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Guest (Male): assuring us about God's character and thus his promises to us. Here's pastor Tom Keller.

Pastor Thom Keller: Listen, if you ever get to thinking that I'm just not sure I'm saved, you remember this verse. For I'm the Lord, I do not change. Aren't you glad there's something in this world that doesn't change? Aren't you glad your God doesn't change? Aren't you glad your God doesn't change in his love for you, his view of you, the forgiveness he has for you?

Guest (Male): Men are constantly moving the goal post in what's required to be in good standing. Not God. He changes not, but is the same yesterday, today and forever. What a comforting truth in these changing times. And as we continue in Colossians on today's study the word with pastor Tom Keller, we hear more about God's promise of forgiveness and salvation. If you can turn to Colossians 2 and let's join pastor Tom there as he begins.

Pastor Thom Keller: For he forgave all our sins. How did God do this? Verse 13 says he made you alive with Christ. There are three different Greek words for with that Paul could have used here. Made you alive with Christ. The first is para. It means with, near, besides. The word mata means with, amid, among. But instead Paul uses the Greek word soon which denotes union with or together, but much closer than para or mata. It denotes companionship, resemblance of, possession of, completeness to be on one side to assist. So it says here that he made you in union with Christ, together with Christ.

He made you a companion with Christ. He made you resemble Christ. He made you a possession of Christ. He made you complete in Christ. And on top of that, verse 13 it says he forgave all our sins. He forgave all your sins. Now in Greek, interestingly, there are 17 different Greek words for the word all. pas is a word that Paul uses here over the 16 others. pas It means each, all, the whole, every kind of, any, every, always, thoroughly, whatsoever. Of all of the other 16 words here are the three words that get closest to this this thought.

The first is hapas. It means absolutely all, everyone, all things. katholon means the whole, the entirety and holos means the whole. But when Paul chooses his word for all, forgives all your sins, he chooses the most radical, most all inclusive word that he could find. So how does this apply to me? How does this make a difference in my understanding of my salvation? Well let's put it in context using pas in the definition. He forgave all our sin. Let's personalize it. He forgave all your sin. He forgave pas your sin. He forgave each sin. He forgave all of your sin.

He forgave the whole of your sin. He forgave every kind of your sin. He forgave any sin of yours. He forgave every sin of yours. He always forgave your sin. He forgave your sin thoroughly. Whatsoever sin you commit, he forgives. How does that sound to you? Paul uses the most extreme word to convey the most extreme, radical aspect of the salvation that he has granted you, that he forgave all your sin, past, present and future eternally. You say but that's not fair. It's not fair that he would do that for me. No, it's not fair.

Do you want fair? Do you really want fair? Cuz you know what fair is? You dying to pay for your sins and going to hell. That's fair. I don't think we want fair. We want grace. We want justice and justice has been done. You know I use as example, I accepted Christ when I was 10 years old. I went to revival service at Midway, the home church, and I felt God calling me and I went forward and I gave my life to Christ. And so this is what happened. When I went forward that Sunday, whenever that was evening, it was an eve it was a revival evening, so probably weekday evening.

I came up to Jesus and I said Jesus, and he's sitting over there. And I said Jesus, would you please forgive me my sins and receive me as your son? And would you please forgive me my sins? And I brought 10 years worth of sin to Jesus and I said would you please forgive this? Well that's what I brought, but look at it from Jesus's perspective. Jesus lives outside of the dimension of time. There is no future to God. It's all present tense, all present tense. He saw my future sins as well as he saw my past.

So I only could bring what I brought. My first 10 years, maybe five four years of understanding sin, that's what I brought in this book, all my sins. But when he came to the table, again living outside of time, he brought my sins from when I was 11 years old, 12 years old, 13 years old, 14 years old, 15 years old, a bad year, 16 years old, another bad year. And all of those sins they go up into the sky until until the day that I die, which he already knows. All my sins were on that pile.

See I can't bring more than I know. He can't bring less than he knows. He knew it all. So that was a part of the deal that he took when I got saved. Now people will say well what if there's a sin in there? Now listen closely. What if there's a really big sin in there when I'm 20 25 that he wouldn't take? I didn't know it yet, but there's something coming up that he's going to walk away from me from. Here's why that is not possible. Because the Bible says I can't even come to him unless he draws me.

So if there's some deal breaker in here, he'd never call me, would he? Would he play the game to call me and then when I get there say oh no no no, deal's off. There's something coming up here that I can't no no. He'd never call me. I could never be interested in coming to him unless he called me and he wouldn't call me unless he was going to take the deal. Did you get that? It's huge. It 's huge. Now the timestamp on the analogy that I just gave you or the window of time when that analogy took place was when I was 10 years old.

But the real timestamp, listen closely, the real timestamp of your salvation was not the year and day that you accepted Christ. The real timestamp, the real location of where that took place was on a hill called Calvary 2,000 years ago. That's the timestamp. That's when it happened long before you prayed to receive Christ. Listen to this paraphrase of John Gill's commentary on Colossians 2:13, having forgiven all your trespasses. He says this was a past act, you being forgiven over and over, not only at the time of your conversion, but actually occurring at the time of the death of Christ whose blood was shed for the remission of your sins.

The atonement was a single act done and completed once and for all time, including all your time, covering the full timeline of your life from the time you can you were converted until the time you die, all your time, all your time on earth. Because forgiveness of sin is not done piecemeal or at different times, but was done once and at once on the cross and includes sin past, sin present, sin yet to come. And this forgiveness is applied universally to you, reaches to all your sin, including Adam's original sin and your actual sin before and after conversion.

Sins of thought, word and action. And this is God's act and only his, not men, not ministers, not angels. No one can forgive sin but God. And this is the peculiar prerogative of God. And it is owing to his abundant mercy and free grace. Listen again. It's a single act done and completed once and for all time, including all your time. The timestamp of your salvation occurred 2,000 years ago. Hebrews 10:11 says this, day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties again and again and he offers the same sacrifices which can never take away sin.

The old covenant was just a repeating of sacrifices over and over which never was successful in taking away the sins. And Hebrews 10:10, the verse before this says for God's will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all time. That continual repeating of the sacrifices that never really took away the sins of man was accomplished once and for all times on the cross. How did Christ do this? Colossians 2:14, the next verse. By canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.

This he set aside nailing it to the cross. How did Christ do this? He did it by canceling the record of debt that stands against you, the list of legitimate charges that could be brought against you. And this is so powerful. Let me give you an example. Let's say you decide to start a business and you go to the bank and tell them you have $50,000 in cash down and they give you a $500,000 business loan. Now over the next two years the economy tanks, the business fails and the bank calls in the loan. But you have no money.

You spent it all in the business, not a gone. You have a $100,000 equity in your home and the bank sues you to foreclose in your home and all future assets that you might accumulate in future years till they get their $500,000. Bleak. But then out of nowhere a rich uncle stops by and says hey, come with me. Together you drive down to your bank, you meet with your loan officer and your uncle takes out a $500,000 cashier's check and hands it to the banker. Now which is happened here? Your entire debt has been paid.

But here's the question that remains. Here's the question that must be settled. Can the bank still come against you? Can they still sue you? No. Why? Because the bank's claim against you has been satisfied. The debt has been paid in full. And it's the same way with our salvation. This is why when Jesus died on the cross his last words were it is finished. And to it means which I said before is a commercial term which means the debt has been paid. I've said this before, but if there was a business, if there would have been rubber stamps in Jesus's day, every business would have had a rubber stamp that said to When people came in and paid a debt they would have marked that paid in full, paid in full, paid in full.

That's what it means. So nearly 2,000 years ago from the cross Jesus looked at my life and my sin and said I just fully paid your debt, Tom. But did this include only my debt until I was 10 years old? No, Jesus paid all of my debt. He says Tom, I paid all of your debt when you were 10, past, present, future. I paid all of your debt. And to add to that picture, look at what Jesus did with that list of legitimate charges that stood against you. Colossians 2:14, he canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.

You know a good visual picture when you start thinking that you're still guilty, you're unforgiven for some past sin, I just suggest you picture that sin, just that one sin that you're struggling with. That one sin written on a piece of paper with a big spike through it right under Jesus's feet and the blood of Jesus washing right over that, washing that illegible cuz that's the truth. He nailed that list of charges that stood against you to the cross. Now question, only my sins up until I was 10 years old? And then he keeps adding more forgiven sins to that list hanging on the cross day by day as I commit them?

No. 2,000 years ago Jesus who lives outside of the dimension of time saw all your sins in advance and forgave them all. Listen, why would I draw a timeline on my sin when I was 10 and picture God saying I forgive you this much, but no more than this? The rest of the payment Tom will come later year by year as you commit them. No. He paid it all, my entire debt on the day I asked him for forgiveness, past, present and future. And because of this, because of this, the writer of Hebrews says this in 10:23, let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.

It's a promise. A few verses earlier it says this, because of this, and so dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven's most holy place because of the blood of Jesus. And so we learn here that through Christ's death on the cross verse 14 says my full sin debt has been paid, all pas my sins have been forgiven. In verse 13 I have been made alive with Christ. And then I have open access to heaven's most holy place. Hebrews tells us right into the throne room of God. And I can walk into that throne room certain, confident in my welcomed presence because there's not a single charge left against me.

But there's something else very significant that happened at the cross that day when Jesus cried out to telestai. Verse 15 it says in this way he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them, Satan and his minions. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross. I think the real impact of this verse is only discovered when we personalize it. New Living Translation says in this way this God disarmed the evil rulers and authorities, King James New King James, having disarmed principalities and powers. King James says having spoiled principalities and powers.

In Greek the word spoiled is and it means to wholly strip off from oneself for that person's advantage, to wholly strip off from someone for that person's advantage. Look again verse 15. In this way he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them at the cross. Barnes says this about verse 15 and was on that earlier slide. It says the terms used in this verse are all military terms. So having spoiled or disarmed means Christ plundered the far reaches of Satan's kingdom as a victorious army does a conquered country.

And he then has carried you off in his arms. And verse 15 says that Christ shamed these evil spirits publicly by his victory over them at the cross. King James says triumphing over them. Commentator Matthew Poole says quote even then and there where Satan thought he should alone have had the day by the death of the innocent Jesus was he and his minions triumphed over by the Lord of life to their everlasting shame and torment. Listen, it's been said wisely when Satan reminds you of your past, remind him of his future. When Satan reminds you of your past, remind him of his future.

I don't think he wants to hear that. So how does the day's lesson apply to me? On the cross Jesus cried out it is finished. These are words that should ring through the heart of every Christian. It's the sign that sin has been defeated forever, that the power of death has been broken, that the price has been paid for your sin, the full price. However much of the significance of that word is actually lost when Greek is translated in English. When Jesus cried out it is finished on the cross, the Greek word is telestai which means to bring to a close, to complete, to fulfill, to pay in full.

But what makes Jesus's statement so unique is the Greek tense that Jesus used. Jesus speaks in the perfect tense, which is rare in the New Testament. The perfect tense is a combination of two Greek tenses, the present tense and the aorist tense. The aorist tense points to something that will happen at a specific moment in time. Present tense is linear, meaning something that continues on into the future and has ongoing results and implications. The combination of these two tenses in the perfect tense as used in telestai is of incredible significance to you and me. When Jesus said it is finished or completed, what he is actually saying is it is finished and will continue to be finished.

The first element of the perfect tense, the aorist, the point in time statement it is finished by itself is powerful. Matthew Henry speaking of that exact moments said it is finished, that is the counsels of the Father concerning Christ's suffering were now fulfilled. It is finished. All the types and prophecies of the Old Testament which pointed to the suffering of Messiah were now finished. But there's more. The aorist tense is only half of the perfect tense. The second element of Jesus's statement is equally important. The present ongoing linear and will continue to be finished component of the perfect tense.

This indicates the ongoing nature of your salvation. And this is so important because it indicates an ongoing condition, a state of being permanent, a resting place. So in Jesus's statement it is finished he made a declaration of salvation that is both momentary in the moment and eternal, aorist and present. We are saved both at a specific time. It is finished. When our debt was paid and we're ransomed from the kingdom of darkness and we confidently rest in the reality of that and it will continue to be finished because we stand in grace and stand justified before God.

One Greek word to telestai spoken in the perfect tense by Jesus on the cross guarantees that our salvation was at that moment accomplished and will be forever. And in case you're still not convinced, consider this. Please listen closely. If God is perfect and can make no mistakes and has perfect knowledge of the past as well as the future, when he makes decisions, can he ever arrive at a wrong conclusion that he will later need to alter? No. Because no more input can be given to him. His knowledge is perfect. We may change our conclusion about something as more information is added, as we learn something into the future.

But nothing is withheld from God. So if he's perfect and has perfect knowledge, his conclusions can never change. Now you might say to me well, what about God changed his mind? Case in point, he didn't want Israel to have a king, but he let them have a king. He relented and gave them a king. Yes, but his conclusion did not change. He still didn't want them to have a king, but he yielded. His conclusion never altered. So here's the point. If God is perfect, can make no mistakes and can never learn or discover any additional information that can cause him to alter his conclusion.

And how can he one day say you're saved and the next say you're not? What additional information would he have to learn after he's come to that conclusion that would cause him to change his conclusion? There is no additional information. He had it all. When he made his conclusion about you, it was with perfect knowledge. Now if he's not perfect, if he can make mistakes, if there's more information he needed and then alters, but that didn't happen. Perfect information, one conclusion set for all times. And that's why this next verse is so powerful. Listen, if you ever get to thinking that I'm just not sure I'm saved, you remember this verse.

For I'm the Lord, I do not change. Aren't you glad there's something in this world that doesn't change? Aren't you glad your God doesn't change? Aren't you glad your God doesn't change in his love for you, his view of you, the forgiveness he has for you? I do not change. And you know what I think Jesus is saying right now? Amen. Amen.

Guest (Male): You're listening to pastor Tom Keller on Study the Word and we're in a study of Colossians right now. Would you like to give this a second listen? Either go to our website at ccleb.com or visit our YouTube page. Simply subscribe to our channel at Calvary Chapel Lebanon and you can watch our services live or on demand. That includes this series in Colossians. For those interested in a CD copy call 717 273 5633. Once again that's 717 273 5633. Study the Word is listener supported. With your help we're able to reach thousands of people all over the world.

Please consider sending in a gift today and you can give online at ccleb.com or call 717 273 5633. Or if you prefer to write jot down this address, Study the Word 740 Willow Street, Lebanon, Pennsylvania 17046. And we also want to invite you to join us for a Sunday service either in person or online. For more information or to watch the live stream visit ccleb.com or again go to our YouTube channel at Calvary Chapel Lebanon. Now with a preview of our next Study the Word, here's pastor Tom Keller.

Pastor Thom Keller: Once betrothed, Mary was technically, legally married to Joseph although she still remained in her father's house. She could not belong to another man unless she was divorced from her betrothed. Once betrothed, Joseph would have returned to his father's house to prepare a bridal chamber, a little place in his father's home for he and his new bride to live. This process traditionally took about a year, the length of time being dictated by the groom's father. And when the year was complete, when the groom was complete, the groom would then return to fetch his bride. The bride would not know the day or hour of her husband's to be returned.

So the groom's arrival was normally announced with a trumpet and a loud shout so the bride had at least a little bit of forewarning.

Guest (Male): This Daily Radio Outreach is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Lebanon, Pennsylvania.