is similar. In complete salvation we saw that no religious
ritual is necessary in order to be saved, in fact trying to do that will be a
hindrance to becoming a believer. Again we want to look at Ephesians 2:8-9 “8
For by grace you have been
saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Remember that one of the attributes of God is
He is jealous, He does not want anyone to share in His glory and so if there
would be one person who got to heaven by doing something to earn their
salvation it would take glory from God. Now
as far as complete forgiveness Paul is emphasizing that forgiveness is complete
apart from any human work, as I said these are similar. MacArthur writes “Forgiveness is perhaps the
most exciting and comforting doctrine in all of Scripture, because it is what
guilty sinners need to be made right with God.”
Think about the story I shared yesterday of the lady who had a guilty
conscience, but had no way to care for it until she learned that Jesus paid it
all on her behalf, and this brought unbelievable comfort to her soul.
The Colossians were like all other
people as we are all “dead in our transgressions.” Now this, of course speaks of before they
were saved. “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,”
writes Paul to the Ephesians, again speaking of them before they came to Christ. Unbelievers all exist in the sphere or in the
realm of spiritual death, and this is because of the sin nature that we
inherited from Adam which he got when he sinned. I have mentioned the little
story of a pastor I knew who asked an undertaker friend of ours what would
happen if he asked a corpse what kind of tie he wanted to wear for his
funeral. He is dead and so are all
unbelievers as they are unable to respond to God because they are in sins
grasp. They cannot understand the truth
found in the Scriptures as it is like trying to read and understand someone
else’s letters that they have no idea what they mean. MacArthur writes that “Those who are
spiritually dead are dominated by the world, the flesh, and Satan and possess
no spiritual, eternal life.”
If you do not know Jesus Christ as
personal savior then think about the truth that we are talking about here as
far as not being able to understand the Scriptures, and believing that the only
way that this will ever happen is if the Holy Spirit of God opens your eyes,
gives new life to you as He through Jesus Christ gives you the understanding to
see your sin, repent and come to Christ for complete salvation, and complete
forgiveness.
3/20/2017
8:57 PM
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