SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/22/2017
10:55 PM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-4
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.”
In our last SD we talked about the forgiveness of God
being the most important truth of Scripture, and in today’s SD we want to state
that God’s forgiveness is also a prominent theme in the New Testament. Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 26:28 “this
is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of
sins.” When we think about the fact that
this forgiveness was promised in the Old Testament, but now it is provided for
in the New Testament through the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. The writer of the Hebrews, speaking of the
Old Testament sacrifices said in “Heb 9:12 and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He
entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.” Again in Hebrews 9:13-14 we read “13 For if
the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who
have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of
Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish
to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” So we see even as far back as Genesis 3:15 “And
I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her
seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel’”
that God promised to send the Messiah into the world, Jesus Christ, who would
provide salvation to those who accept His forgiveness through Christ on the
cross. Let us look at Ephesians 1:7 “In
Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses,
according to the riches of His grace.”
Now as we continue this SD we will be looking at six
characteristics of God’s forgiveness as John MacArthur points out in his
commentary on this section of Colossians chapter 2:13-14. The first characteristic of God’s forgiveness
is that it is gracious. Salvation is not
earned by anyone for it is a free gift and it comes through God’s grace. Paul writes in Romans 3:24 “being justified as a gift by His
grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.” This verse speaks of how a person is
justified, and that word is a legal term “to declare, pronounce, one to be
just, righteous, or such as he ought to be (Greek/English Dictionary).” This justification comes as a gift given by
His grace. Paul again writes of this to
Titus in 3:4-7 “4 But when the kindness of God our Savior
and His love for mankind appeared, 5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in
righteousness, but
according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by
the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our
Savior, 7 so that being
justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
I hope that we can look at characteristics two through
six in our next SD as these are very important truths for us to know.
3/22/2017 11:17 PM
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