Introduction
You will never be sure you have God’s unmerited favor if you are not sure if God has forgiven your sins. I want you to know your sins are forgiven not according to the qualities of your good works, but according to the riches of God’s grace, called unmerited favor.
Our Scripture passage in this segment comes from Colossians 2:13-14, “And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”
Sin Debt is Paid in Full
When you accept God’s gift of salvation (accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior), all your sins, past, present, and future, have been forgiven. There are some Christians who believe that the forgiveness they received spans only from the day they were born to the day they became Christians.
When Jesus shed His blood for sinners on the cross, it canceled the huge debt that was against us because of our disobedience to God. In biblical times, financial records were kept on parchment, and the writing could be washed off when the debt is paid in full. This is the picture Paul painted for us to see as Jesus did the same shedding His blood for our sin debt paid in full.
All Means All
Does “all” mean the same thing to you as it does to me? The Bible says that all our sins have been forgiven by Jesus’ one sacrifice on the cross. We have been forgiven once and for all! The high priests in the old covenant had to offer sacrifices for sins daily. In contrast, Jesus offered the complete and perfect sacrifice “once for all when He offered up Himself” (Hebrews 7:27).
On the cross, He took upon Himself all sins you will commit in your lifetime, and once and for all paid the full price for all sins. Christ does not need to be crucified again and again. In fact, all your sins were in the future when He died on the cross. So when you received Jesus into your heart, ALL your sins were completely forgiven!
Slave or Free
Before we believed in Christ, our nature was evil. We disobeyed, rebelled, and ignored God. Even on our best days, we did not love him with all our heart, soul, and mind. The Christian, however, has a new nature. God crucified the old, rebellious nature (Romans 6:6) and replaced it with a new, loving nature (Colossians 3:9-10).
The penalty of sin died with Christ on the cross. God has declared us not guilty, and we need no longer live under sin’s power. God does not take us out of the world or make us robots as we will still feel like sinning, and sometimes we will sin. The difference is that before we were saved, we were slaves to our sinful nature; but now we are free to live for Christ (Galatians 2:20). Let me ask you this question, “how are you using your freedom right now?”
Conclusion
Now that you know that your sin debt has been completely cleared and settled by Jesus on your behalf, don’t expect God to deal with you according to your sins. When something negative happens, don’t imagine that God is coming after you because of what you did in the past.
Instead, take God at His Word and expect to enjoy the benefits of the heavy price Jesus paid at the cross for you. We sowed nothing good, but through Jesus, we have reaped every good blessing. That is called unmerited favor. And you honor what He has done for you by thanking Him and expecting these blessings to manifest in your life every day, Amen!
I am Dale Van De Bogart and I approve of this message!
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