The Book of Colossians Pt. 27 My Sins Are Blotted Out!!!!

Colossians 2:10-13  And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: 11)  In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: 12)  Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. 13)  And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;

In our last post, Paul taught us that all who have been regenerated by the Spirit of God, are "complete" in Jesus Christ. There is nothing that we can add to Christ's perfect work of redemption. 

Jesus is the author and finisher of our salvation. He initiated it, was born of a virgin that He might bring God's plan of redemption to a perfect completion. 

When He cried "It is finished" on the cross, He declared His victory over sin, death, the grave, Hell and the Devil.

The Gnostics sought to add secret knowledge to the work of Christ. 

Judaizers seeking to impose law keeping sought to add something to Jesus Christ. 

Ascetics demanding a rigid life of self denial sought to add something to Jesus Christ. 

Jesus did everything necessary so that when we put our trust in Him, we are given new life, a new heart and a new spirit within us.

We received full forgiveness, full pardon, full reconciliation, full sonship, full justification, full sanctification and eternal life. 

Many of these blessings are "positional" meaning that we will fully realize them when God calls us home. 

Many of our spiritual blessings also have a "practical" aspect, meaning that we must daily work them out in our lives. 

We have a full sanctification but we need a daily sanctification in our lives. We have full forgiveness but we also daily need to confess and forsake our sins.

Now we will learn about the glorious victory of Jesus Christ. 

It is helpful to remember that God keeps a set of books in heaven that contain the record or account of each individual life.  

He has the book of life containing the names of all saved people from all generations (See Daniel 7:10;Malachi 3:16;Revelation 3:5; 20:12; 21:27). 

He also has a book of sins whereby all sinners will be judged at the resurrection of damnation (Psalm 103:3; Ecclesiastes 12:13-14; Revelation 20:11-15).

Our sins are obliterated by the cross of Christ. 

Colossians 2:14  Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; 

We can glory in the fact that our sins have been blotted out. The word "blotted" has two primary meanings. 

First, it means to anoint and wash every part. The Greeks used this word in connection with putting a white coating of plaster on a wall to cover any defects.

The second meaning is to wipe the impurity away by obliterating it, blotting it and erasing it. 

If you had a mortgage or other form of debt in the ancient culture, then the total debt, interest rate and payment schedule was recorded on parchment. 

When a debt was paid, it was usually cancelled by making a large "X" over the note of debt. However, you could still see the specific terms of your debt underneath the letter "X".  

God did not merely put an "X" over the record of our sins and transgressions. He also blotted them out. 

This means that every sin, every transgression, every violation of God's holy law that I have ever committed, or ever will commit, has been both cancelled and blotted out by Christ. 

The record of all my sins is gone because the Lord Jesus Christ blotted them out, obliterating the record of them, erasing them permanently. 

Then, Jesus covered my sins with His own whitewash, which symbolizes receiving His righteousness as my own.

Jesus does this for every single person who trusted Him for salvation. 

Our Glorious God fully removed all our sins!

Psalm 103:10-12  He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. 11)  For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. 12)  As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. 

Jesus is Jehovah in the flesh for His name means Jehovah saves. He did not give us what we deserve for our sins which is death, Hell, and eternal condemnation.

Instead, through the cross of Jesus Christ, the Father's infinite mercy, love and grace pour out to each repentant sinner who turns to Christ in faith. How far did God remove our sin debt? As far as the East is removed from the West. 

If you were to go to the equator and begin traveling east, you will always be traveling east, not west. The directions are opposing and never meet. The idea of the Psalmist's words is that our sins have been eternally and infinitely removed from us. 

Jehovah will never again remember our sins!

Jeremiah 31:34  And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

Thus, Jeremiah the prophet expressed joy and gladness in the fulness of God's forgiveness and the blotting out of our sins. Jehovah expressly tells us that when He forgives us, He will remember our sins no more! They have been permanently blotted out. 

We face a battle between our flesh and the Spirit.

Galatians  5:16-18  This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 17)  For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. 18)  But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. 

Any believer in Christ knows the reality of spiritual warfare. The moment that we received Jesus Christ, He removed us from the kingdom of darkness and placed us securely into His kingdom of light (Colossians 1:12-14).

However, we still have our old man, that sin nature we inherited from Adam. Our old man does not want anything to do with the things of God. He will always resist our new man when we seek to live for God's glory.

Thus, we have an internal battle raging within us between our new man and the indwelling Spirit of God, and our old man seeking to satisfy fleshly lusts.

We also face a mortal enemy, the Devil. He hates Christians and will do all in his power to cause us to fall into sin, to ruin our testimony, to cause us to give up trying to walk in the paths of righteousness. 

Our flesh battles with our new spirit and these opposing forces are contrary to each other. 

In like manner, the holy law of God is contrary to our flesh in ever respect. Whatever God says to do in His law, our old man does not want to do. Whatever God says not to do in His law, our old man wants to do. 

God sent His Spirit to live in us so that He might lead us through this life, day by day. When we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us, then we are walking in Him. This is key to spiritual victory for each believer. Daily choosing to follow the Spirit of God. 

If we fail to follow the Holy Spirit by walking in Him, then we will be spiritually paralyzed and unable to do the good things God has for us to do.  

Regular readers of this blog know these truths very well, as we have studied them in our studies of the book of Ephesians. 

Jesus is the Conquering Captain of our salvation. 

Colossians 2:15  And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

Jesus obtained a glorious victory for us over the powers of darkness.  As the curse of the law was strong against us, so the power of Satan was strong against us. 

Jesus redeemed us from the grip of sin and Satan. He fulfilled the prophecy about the seed of the woman crushing the head of the serpent, giving Satan a death blow.  

When Jesus rose from the dead all the powers of hell trembled. Satan thought he gained power when Jesus died on the cross, but His resurrection shattered and destroyed the serpents dreams. 

The word "spoiled" is a military term where the victorious army makes the captives march through their capital city, subjecting them to humiliation and making a public spectacle of them. 

The winning army also put the spoils on public display so that the people could see the gold, silver, precious stones, and other valuable items that now belonged to them.  

Points to Ponder...

Satan thought he won when Jesus died, but God turned his glee into bitterness. 

1 Corinthians 2:8  Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 

The Devil and his demons thought by killing Jesus Christ on the cross that they had won. 

They did not know that the Lord Jesus Christ was going to die on a cross, for this plan was set in place before God created the world. 

If they had known what God was going to do on the cross through Jesus Christ, they would not have crucified Him.

Thus, like a mighty, conquering general, Jesus spoiled the principalities and powers of darkness (See Ephesians 6:12). 

This is the greatest news for all mankind to hear. God will save any who call upon the name of the Lord with repentant faith.

Have you repented of your sins and asked Christ to save you? He will not disappoint you.

Bob