Great cancer in the blood of every human being is not
Cancer, it's not a virus. It's not a sickness that's come from germs. It's sin
All of us struggle
since Adam and Eve
With the struggle we have with sin and all of us are sinners and fall short of the glory of God
The Bible says of the wages of sin is death. The Bible says that when we
Live in our sin. What we're doing is we're living in death
We're living in separation from God
And so as we read the Bible like when you read Genesis all through Genesis you begin to see that at the beginning
after Adam and Eve sinned
men and women live to
3900 years of age our bodies are built to last a long time
But because of sin and thousands of years of sin
we see this cancer of sin in our bloodstream that's taking us down and down and
the power of
Forgiveness is huge what Jesus came to do
he came to rescue us from the power of sin in our lives by going to Calvary that means going to the cross and
being nailed to the cross and
being the perfect sacrifice a perfect sacrifice of all of our sins through being the Lamb of God and
Then he not only died on that cross for the sins of the world
But on the third day he rose again and we call that the resurrection and during the time of Easter
We call that resurrection Sunday or Easter Sunday
We celebrate that three days later after Christ died on the cross
He was resurrected and this is the greatest revolution
that's ever happened to humankind and that is the cross of Christ and the resurrection of Christ and
So every man woman and child that comes into a personal relationship with Christ through surrender to him is
Forgiven of all of their sins past present and future. Have you discovered that?
Have you discovered the forgiveness of sins the power of being forgiven of your sins?
Is the healer of your soul? It's more important than any antibiotic
It's more important than any surgery
You might go through that the key to the healing of your soul is the forgiveness of sins
Made known through Jesus Christ and Jesus came to set us free
Primarily from sin Colossians 1 13 and 14 if you have a Bible look at Colossians 1
13 and 14 we read for God has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and
Brought us into the kingdom of the Son. He loves in whom we have redemption the forgiveness of sins
So Christ was sent to forgive us of our sins and to rescue us from the domain of darkness
So when we're born we're born sinners and as we go through life
We begin to experience the dominion of darkness in our life
If you've ever been bullied if you've ever been hated by someone if you've ever been abused by someone if you've ever been stabbed in
The back if you've ever experienced betrayal, you know what this world's all about
It's a sinful world under the domain of darkness
the the God of this age so Satan and demons
control
Much of what happens on this earth
Even when Jesus before he started his public ministry was taken into the wilderness with Satan
Satan tempted him by taking him up to the pinnacle of the temple and
showing him all the
Kingdoms of the world and he said if you'll bow down and worship me
I'll give you all of these kingdoms because it's been handed over to me. What's interesting is that Jesus never?
defers in any way or deters in any way to what Satan had said and he
Agrees with him that it has been given in some mysterious way
Satan and his demonic powers have control over the world
But what he did say is you'll bow down and worship God only and so we're born into that
kind of a world the dominion of darkness and what
Paul is saying to the Colossians is when you put your faith in Christ. He rescues you
From the dominion of darkness and he brings you into the kingdom of God the kingdom of the Son whom he loves
through redemption
Through the forgiveness of sins
So the way in which we're taken out of the dominion of darkness is not that we're extricated out of this world
But rather we're rescued from sin and we're forgiven the blood of Jesus
covers us
covers our sin
redeems us
You cannot forgive your sin, past, present, and future.
You can be forgiven of your sin,
but it's through the higher power
of Jesus Christ in your life.
He came to redeem us.
The word redeem comes from the word deem,
and deem means to own or to control.
So the scriptures is saying that Christ came to reown you,
re-control you, he's taking back what's rightfully his.
You see, men and women, you're created in the image of God.
So you are, at one point in your life, you are deemed his.
And then through sin, through what happened
in the Garden of Eden, that redemption was stolen,
and Christ has come to restore us
back into a right relationship with him.
He's redeemed us.
So he rescues us and he redeems us.
Later in Colossians, we read,
when you were dead in your sins
and in the uncircumcision of your flesh,
God made you alive with Christ.
So not only did God, through his son, Jesus Christ,
come and rescue us out of the dominion of darkness,
translating us into the kingdom of light,
not only redeeming us from sin,
but also has made us now alive with Christ.
So the wages of sin is death,
but the reality is the rewards of God are life.
God gives us life, and we're no longer dead to our sins.
So men and women, if you put your faith in Christ
to restore your soul, to heal your soul from sin,
you come into life.
And when you look at those around you
who've given themselves over to Satan,
given themselves over to their flesh,
given themselves over to this world,
you're gonna see a dead man walking.
You're gonna see people that are constantly sick,
constantly depressed, constantly despairing,
constantly in one relationship after another
that's not healthy, and they're dying.
They're quickly dying, starting in their soul
and now emanating out into their body, they're dying.
But we put our faith in Christ.
When we're redeemed of our sin,
which we could not do, but He did for us,
and we believe and we put our faith in Him,
He rescues us out of that dead world.
He rescues out of the deadness of this world
into the life of Christ.
Now at first, at first,
there's probably not that much apparently different
for someone who gives their heart to Christ.
But what happens over time is that
as we're maturing in Christ, as we're reading His word,
as we're learning to pray, as we're learning to obey God,
we start having better relationships,
what starts to happen is that God is translating us
gradually out of death into life.
So I see it as almost like supplements.
If you're having sleepless nights,
you're despairing, you're always exhausted,
and you start taking supplements,
you start taking vitamin B12,
you start taking walks and getting vitamin E
into your system, you start taking
probably six or seven different supplements,
you're not gonna see tremendous difference in one week,
but you'll see a little bit in two weeks.
You'll see a little bit more in three weeks.
You'll see a little bit more in four weeks
because you're building up your immune system.
You're building up yourself physiologically.
Well, it's the same thing spiritually.
The body is often prophetic of the spiritual,
that as we first receive Christ
and we're forgiven of our sins,
we probably intellectually understand that,
or maybe we even have an emotional experience
with God during that time, but it's as we grow,
it's as we mature, learning to read the Bible regularly,
learning to pray, learning to forgive people quickly
when they do bad things to us,
which all of us experience that.
What's happening is you're getting more life.
With each life decision, you get a little more life.
You have a little less death.
So instead of making those death decisions,
you're now making those life decisions,
and so the power of the Holy Spirit is taking over.
Well, our passage goes on to say,
He forgave us of all of our sins.
Having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness,
which stood against us and He condemned us,
He has taken it all out of the way,
nailing it to the cross,
and having disarmed the powers and authorities,
He made a public spectacle of them.
Triumphing over them by the cross, Colossians 2, 13, 14, and 15.
So how do we become alive in Christ?
I see three things here.
Through the forgiveness of all of our sins, all your sins are forgiven.
Number two, through canceling the debt we owe to God for our sins.
So God came and we can't repay it.
We can't repay to God the payment that's needed, but Christ came and he became the
perfect offering to his Father to forgive us of our sins.
And then thirdly, through disarming satanic and demonic powers.
So these powers had power and control over you.
And through the cross and through the resurrection, Christ disarmed them of their power over our
lives.
So men and women, Satan and demons have no power over you unless you let them have power
over you.
I mean, if you're gonna go out and binge on drugs and alcohol, you're just letting demons
come back in.
That's what you're doing.
You're just allowing them to come back in and get a foothold or stronghold in your life.
If you're angry at someone and you don't repent of that and you continue to be angry
at that person or you're envious of that person, you're just opening the door to the enemy.
So I'm not saying that you won't struggle with that, but I am saying that you can be
alive in Christ and you can choose now through the power of the Spirit to not make death
decisions as much as you used to.
And over time, you're gonna come to a place in your life where through the forgiveness
of your sins, you're not gonna want those sins anymore.
You're not gonna long for those sins and you're gonna be experiencing more and more life.
Maybe it's just a little bit at first, but now it's more and more life that you're experiencing.
Psalm 103.12 says, as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our sins from
us.
Isn't that amazing?
I can't think of anything more distant than the east and the west, because we don't know
where it begins and ends.
But that's what God says is how much God has removed our transgressions, our sins from
us is through, like the east is from the west.
And then in Acts 13, we read, therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus,
the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.
Through him, everyone who believes is set free from every sin.
Amazing.
When we believe in Jesus, we believe in what he did at the cross and what happened on the
third day through the resurrection of Christ.
God says he will forgive us of all of our sins.
If you've harbored animosity, bitterness for many years, it can all be forgiven today.
But you must come to Jesus.
You must put your faith in him.
And so many years ago, I remember a woman who came to me and she'd had three abortions
and two failed marriages.
And she was so eaten up with guilt and unforgiveness toward herself and toward so many situations
in her life.
And we had to sit down and talk about that, talk about each situation.
And then we had to put her life under the blood of Christ.
I said, you know, you need to come to Jesus and be forgiven of all your sins, past, present,
and future.
And she agreed.
And she gave herself to Christ.
It didn't happen overnight, but this spiritual revolution began to happen in her life.
She began to learn to forgive herself for the mistakes that she had made.
She began to forgive the men who were involved in the mistakes that she had made.
And she later got married and today is happily married because of the forgiveness of sins,
the power of what Jesus does when he forgives us of our sins.
And there was another young man several years ago who was an army ranger and had been in
a lot of combat situations, killed a lot of people.
And he could not forgive himself of the guilt he felt for what he had done in these tours
of combat.
And we sat down and we talked about that and he needed to receive Christ.
He needed to accept Christ and let Christ begin to show him that he was beloved, that
he was beautiful, and that he was forgiven.
And he did that.
And his life has been transformed ever since.
But it took him surrendering to Christ fully.
So have you surrendered to Christ?
Have you given your heart to Christ fully?
Because that's the beginning of the power of forgiveness, is to come to the forgiver who loves you and cares for you.
In Acts 2, we read,
Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins,
and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Men and women, have you repented of your sin?
And here's what repentance means.
Repentance means to do a 180, to turn around and to agree with God that what the life we've lived and the sins that we have truly have transgressed against him.
And then to receive Christ, to say, Jesus, come into my life and begin to transform me.
So if you've never prayed, if you've never given and surrendered your heart to Christ, let's do that right now.
Let's give our heart to Christ, and then I want to challenge you to get baptized.
After you receive Christ, get baptized any way you can.
If you're not in a church, then find a church.
Get involved in that church and get baptized.
If you're in a situation where you're not around a pastor or a chaplain or a leader, find one.
Ask God, get baptized.
But first, receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
He wants to forgive you of all of your sins.
So if you're listening to this right now, if you're driving, don't bow your head and close your eyes.
Keep your eyes open.
I don't want you to have a wreck or something, but I want you to come to Christ.
This is the prayer that I prayed so many years ago, over 40 years ago, when I gave my life to Christ.
Lord Jesus, I need you.
Come into my life.
Make me the kind of person that you want me to be.
Lord, thank you for dying on the cross for all of my sins.
Thank you, Lord, for taking my sins upon yourself and then giving me your righteousness.
By the God, I ask that just as Christ was resurrected on the third day,
that I would be resurrected in Christ through the forgiveness of sins.
So God, I give you my sins.
I give you my sins of the past.
I give you my sins of the present.
And God, I ask you to heal me.
Begin to heal me today of my sins.
God, give me the forgiveness that is promised to me by me putting my faith in you.
I trust you, Lord.
I give everything to you.
Show me when, where, and how to get baptized so that I can begin to really grow.
Give me a passion.
Give me a desire to read the Bible and to live for you in every detail of my life.
In your name we pray.
Amen.
So God bless you.
That's my first message in this series.
And that is that Christ comes with the power of forgiveness in our souls.
So I pray that if you prayed that prayer, you're beginning to grow in Christ.
Get a Bible.
If you don't have a Bible, get a journal.
If you don't have a journal, get a journal.
And just begin to discover a personal, vital, dynamic relationship with Christ.
I've talked about PB&J in other episodes.
That's prayer, Bible, and journal.
You might look back and find those messages, especially for those that are new to the faith
and begin to grow from those episodes.
God bless you.