Nailed to the Cross

Today's Three-minute Bible Study
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Title: Nailed to the Cross ------------------- Date: 5/6/2003
Keywords: “forgiveness”
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Passage: Colossians 2:13-14*

13. And when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our transgressions,

14. having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross."

Questions

1. In verse 13 (above) Paul describes a person's spiritual condition before he or she places faith in Christ for salvation. What is true about that person's spiritual condition?

 

2. What powerful image does Paul use at the end of verse 14 to convey the forgiveness God grants when a person places trust in Jesus for salvation?

 

Practical help

Once a year at our church in San Antonio, on Good Friday, we hold a special worship service to remember what Jesus did for us on the cross. At the beginning of the service, we place a rough-hewn cross at the front of our sanctuary. After some singing and testimony, each person in attendance is handed a sheet of paper and an envelope. We are each asked to write down on that sheet of paper those sins for which we have been forgiven by Jesus. We then place the paper in the envelope, seal it, and move in a slow, single file line, to the old cross. Taking hammer and nail, we fix our list to the cross.

It is a dramatic portrayal of what Paul describes happening in the spiritual realm. Our sins have been nailed to the cross. Jesus bore the guilt of our sins when we trusted Him for salvation.

Porn strugglers — and sinners of all stripes — need to be reminded that forgiveness is available for the asking. If you are reading this eXXit Bible study and have never placed the treasure of your trust in Christ for forgiveness, I urge you to do so now! And know that when you do, your sins are nailed to the cross and you bear your guilt no more.

If you are a Christian already, remember the sacrifice of Jesus for you. Rejoice in your forgiven sin, and walk gleefully away from porn.

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*"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission."