The Power of the Cross of Jesus

Today's Three-minute Bible Study
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Title: The Power of the Cross of Jesus!------------------------ Date: 11/13/1999
Keywords: "cross" "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. According to verse 13, what is the spiritual condition of a person BEFORE they become a Christian?

 

2. After?

 

3. Why?

 

Practical help

Something remarkable happened to you when you placed your trust in Jesus Christ. You passed from spiritual death to spiritual life - just like that! AND your sins were forgiven!! The word picture Paul uses to describe our forgiveness is graphic. He pictures our sins all written on a sheet of paper and nailed to the cross (just as Jesus was nailed to the cross). The result is that the guilt of our sins no longer weighs us down.

If you are a Christian, you can KNOW two things:

  1. You are alive in Christ, with resources to resist temptation to sin that you didn’t have before you became a Christian; and
  2. No matter how many times you may fall, you are a forgiven man/woman. (If you want to know how to become a Christian, click here).

Bring these two truths from Colossians 2:13-14 with you to the problem of pornography. When tempted, remember that you are alive in Christ and need not succumb. You can resist! If you do fall for pornography’s lure, remember that you are forgiven. There is nothing Satan would rather do than keep you all bound up with guilt after a failure. That failure that you are thinking about is nailed to the cross. Press on!

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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."