Amazing Grace!

Col.2:¹⁴ “He cancelled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross” [with emphasis].

You are FREE from satan and his demonic hosts. You are EMPOWERED to destroy the works of satan and his demonic hosts. And you are FREE to walk with God. Jesus shamed the devil publicly so that you can be free to serve God. You may not have taken note of this but we are not just forgiven, we are justified and that is huge. An anonymous quote puts it this way, “Justification”: “Just as if I have never sinned.” So, justification is the act through which God declares you and I both forgiven and righteous because of the work of Jesus.

It is one thing to be forgiven and it is another thing to be righteous. To be forgiven means the things you have done will not be used against you. To be righteous means the things you are doing is acceptable to God. Pause and let that sink in. God declares you both forgiven and righteous because of the work of Jesus. You are forgiven, meaning the things you have done will not be used against you. You are righteous, meaning the things you are doing are acceptable to God. Amazing! We are forgiven because of what Jesus did and we are also righteous because of what Jesus is doing for us. So, when we receive Christ, we have defeated death and all of His righteousness is counted as ours. Also, the favour Jesus has with God is ours. Is that not just beautiful!

God requires two things for our right standing before Him. The first is that our sins must be punished and the second is that our lives must be righteous. Ps.49:⁷ “Yet they cannot redeem themselves from death by paying a ransom to God. ⁸ Redemption does not come so easily, for no one can ever pay enough.” But Jesus bore our punishment; He paid for our sins and He performed our righteousness. The Bible says Jesus lives to daily make intercession for us. Jesus perfects my righteousness with every step I take in God. God looks down and does not see me; He sees Jesus. And that is huge because if He sees me, He will see my imperfections. But when He sees Jesus, He sees perfection.

Prayer [hymn]: He paid a debt He did not owe. 
I owed a debt I could not pay. 
I needed someone to wash my sins away. 
And now I sing a brand, new song 
Amazing Grace Christ Jesus paid a debt that I could never pay. Amen!