Joseph Prince (October-05-2023) Daily Devotional: Perfect Sacrifice, Complete Forgiveness

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. Colossians 2:13

You will never be sure that you have God’s unmerited favor if you are not sure if God has forgiven you of your sins. Beloved, I want you to know that your sins are forgiven not according to the riches of your good works, but according to the riches of God's grace (unmerited favor).

All your sins—past, present, and future—have been forgiven. Don’t draw a timeline of God’s forgiveness of your sins.

There are some Christians who believe that the forgiveness they received spans only from the day they were born to the day they became Christians. From that point onward, they think that they need to tread very carefully in case they lose their salvation.

This belief is simply unscriptural. Colossians 2:13 states clearly that we have been forgiven of all our sins.

Does “all” mean the same thing to you as it does to me? My Bible says that all our sins have been forgiven by Jesus' one sacrifice on the cross. We have been forgiven once and for all!

The high priests in the old covenant had to offer sacrifices for sins daily. But Jesus, our perfect new covenant High Priest, offered the complete, perfect sacrifice “once for all when He offered up Himself” (Heb. 7:27).

On the cross, He took upon Himself all the sins that you will commit in your lifetime, and once for all paid the full price for all your sins. Christ does not need to be crucified again for your future sins.

In fact, all your sins were in the future when He died on the cross. So when you received Jesus into your heart, ALL your sins were completely forgiven!

Now that you know that your sin debt has been completely cleared and settled by Jesus on your behalf, don’t expect God to deal with you according to your sins. When something negative happens, don’t imagine that God is coming after you because of what you did in the past.

Instead, take God at His Word and expect to enjoy the benefits of the heavy price Jesus paid at the cross for you. We sowed nothing good, but through Jesus, we have reaped every good blessing.

That, my friend, is called unmerited favor. And you honor what He has done for you by thanking Him and expecting these blessings to manifest in your life every day.

Second Chronicles 7:14 -- Is That The Prayer We Pray Today?

"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." (2 Chronicles 7:14)

Is this the prayer that we should pray to heal our nation?

Many preachers, teachers, and elected officials have referenced the above verse in times of crisis.

The United States, the whole world is caught up in fears and worries about the Coronavirus.

I am not worried.

I have been reading, meditating, and receiving revelation from Psalm 91, especially this verse:

"Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence." (Psalm 91:3)

It's an assured promise. God informs us clearly: "Surely ...", not maybe, might be, could be, but "Surely" He delivers us from the traps and snares of the enemy, and he is delivering us from the catastrophic diseases which are wreaking emotional havoc on populations around the world.

Now, let's get back to the verse above from Second Chronicles.

God spoke to Solomon shortly after his public prayer and dedication of the Temple on Mount Zion. God gave this direction to the king under the Old Covenant.

Under the Old Covenant, man had to offer the blood of bulls and goats to atone for sin--but it never cleansed sin away for good. God could not hear from His people at the time unless they had offered the sacrifices, unless they had atoned for their sins.

Today, because of Jesus's Finished Work on the Cross, we do not have to ask God to forgive our sins in order for Him to hear from us.

In fact, today, we have forgiveness of sins NOW!

"In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace" (Ephesians 1:7)

How can we ask for something which He has already given us?

We don't have to beg God to help us anymore, since He has freely given us His Son, and with Him we can freely receive all things (Romans 8:32).

In fact, because of all that Jesus has done for us on the Cross, we have entered into a New Covenant with God the Father:

"10For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

"11And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.

"12For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8:10-12)

Indeed, God has offered healing to our land, to every land, if we will just believe in Jesus.

He offered His body for us, for our healing!

"Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

"But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." (Isaiah 53: 4-5)

The most important point to draw out, however, is that God has forgiven our sins. He imputed all our sins, and sin, to His Son!

"2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:" (Romans 8:2-3)

and

"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Most clearly of all, so that there is no equivocation or confusion on the matter:

"And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;" (Colossians 2:13)

We are not praying to God for Him to forgive our sins. We need to rejoice in that Jesus has accomplished a perfect work, and all our sins have been forgiven!

"But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;" (Hebrews 10:12)

Let's pray to God for healing, let's receive His Promises by faith!