Forgiveness empowers you to not be held by the things in the past and it frees you to go into the future, free in Christ Jesus.  Let’s look at a few verses in Colossians that talk about water baptism (the public testifying of what Jesus has already done in us):

“In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.  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. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.” – COLOSSIANS 2:11-15 (NKJV)

This scripture talks about what happened with Jesus, His sacrificial death, burial and raising to life.  Then, it talks about us because of what Jesus did.

Our trespasses (anything we have fallen short of, failed at and sinned) had killed us – holding us back. Every second of every day, they were pulling us toward death, Hell and the grave; but Jesus made us alive together with Him!

Have you ever felt like you fell short of what God wanted you to do?  He’s forgiven you of all that.  He set you free from that guilt and shame.  You’ve been set free to a new life!

What is being referred to in this scripture about the “handwriting of requirements that was against us”?  That was the Old Testament Law.  All the things that the Law had written that we had to do (that we didn’t), He said, “You don’t need all that…I’ve wiped it out because I’ve put My heart in you. It’s not about you having to obtain to get to Me…it’s about Me coming into you and making new life in you to set you free from the things that have held you back!”

God has taken it out of the way…He took it and placed it on Jesus on the Cross.

It isn’t you doing something so that God will respond.  He’s already done everything; our response is, “I love You, God!  Thank You for setting me free and giving me new life!”

The enemy will try to point to you and say, “It doesn’t matter if you committed your life to Jesus or were baptized or whatever…you’ve messed up since then.  Obviously, whatever you did didn’t work.”

That’s a lie.

When the enemy reminds you of the past, you remind him about your redemption through Jesus.  “What I did isn’t who I am.  Who I am is who He says I am; He says I’ve been redeemed and set free.  All my trespasses have been forgiven, past, present and future.

We’re anchored to the moment we died and became a new person in Christ.  Everything that took place against God was nailed to the Cross!

God disarmed principalities and powers; what were they armed with?  Our trespasses – our sin, our guilt, our shortcomings and failures.  They would war against our thoughts and how we saw ourselves…but they have been disarmed, taken back and reduced to nothing.  Anything they had to hold back against us was removed by Jesus!

In a court of law, if the prosecuting attorney has nothing to present, it’s a very short trial!   God is the Judge Who is also our defense.

“If the prosecuting attorney has nothing to present, it’s a very short trial!”

Jesus died for us so that we could live for Him.  The principalities and powers of this world tried to hold us down.  But God says, “I’ll take what you’ve done on Me so that you can live what I’ve done through Jesus!”

So, since we’ve been forgiven, let’s live like we are forgiven!

Let’s not live as though every offense you do towards God separates you and holds you back.  Don’t identify with the sin; identify with what Jesus did.  Don’t identify with what you’ve done’ identify with what’s He’s done.

Jesus has died on the Cross to set us free.  Then God raised Him from the dead so we can live a new, improved life.

Knowing this, apply that Truth to how we as Christians should treat others:

“Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.” – EPHESIANS 4:32 (NLT)

God forgave you before you did anything.  In my last blog, I talked about what guilt, condemnation and shame says.  “You’re dirty, God can’t use you because you’re worthy to be judged, and what you’ve done is still who you are.”  But those are lies.  Look at what Colossians 1:22 tells us:

“Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.” – COLOSSIANS 1:22 (NLT)

“Without a single fault” means to be above reproach!

Instead of listening to guilt, condemnation and shame, let’s listen to what Holy, Blameless, and Above Reproach says:

Holy says: “I’m forgiven and made clean by His Blood!”

Blameless says: “Jesus took my penalty of sin so I can live free to be who He has called me to be!”

Above Reproach says: “My past doesn’t identify who I am because I have been made new!  My identity is found in Him!”

We want to live lives that please God.  But we need to know in our heart that if anytime we slip, He’s not angry at us or condemning us.  God’s not putting us down; He’s lifting us up!

Jesus presents us totally differently to the Father God than the enemy does.  And the Good News is, if God was pleased to live in Christ, He’s pleased to live in us now!

God’s not in Heaven, looking at us and going, “What idiots!  Look at everything I’ve done for them and they’ve already blown it six times in the last two days!”

We need to settle in our hearts Who God is and who we are in Him, and no circumstances will change it!

We need to understand God’s forgiving power and know it is not a temporary thing, but an eternal power!

To watch the entire Jan. 31, 2021 message on which this post was based, click here.