Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Colossians, Chapter 2. The name of the message is, Sins
Blotted Out. Sins Blotted Out. Now, we live in a world where
debt is very common. People are either in debt or
coming out of debt or going back into debt. We have debt on our
homes or on our vehicles. We have national debt, right? Certain countries offer credit
which becomes debt to the country that receives it. So we're surrounded
by debt, aren't we? Debt is something that we know
well as humans. And when we have a, we can have debt from all different
circumstances, right? We can have debt from doctor's
appointments and surgeries. Debt can come all of a sudden
real fast where we need some money and we have to get a loan
maybe to help us out at that time. So something we know about,
something we live with. Debt is something we live with.
And people work hard to get out of debt, don't they? They work
hard to get out of debt, and that's a good thing. No one likes to be in debt. I
don't think there's anyone in this world that likes to be in
debt. I ain't met anyone yet that likes it, actually. Oh,
my. But it's something we all know
about. But you know there's a debt that
not one of us can pay, and we're all debtors. You know there's a great debt,
a sin, that we owe as human beings. And we can't pay for one little
piece of it on our own. Not one. But you know there's
a one who owed no debt. who died for a multitude of debtors that we might be free. How would you feel if someone
paid a great debt that you couldn't even pay a pinch of it? A debt
that's so astronomical, so high that you couldn't even touch
it in a lifetime, that you can't even reduce it by anything we
do. How would you feel if someone
paid the debt for all that and it was all gone? Oh, it'd make you rejoice, wouldn't
you? It'd turn the Baptist into a
shouter. My, it'd make us rejoice. Now, we know the scripture declares
that the wages of sin is death, right? So what Paul meant there
is that he was talking about, in wages there, he was talking
about what a Roman soldier would receive for payment for their
duties. So the payment for our sin is
death. Because we can't pay our sin
debt. We can't pay any of it. Look at this in Colossians chapter
2. Do you know that there's one
who has so paid for the debt that it's absolutely gone? He paid the debt for his people,
people that God the Father gave him as eternity. And he went
to the Calvary's cross, the Lord Jesus Christ, and he paid to
save his people from their sins. And they are now debt free by
his grace and his mercy. And when we're born again by
the Holy Spirit of God, we find out what Christ has already done
for us, don't we? He's already saved us by His
grace. As we saw on Sunday school, it's work done. He saved us by
His mercy and His grace. It's done 2,000 years ago. We
had no idea. We were slaves to our sin. So the Holy Spirit regenerated
us, gave us faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
now we rejoice, don't we? Look at this in Colossians chapter
2. So this great debt, the sin debt that we had, we could never
pay by anything we do. Nothing. But look at this. This
is cause for rejoicing. Colossians chapter 2, verses
6 to 15. Colossians 2, verses 6 to 15.
As you have therefore received Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk
ye in him. Rooted and built up, established
in the faith. Notice singular, the faith, singular. There's not multiple gospels.
There's one gospel. In the faith, there's one faith.
As you have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. So
a person who's had a great debt paid off will be thankful, won't
they? Think of when you pay a debt off in your own life. You want
to have a get-together, don't you? Let's have a mortgage-burning
party, right? It's paid! It's mine! So thanksgiving, the great debt
that's been paid. Beware lest any man spoil you
through philosophy and vain deceit after the traditions of men,
after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in
Him, that's in Christ, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. And look at this, oh my, if we could only live in
this verse, and ye are complete in Him. Again, in the Greek,
that word complete there means filled to the brim. You cannot
get another drop in it. We're complete in Him, not in
anything we do. We're complete in Christ. See, our works don't enter the
equation, does it? We're complete in Him. It is finished. With nothing we added. Nothing
to be added. It's perfect. Right? Who is what? The head of all
principality and power. He's in full control. He's in
control of everything. Every molecule in this universe.
As one preacher said, there's not a maverick molecule in this
whole entire universe. It's all under his control. In
whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without
hands, this is being born again, and putting off the body of the
sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried with him in
baptism. So we were crucified with Christ,
right? Nevertheless, I live. Now we're buried with him in
baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith
of the operation of God, who raised him from the dead. He's
raised for our justification, right? We were in him. We're
raised with him, right? And you being dead, now that
word dead is the same word that is in Ephesians 2, that means
a corpse. That's what our natural state
was. We were spiritually dead. We were spiritually a corpse.
Alive physically, spiritually have no understanding of God.
Not at all. Just a corpse, spiritually. But
look what happened. And you being dead in your sins
and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together
with him, having made or heaven forgiven, you all trespasses,
we're made alive now in Christ, we're born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. Christ himself said in John 3, you must be born
again to enter into heaven. Well, that only is done by the
power of the Holy Spirit of God. And that's evident here when
it says, and you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision
of your flesh, hath he quickened, you might have it in your margin,
made alive. Made alive. Remember last week we were looking
at the corpse and how it couldn't do anything? And then when it's
made alive, when it's given life, like Lazarus, remember, he's
in the tomb. He's dead and buried three days. But it says, Lazarus,
come forth. Out he stumbles. That's a picture
of us. We were spiritually dead. Spiritually
dead, and Christ called us by his grace, didn't he? And by
the power of the Holy Spirit of God, we're made alive. Now
we have understanding of who God is. Oh my, I sinned against
Him. My sin's against God. Oh Lord,
please forgive me. And we have that forgiveness
and that mercy in Christ. How do we know that? And I'm
talking about, I don't care what you've done in your life. There's
forgiveness in Christ, in Him alone. He may have stacks of
sins piled up, which we all do, every one of us do. Billions
of sins. I'm just a saved sinner standing
here preaching to you. I'm a sinner saved by the grace
of God, and I'm still a sinner. But praise God, I'm saved. My, oh my. Look at this. This passage gets me so excited
as a believer, because I was dead. I was graveyard dead, and
he made me alive. I didn't want nothing to do with
God, and he made me alive. And by his mercy and his grace,
he made me a preacher of his righteousness, a preacher of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Look what it says here. Again,
blotting out. Well, it says in the verse before,
hath he quickened with him heaven forgiven you? How many trespasses?
Does it just say just a few? One or two? Just the past ones? Does it say that? Because that's
what a lot of religionists say. They say, well, God's forgiven
you for all your past sins, but now your future ones. No. Praise be to God, the scripture
says, all my sins. And if you're a believer, all
your sins are bought and paid for in full. And then Sister
Linda saying, oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus. You can't measure
that love. You can't even plumb the depths
of that love. My. Heaven forgiving you all
trespasses. That's why we rejoice as believers.
We're not holier than thou. We don't think ourselves better
than anyone else. As a matter of fact, we know
what we are. Even now, just as sinners saved
by the grace of God. But look at this. This is so
wonderful. Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against
us. So God's law. God's law demands satisfaction,
doesn't it? We have a debt we have to pay. But we can't pay it. God sends his son down to die
in our ruined place. And I'm telling you, he died.
The scripture says, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for
he shall save his people. Not everyone in this world, but
he'll save his people. You're saved, everyone whom the
Father gave to him. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, I am no wise cast
out. I won't cast out any of the Father gave me. Now, we don't
have any clue who they are. And my calling is just to preach
Christ. And I marvel that I'm one of
his people. Is it so for you? Sister, we've been talking about
that. We just marvel, still, even though we know it's by his
grace, even though we know it's by his mercy. We still marvel
at the fact that he saved us. Blotting out. Now in the Greek,
that means to whitewash. And I had a friend of ours, a
dear sister in Oregon at that time, but now she's in Colorado,
married Jake's wife, and she said that When you whitewash
something, it speaks like with an anesthetic or something that
just totally cleanses whatever you're whitewashing. Blotted out. So all those sins
are blotted out. All those trespasses, that great
debt we owe, billions of sins in a lifetime, blotted out. past, present, and praise be
to God, future. Now, that does not give us a
license. You've heard me say this. I'm going to say it again.
Because people, when you say that, they say right away, oh,
you're an antinomian. No, I'm not. The love of Christ constrains
us. We cannot go out that door and
do whatever we want. We won't. We won't. Christ's love will
constrain us. Now, are we still sinners? Yes.
Of course, we are, to our shame. But we're safe sinners now as
God's people, aren't we? We who are born again by the
Holy Spirit of God, we've been granted faith to believe on Christ.
We're saved. We rejoice. It says, blotting
out the handwriting of the ordinance that was against us. So God's
law was against us. God's justice was against us.
It had a rightful claim on us, beloved. Right? The soul that sinned, it must
die. Wayne Boyd must die. My, put your name in there. That's
what the law said. And then it says, look what he
did. Blinded at the handwriting of the ordinance that was against
us, which was contrary to us, right? We couldn't approach God
in our sinfulness. And took it out of the way, nailing
it to his cross. Where is it? It's on his cross. Paid in full. So each believer can say, we
can look to the cross and we can say, paid in full. Paper with a stamp. I remember
when I was a kid, they don't do it anymore, but when I was
a kid, and Tom, I don't know if you remember this when you
were little, but you go in a store with your dad or your mom and
they have this stamp, they put paid. And I always like to grab
the stamp. Can I do it? Oh yeah, okay. And
you do it and it's paid. They don't do it anymore. But
that was just a thrill to go, Hey, it's all paid for, Dad,
you know? And that meant you didn't owe
anything, right? Blotting out the handwriting
of ordinance that was against us. Paid. It's in the red of his
blood. Paid by the blood of Christ. Oh, my. Oh, my. And it says this, in having spoiled
principalities and powers, He crushed Satan's head. He bruised
his heel as humanity, but he crushed the power of Satan. Satan's
got no power. He's on a leash. He can only
do what God allows. Again, if you have any questions
about that, just read the first chapter of Job. He cannot do
anything that God won't allow him to do. He's not omnipotent. He's not
all-knowing. Not at all. There's only one
who's like that, and that's God, the Father, Son, and the Holy
Spirit. And having spoiled principalities
and powers, he made a show of them openly triumphing over them
in it. Now, triumphing there is reference to when Roman generals
would come back from a battle, a great battle or a great campaign,
such as the one that Caesar did against the Gauls. And so at
the end of that, when he had bought them all under subjection,
they would have what's called a triumph. And the commanding
general would go forth. Then certain chosen legionnaires,
certain sections, maybe the first cohort or the second cohort or
whatever cohort of men which were influential in that war
would march right behind, that was a great honor for them too,
march right behind the general. And then behind them they would
have pictures depicted on wagons that they pulled with the battle
and all that. And then behind them would come the slaves, the
captive people chained up, chained up who they had defeated, usually
with their leaders in the front. My, and so that was a great triumph.
Well, this is the same thing that's saying here. He triumphed
over principalities and powers. He triumphed over Satan. He triumphed
over all Satan's, all principalities and all powers. But note in verse
14 there, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against
us, that was contrary to us. And in a Greek, again, it means
literally to wipe away, to rub out. to expunge, to expunge,
to turn one's back on. My, think of that, to turn one's
back on. God says, I'll remember your sins no more. They've been cast behind his
back. My, your sins and iniquities, well, I remember no more. The
great debt that we had, that we owed for our sins, gone, paid
for. And that old staff, paid in full. Red with the crimson blood of
Christ. Oh my. And this is speaking of
the forgiveness of sinners. We have a great debt we owe,
right? And yet for the believer in Christ, for the one who's
born again, for the one who Christ died for, All their sins are
forgiven, all of them. And that's hard for us to grasp,
isn't it? But it's truth, beloved. Heaven forgiven you, all trust
passes. We know our failings, don't we?
We know our sinfulness. Sometimes it drags us down, doesn't
it? Sometimes we hold our head and say, Lord, why do I keep
doing that thing when I know it's not right? You ever heard
that? Let's be honest. Forgiven. I remember a preacher
friend of mine, you guys knew him, and he went home to be with
Gloria, but a young preacher called him one time and said,
brother, I've sinned grievously. I've sinned grievously. You know
what this old preacher said to him? Repent and carry on. Repent and carry on. Just say,
Lord, please forgive me. And carry on. See, in religion, they'd have
chewed him up. But not so in grace, beloved.
Not so in grace. Turn, if you would, to Mark chapter
6. Mark chapter 6 and Luke chapter 11. Now, sin in scripture is frequently
accounted as a debt. Look at this in Matthew chapter
6, verse 12. And we're to pray this. Look at this. And forgive us
our debts as we forgive our debtors. Now, people think, you know,
some people might look at that and say, oh, we'll forgive them
for owing something. No, that means our sins. That's talking about our sins,
beloved. We ask God to forgive our sins,
and we forgive others their sins against us. And then in Luke 11, 4, it says,
and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone that
is indebted to us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver
us from evil. And this is the prayer we're
to pray, right? It's the model prayer. Now, if our debt is not
forgiven by God through Christ, then we're perishing our sins,
and we're going to everlasting torment in hell. And this is true of everyone.
The scripture declares you must be born again. You must be born
again. The Lord said it himself, except
you repent, you shall all likewise perish. Now, again, you've heard
me say that faith and repentance is like the same piece of paper,
right? When God gives us faith, he also gives us repentance before
him. It's not something we can muster
up. And you know what? We'll never repent until we have
faith. And we'll never have faith until we're born again. All right? Can a corpse believe? No. No. But if you're made alive,
that corpse is reanimated in the sense is given life, it can
You can believe if it's given faith, can't it? See, we're made,
again, what comes first, faith or regeneration? Always, always
regeneration. You must be born again. You must
be. And then you have faith. Then
you have faith, given to you by the grace of God. My, oh my. Now note the latter
part of this verse. Note the latter part of verse
14 and verse 15. It says, and took it out of the
way, nailing it to his cross. And having spoiled principalities
and powers, he made a show of them, openly triumphing over
them in it. Now, he took it out of the way. He took our sins
out of the way. During the days of Paul's writing,
they would have what was called a debtor's bond. Just as when
you sign papers for a house or a credit card, you're obligated
to pay that debt. Any debt that you incur, you're
obligated to pay. And note, the debtor's bond for
our sins is taken out of the way. It's gone. It's stamped paid. How? How can our great debt be
taken away? Well, again, one who owed no
debt. He was absolutely sinless. He
was perfect. He's spotless. He's the God-man.
He's the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the second person of the
Trinity. Became a man. Lived upon this earth. The perfect
life. Absolutely fulfilling the law
of God with nothing, nothing missing. Perfect man. And then scripture says he went
to Calvary's cross and he gave his life. Scripture says, right,
that he gave up the ghost. He willingly died for us, beloved. He paid that great debt. We have
incurred a debt so great that we could never ever pay it. Can't even pay for one of our
sins, can we? So, who was an Augustus top lady who wrote Rock
Ages, figured we sin a billion times in a lifetime if you live
to be your 80s. I can't pay for one sin, let
alone 80, 80 billion. I haven't even reached that yet,
but Bruce Crabtree said, I think his mathematics were off, because
I'm already past that. Yeah, we all say amen, right? My oh my, what a great debt.
What a great debt. Blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us,
and took it all of his way, nailing it to the cross. Out of the way,
it's gone. The law is satisfied. The law looks at a believer and
has no claim upon them, because as I said last week, we're covered
by the blood of Christ. paid, justified before God. Wiped out. Our sins are wiped
out, beloved. Mine. Gone. Never to be spoken of again. God won't say, okay, well, You know,
when I was in religion, I used to think that God would bring
us before a big old TV screen, and he would judge us according
to certain things, and we'd get rewards and all this according
to certain things, right? But that's being judged for something
you do. And I used to believe you'd lose
rewards or gain rewards. It all depended on something
I did, me, a sinner. Everything I do is tainted with
sin. Everything you do is tainted with sin, even though after we're
saved. But see, God says, I'll remember
your sins no more. So there won't be no big TV screen. God looks at us and says, forgiven. You're mine. I purchased you
with my blood. You're mine. You're my treasure. You're my jewel. I've loved you with an everlasting
love. Therefore, I gave my life for
you, that your sins might be blotted out. Mine. And there's no more payment
needed. It's absolutely fully Because we could not pay anything
for our sins, right? Christ, again, the Word of God,
the second person of the Trinity, becomes a man and lives upon
this earth the perfect life. And then dies the sinless substitute. His death is so amazing. So great. Although it's awful what happened
to him, how they treated him, right? But he willingly went
to that cross. He knew he must go there to redeem
us, beloved. And so the great sacrifice of
the sinless substitute redeems a multitude that no man can number. And here we who are believers
are here in 2022 rejoicing over that great salvation, over
that great sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, dying in our room
and place. Does this not cause us to rejoice? The sinless one dying for sinners,
paying the sin debt, paying all that God demanded for our sins. And none but Christ could do
this. No one but Christ could pay this great price. Only he could take away the handwriting
of ordinance that was against us, the scripture says. Turn,
if you would, to Hebrews chapter 10. Oh, my. Only he could do this. None but
Christ could satisfy God's law and justice, because he's the
perfect, sinless, spotless Lamb of God. He's God's Passover lamb,
isn't he? Dying on the cross for sinners.
In Hebrews chapter 10, it declares in verses 7 to 10, it says, then
said I, lo, I come in the volume of the book. It is written of
me to do thy will, O God. This book is all about Christ.
It's all about him who would come and save his people from
their sins. And then he says, above, When
he said, sacrifice offerings and burnt offerings and offering
for sin, thou wouldest not. Neither hadst thou pleasure therein,
which are offered by the law. So none of those offerings in
the Old Testament could ever take away sin. And look at this,
though. Then said he, lo, I come to do thy will, O God. What's
God's will? To save his people from their
sins. Isn't that marvelous? He taketh away the first, that
he may establish the second, by the which will we are sanctified. That means made holy through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. He died on Calvary's cross. It's
done. It's finished. Once for all his people. He came
to save his people from their sins. And you know what he did?
He did it. He shall not fail, the scripture says in Isaiah.
And he didn't. mile this wonderful in order
for this in debt to be paid in fall it took Christ perfect life
in his sacrificial death as our substitute to accomplish this
and as a result of the death of Christ those who rest and
trust in Christ alone by faith have the debt of their sin fully
paid turn if you would the Luke chapter 13 Luke chapter 13 fully
paid debt-free when it comes to our sins My Luke chapter 13, we read verses
one to five. Scripture declares they were
present at that. seasoned some that told them
of the Galileans whose blood pot had mingled with their sacrifices.
And Jesus answered and said unto them, suppose ye that these Galileans
were sinners above all the Galileans because they suffered such things?
I tell you, nay, but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise
perish. So he's saying, were they greater
sinners than you? Nope. And he says, if you don't repent,
you're going to perish just like they did. My, and he's talking about, he's
talking about the second death there, isn't he? My, oh my. For those eighteen upon whom
the tower in Siloam fell and slew them, think ye that they
were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you,
nay, but except you repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Trust
Christ. Trust Christ in Him alone. See
the word sinners in verse 4 there, in the Greek it means an ower,
a person indebted. Sinners are indebted. We owe
a great debt, don't we? My, oh, my. And a debtor is obliged
to pay the debt, aren't they? Well, while we're alive, we're
obliged to pay the whole thing, aren't we? Whatever we owe. My. So for the sinner, only punishment
is due, because we cannot pay the debt for our sins. But our
text in Colossians tells us that all the debt of the believer
is paid for. That's why Paul wrote in verse
10, and you are complete in him. You're complete in Christ right
now. And remember, Paul's right in
that 2,000 years ago. It's still true today, isn't
it? Beloved, you're complete in Christ. It's not based upon how we feel,
because we're like this, aren't we? It's not based upon if our
faith is strong or weak, because again, we're like that. But it's
based upon Christ and Him alone. You are complete in Him, in Christ. Therefore, it's like this. It
never changes. Isn't that wonderful? Oh, that's
so wonderful. That's good news, isn't it, brother?
That's really good news. My, oh my. Turn, if you would, to Matthew
chapter 18. Matthew chapter 18. Oh my. Just how much are we forgiven,
beloved of God? Over in Matthew, we see a parable here about the
forgiveness, where our Lord, after telling Peter and us that
we should constantly forgive one another, our Savior gives
us a parable about forgiveness here. We're looking at verses
21 to 35 in Matthew. Oh, what mercy we've received.
What mercy we've received in Christ. What mercy we've received. Matthew 18 verse 21, then came
Peter to him and said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin
against me and I forgive him? Till seven times? Shall I only
forgive him seven times, Lord? Oh, my. Well, eighth time, I'm
just going to be mad at him. How we are as humans, eh? How
we are. God doesn't remember our sins
no more. And here Peter, Peter's just like us. We're all the same.
Well, should I just forgive him seven times, Lord? Jesus saith
unto him, I say not unto thee until seven times, but until
seventy times seven. So an innumerable number. People
add that up and say, well, that's such and such. No, that's a reference
basically saying that you're to constantly forgive your brother.
Therefore, as the kingdom of God in heaven likened unto a
certain king, which would take account of his servants. Now
here's the parable. And he had begun to reckon one was bought
unto him which owed him 10,000 talents. That's a great amount. That's a huge amount. But for
as much as he had not to pay, his Lord commanded him to be
sold, and his wife and children, and all that they had in payment
be made. The servant therefore fell down and worshipped him,
saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
And the Lord of the servant was moved with compassion and loosed
him and forgave him the debt. But the same servant went out
and found one of his fellow servants. So he owed a great debt that
he couldn't pay. And he's begging the master,
please, please forgive me, just please give me. And then he goes
out after he's been forgiven and he finds a guy that owes
him like a quarter. And what does he do? What does this fellow do? He
found one of his fellow servants, which owed him 100 pence, and
laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, and said, pay
me that thou ow'st. This guy's just been forgiven
a huge debt. He's got him by the throat. He's throttling him. My. And his fellow servant fell
down to his feet and besought him, saying, have patience with
me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not, but went and
cast him into the prison until he pay the debt. So when his
fellow servants saw what was done, they were sorry and came
and told their Lord all that was done. Then his Lord, after
that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant."
That's wicked what he did, wasn't it? "'I forgave thee all that
debt, because thou desirest me. Shouldest not thou also have
had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on
thee. And the Lord was wroth with him, and delivered him to
his tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.
So likewise shall my heavenly Father do unto you, if ye from
your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses."
We're to be forgiven people, aren't we? We're to let things
go. And sometimes we struggle with
that. I've struggled with stuff many times. You struggle with
stuff. But I'll tell you, when you let it go, We have two things,
we can get two ways with things that occur. I think you've heard
me say this before. A fellow told me this years ago. He told me in every circumstance
you can either get better or bitter. And it's true, you know,
it really is. You can either get better, just
look to Christ and say, Lord, I'm gonna just let that stuff
go. Or you can get really bitter. And it's not hard for us to get
bitter. And the scripture says when bitterness comes, it starts
off as a little tree. And then it starts to grow where
it just blossoms into this huge tree and consumes us. I've met
people who are consumed with bitterness. And it's not a pleasant
sight. Not at all. We are to keep short
accounts, beloved. as believers. Keep short accounts.
Just let things go. If God's forgiven me all my trespasses,
which he has, if he's blotted out all that was against me,
which he has, I should be quick to forgive others, don't I? I'm
preaching to myself here. I should be. I should be. But oh, how quickly we can get
upset about stuff, right? Even from the past. I was talking
to my daughter, and we were talking about just forgetting things
in the past. Paul says that, right? Forget things in the past. Let them go. People say the past
can come back to haunt you. Well, that's true, it can. But
God's people are forgiven. If something comes up in your
mind from when you were before the Lord saved you, just say,
Lord, forgive me. I know it's bought and paid for,
but forgive me. It's gone. And just leave it
there. Don't let it eat your soul up. Just leave it be. It's hard to
do, I admit it, it's hard to do, but when you do it, it's
so freeing, it's so liberating for we who are the people of
God. So, oh my, our sin is dead. Let's go back to Colossians chapter
two there. It says, blotting out the handwriting of ordinance
that was against us, which was contrary to us, verse 14, and
took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. And having spoiled
principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing
over them in it." Well, beloved, he's ready and willing and able
to forgive guilty sinners. People say often, oh, my sin
is so great. God won't forgive me. My sin
is so wicked and so great. Well, he forgave me. And my sin
was wicked and great, and I'm still a sinner. And he forgave
Paul, who we looked at this morning in Sunday school. And he was
going around grabbing Christians and hauling them off. He was
an associate to the murderer of them. And God turned around
and made him a trophy of his grace. He forgave David, didn't
he? David committed adultery with
Bathsheba. And then he had Uriah sent to
the front lines where he was killed, knowing he'd be killed.
Then he took Bathsheba as his wife. But God said, he's a man
after my own heart. My, he's a forgiven sinner, beloved. washed in the precious blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Did he deserve it? No. Do we
deserve it? No. But God's merciful, isn't
he? And he's gracious. Oh, he's so gracious to us. He's
so gracious. The scripture says, if we confess
our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1.9. And to be cleansed
from all our sins. In Christ, in the blood of Christ,
means they have all our sins forgiven. They're gone. In God's
eyes, they're gone. They're bought and paid for.
Now, we remember our sins, don't we? We remember our failings. God
doesn't remember them. Nope. I ask you who are the redeemed
of the Lord, is not our God merciful? Is he not merciful? Is he not
full of grace? to forgive us of all our sins,
to blot out that handwriting of ordinances that was against
us. Is he not merciful? Oh, he's so, so merciful. Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found. Call ye upon him while he is
near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man
his thoughts. And let him return unto the Lord,
unto Jehovah, and he will have mercy upon him. And to our God,
for He will abundantly pardon. And I'll tell you what, this
old sinner standing before you saying, I've been abundantly
pardoned in Christ Jesus my Lord. And I know you're saying the
same thing as a believer. Have you been abundantly pardoned?
Praise be to God. Oh, what a great God we have.
He's wonderful. He doesn't give me what I deserve. My, Dave, you and I are talking,
we don't want fair. Anybody in here want fair No,
I don't want it Nope All praise be to God. He's forgiven me all
my sins and The lesson the Lord's given in that parable we looked
at in Matthew 18 is very clear to show the redeemed of the Lord
that we are sinners and we have obtained and and
continuously obtain the forgiveness of all our sins, right? We just,
they're all forgiven. Therefore we go to the Lord and
we still confess our sins, don't we? Of course we do. Of course
we do. But they're paid for. But we
still go to Him and ask Him for forgiveness when we sin. My. The law of God points its finger
and says, you are a guilty sinner in the blood of Christ. cries
out, forgiven. In crimson red letters, forgiven,
pardoned, the debt is paid. Oh, my. Oh, my. Scripture declares, for all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. And Scripture declares,
the wages of sin is death. However, in the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the law has been absolutely fulfilled for
the believer in Christ. done away with. Now believers
are dead to the law and alive in Christ. And Christ fulfilled
the law, the law's demands fully for us in our place. Well, that'll
cause us to shout, won't it? The law was a certificate of
debt, wasn't it? It said, you owe this. Christ paid it all. A certificate of debt in those
days was written on a piece of papyrus with an ink of soot mixed
with gum and diluted with water. One commentator brings forth
that ancient ink did not have acid in it to bite into the paper,
and the writing could be sponged off or wiped out, blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us, that was contrary to us. He took it out of the way. Nailing
it to his cross. Oh my, it's wonderful. My, and that certificate or that
bill of debt was like a bill of indictment against us, right? The law was against us. The justice
of God was against us, beloved. And he nailed it to his cross.
He paid the debt. And the slate on which the certificate
of debt What's written is wiped clean. It's blank. And Christ puts on that then
forgiven. Again, in crimson letters. I
think of a white board with red lettering. Forgiven. plotted out. Pardoned. Paid in full. My. God didn't write cancel on the
debt. No, He took all the ink off of
it, didn't He? He took the writing right away. He didn't just say
cancel. He took it all away. My oh my. There's no charges
against us. The law of God has no claim on
us now. We are totally, fully, and freely forgiven of all our
sins in and through the Lord Jesus Christ and by his sacrifice
on Calvary's cross. His blood was shed to purchase
our eternal souls. And what did the Lamb of God
do? He took away all our sins, didn't he? Remember in the Day of Atonement
there was two lambs? Two lambs were chosen. They had
to be spotless and blameless. No one knew who the lot was going
to fall on. Both lambs were perfect. And
the high priest would go into the box and pull out a lot. And
the first lot would fall upon the sacrifice. The sacrifice
is perfect. And it would be sacrificed. The
second lot was for the scapegoat. And that scapegoat would be taken
by a fit man, all picturing Christ. He's the fit man. He's the lamb
on the sacrifice. And he's also the scapegoat.
And what did that scapegoat do? He carried their sins away into
the wilderness. That's what God's done for us.
That's what Christ has done for us. Our sins are gone. As far
as the East is from the West, they're gone. That's good news,
isn't it? That'll make you happy. Turn, if you would, to Ephesians,
Chapter 4, and we're closed with this passage. Only the death
of Christ is the all-sufficient sacrifice to take away our sin
debt. So the question comes forth,
then, for we who are professors to be in Christ, since we have
been forgiven of our great sin debt, ought we not to be ready
to freely and fully forgive others who sinned against us? Again,
I'm preaching to myself. Man. It's our reasonable responsibility
and our great privilege to forgive others who have sinned against
us. Why is it our reasonable duty?
Well, because He's forgiven us of all our sin. And we consider, again, the great
debt that's been paid for. it'll make us quick to forgive
others. Let's close with this. Ephesians 4, verses 17 to 32,
a little portion here. Paul writes, this I say therefore
in testifying to the Lord, that you henceforth walk not as other
Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding
darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance
that is in them, through the blindness of their heart. who
being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness,
to work all uncleanness with greediness. But ye have not so
learned Christ? If so, that ye have heard him,
and have been taught by him, by the truth, or as the truth
is in Jesus, that ye put off concerning the former conversation,
the old man, that's manner of life again, the old man, which
is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the
spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new manner, which
after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore,
putting away all lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor,
for we are all members one of another. Be ye angry and sin
not. Let not the sun go down upon
your wrath, neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole
steal no more, but rather let him labor working with his hands
the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that
needeth. Let no corrupt communication
proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good, to the use
of edifying, that it may minister grace unto hearers. And grieve not the Holy Spirit
of God, whereby ye are sealed. Now, see that word sealed there?
That's marked. You know, you and I are marked
by God. People talk about mark, right?
That mark is a mark of ownership. I'm gonna say it again, the little,
Tom say you and I are merchants back in the old days and during
the writings of Paul and you had a bunch of boxes, they're
the same kind of boxes as I had. We were shipping them from Rome
to Antioch. You would put your seal on that
box. and I will put my seal on that box. So then the merchants
or the shippers who are moving them would know your boxes apart
from my boxes. We are marked, sealed by the
Holy Spirit of promise, beloved. We're His. We're His. Isn't that wonderful? That's
amazing. I love it. It's incredible. Whereby
you are sealed until when? Until the day of redemption.
Until Christ comes back again. We're His forever. We're his
forever. He's either gonna come for us
at our death or we'll be alive in a second. Come in one or the
other, right? My. Let all bitterness and wrath
and anger and clamor and evil speak and be put away from you
with all malice. Just put it all away. And be
kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as
God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Look at that. God's
forgiven us. That great debt that we owed,
because we sinned against Him, didn't we? Our sin was against
God. God has forgiven that great sin debt, all because of Christ.