Forgiven.
What does it mean to be forgiven? Do we really understand what we can walk in when we are forgiven? Have you been forgiven and do you walk like someone that is forgiven?
Let me create a scenario first. There is this department store in town that has the most beautiful clothes for all ages and all sizes. There is nothing- no fashion, no color, and no material that you might desire that is not available in this store. All the best name brands and even some you have never heard of are available in this store. This store belongs to the richest man on earth and he has gone to great lengths to insure that all the desired fashions are present in this store. It is anyone's dream store. You can find clothing for camping and clothing for vacation. You can find clothing for special events and clothing for sporting events. Anything that you can imagine that you might need is there. Then one day you read in the newspaper that the owner of the store has died. In his last testament and will he desired that his money be used to pay for anyone that might come to the store and pay for their purchases. So you can go to the store and take what you want, but when it comes time to pay, it is paid for by the owner's last will and you can have it for free. So one day you go to the store and find something and when you get to the register they total it up and give you a receipt showing you owe nothing. Next to you is another customer doing the same thing and when they show him his receipt owing nothing, he refuses to take the clothes and demands to pay for the purchase. Everybody looks at him with shock. What is wrong with this man? Why does he want to pay for something that has been paid for? You look at him and think that he is very ungrateful for not receiving the clothes, and apart from that, his actions are insulting to the desire of the owner that paid for it all.
This is just a story I made up, but the principals within this story are true. You see, Jesus died for all your sins and in His last testament and will He desired that it would pay for everyone that comes to him to receive forgiveness for free. Then one day you find someone that demands they pay for it themselves. They are insulting the one that paid for it all. You see, forgiveness is a gift that we receive from God and it is free. The only thing He desires for us is to come to Him and receive that forgiveness.
Col. 2:13 And you, being dead in your sins and the un-circumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
He has forgiven us all our sins and trespasses. There is no sin you have committed or ever will commit that was not covered by His sacrifice. Yes, even the ones that you have not even done yet, He took care of those, too. Think about it for a minute with me. Wanting to be punished for your sins is like trying to pay for it yourself. David had insight into forgiveness 1500 years before Jesus would even pay for all mankind's sins. He calls us blessed because God no longer imputes our sins to us.
Rom. 4:6-8 Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth rihteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
Our greatest struggle is to forgive ourselves. We are so indoctrinated that we believe we will feel better if we are hard on ourselves. That is a religious spirit that wants to keep you in bondage and away from freedom. The Baal priests when they were challenged by Elijah to call fire down did just that. They walked around the altar cutting themselves to impress their god. Maybe if they bled and suffered for their god would he answer them by fire. The mentality was that if I were hard on myself, my god would be impressed. That is idol worship. We cannot impress God. Jesus did that! We cannot pay the price for our sins. Jesus did that! All we can do is to receive the gift of forgiveness.
What does it mean to live in forgiveness? Simply that no condemnation can be part of our lives anymore. We are not condemned anymore. There is no condemnation anymore for us that are in Christ. Jesus Himself said that HE did not come to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through Him. He came to do that and removed all the power that sin had so that we can now live as people that are set free. This does not mean we stopped sinning, it means we have a solution with the problem we struggle with. That is the good news of the Gospel that Jesus came and now every man, woman, or child, from every tongue and tribe and nation can be forgiven. You are forgiven. Believe it and you will experience it!