the best deal anywhere…

listen, your forgiveness is free, absolutely free, but it is not cheap.  somebody had to pay for it.  and JESUS CHRIST paid for it with his life.  colossians 1.14 says this, GOD has purchased our freedom with HIS blood and has forgiven all our sins.

GOD paid the ransom to set you free.  HE redeemed you.  HE said HE purchased it with HIS blood so all your sins could be forgiven. 

when JESUS died on the cross with HIS arms outstretched, nailed to that cross, the last thing HE said was, it is finished.  HE didn’t say, “i am finished,” because HE wasn’t.  HE resurrected and HE’s still alive today.  HE’s GOD.  HE wasn’t finished.  so what did HE mean, it is finished?

HE meant, I’ve paid for all your sins.  the plan of salvation is complete.  there’s nothing you need to add to it.  it is finished. 

in fact, in the greek in the bible, that phrase it is finished is only one word.  it is the greek word teleo.  it literally means in greek, “paid in full”.  it was a legal term. 

back in those days when someone would pay off a bill like you paid off your mortgage or you paid off a bill to a businessman they would stamp it teleo.  paid in full.  when a prisoner had served his time and his sentence was being commuted they would stamp on his prison papers when he was released, teleo.  paid on full.  free to go.  you’ve paid your debt to society.  you are scot free. 

when JESUS CHRIST died on the cross with HIS arms outstretched and HE said teleo, paid in full.  that meant that HE has paid already for every dumb thing you’re ever going to do.  every sin. 

notice it says, HE has forgiven all our sins.  when JESUS died for our sins which ones did HE include?  all of them.  that means if you are a CHRISTian, you’ve put your faith in JESUS CHRIST, and you’re carrying around a load of guilt right now you are carrying a load of guilt over sins that have already been paid for. 

what are you doing that for?  how long do you remember a bill that’s been paid for?  once i pay my electricity bill do you think i worry about it the next day?  i never, ever think about it again.  it’s been paid for.  i never think about it again.  paid in full.

what are you worried about?  why are you holding on to something that GOD has already paid for and when you confess it to HIM HE’s forgiven and you don’t have to keep confessing to HIM over and over.  in fact, if you keep confessing it that’s a lack of faith that says, “GOD, i don’t really think you forgave me the first time.”  GOD says, “i did.  why did you bring it back up again?  it’s already forgiven.”

just a thought from the front porch…

forgiven completely…

GOD forgives instantly, repeatedly and freely and number four, HE forgives completely. 

colossians 2.13-14 says this, HE has forgiven all your sins.  HE has utterly wiped out the evidence of the broken commandments which always hung over our heads.  and HE has completely annulled it by nailing it to the cross.  

it’s as if GOD were saying, “i want you to get the message here.  it’s all!”  it’s like one of those super stain removers you see on one of those infomercials.  it just completely wipes it out.  it’s all gone. 

nothing is hung over your head so you don’t have to keep carrying it.  it’s not partial forgiveness.  GOD doesn’t say, “i’m going to keep my eye on you now.”  no, it’s complete forgiveness.  utterly wiped out and completely annulled.  that means JESUS was nailed to the cross so you could stop nailing yourself to the cross.  HE was hung up for your hang ups. 

this is so important because even though you hear it in your head many of you still don’t understand how complete GOD’s forgiveness is.  and if you don’t understand how complete GOD’s forgiveness is the next time you have a problem you’re going to think, “GOD’s getting even with me.”  some illness comes along or some problem or some accident or some financial issue and you’ll think, “yes.  i knew the other shoe was going to drop one of these days.  GOD is getting even with me for what i did.” 

listen, GOD does not get even with you.  if you have given your life to JESUS CHRIST all of the punishment for all of your sins was taken on CHRIST.  and if JESUS took the punishment you don’t.  that’s what’s called the good news.  GOD doesn’t do double jeopardy.  Dones GOD punish JESUS plus you?  no.  it was all taken, all of the punishment was taken for your sin by JESUS CHRIST. 

just a thought from the front porch…

not competition but completion…

GOD gave to adam a garden, a command, and HE gave to adam, eve.

the garden was an opportunity to express GOD given personality. the command was an opportunity to express GOD given morality. his relationship with the woman was the opportunity to express GOD given sexuality.

notice i didn’t just say “sex”. i said sexuality. the relationship between man and woman is a wonderful opportunity to express in a healthy way the way that GOD has made us, the differences that we have. not competition but completion. adam needs a helper, GOD says. the word for “helper” doesn’t means somebody that serves somebody else. it really means somebody that completes somebody else. it’s the idea of two things coming together that somehow and in some way that they never could by themselves, complete each other. that’s the idea behind this.

i'm not better because i'm a man. you’re not better because you’re a woman. we’re both better. we’re both created in GOD’s image. and because we’re different we need each other. adam certainly needed eve. he was lonely in the garden. GOD met his need for loneliness by bringing a healthy relationship with a woman into his life. i think one of the reasons that we’ve got an epidemic of loneliness in our society is we don’t understand our GOD-given sexuality, how GOD made us. we try to find fellowship and joy in all the wrong places. and still there’s this deep pit of loneliness in so many lives.

just a thought from the front porch…