Victory over sin

…With him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross. Colossians 2:12-15 There is no religious ritual that could provide us salvation. This is what Paul was emphasizing from the text. It was the sacrifice of Christ on the cross that made it possible for us to become alive in Him. Left on our own, we are dead in sin. God cut through and canceled the record of our sinfulness when we came to Him for forgiveness. It meant that God provided us complete and total forgiveness. His death on the cross canceled out the debt we are supposed to pay because of our sin. Understanding the greatness of God’s actions on our behalf is liberating. This is why Paul said, God “disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities.” God won the victory for us over Satan. This victory meant that we too now can overcome temptation for Satan for he has no controlling power or influence over those that made Christ their Lord and Savior. Satan was decisively and completely defeated by Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection proved the acceptance of the payment He made. This does not mean that Satan will stop harassing us or cause conflict in our lives. Satan will try to defeat us and our task is to trust in the victory that Christ already achieved and daily resist him with the truth of his defeat, as Jesus did. Satan is the father of lies and a master deceiver (John 8:44) and will take every effort to convince you that God has not defeated him so you will feel helpless and powerless. Your responsibility is to resist Satan “and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). When you resist him, you are acknowledging your new identity and that you belong to Christ. Jesus has defeated him and we are no longer supposed to be given over his influence. God gave us resources such as the spiritual armor sufficient enough so we could withstand any assault by Satan (see Ephesians 6:10-20). All God wants from us to yield to the Holy Spirit’s working in us.

Blessings,

Noel De Guzman

www.my-wbc.com