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Good morning and welcome in today. Today we’re going to take a look at some scripture from Colossians.

Col 1:21-23 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled

In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;

When you get caught up in sin, it can really wreak havoc with your conscience. The deeper and deeper you go, the more of an enemy of God you make yourself in your own mind. When you make yourself an enemy of someone you are in a state of open opposition against them. What you are trying to do is prevent something from happening. Another definition says to provide resistance, to combat, to disagree, or to fight against.

When someone gets involved with Sin, it causes them to resist God in their own minds. God reaches out to this sinful world and wants to forgive us. He extends to us His grace and mercy found in his only begotten son Jesus Christ. God wants us to be together with him, but it is sin that causes separation from him.

I have always liked the illustration of a huge gorge with two hills on both sides. On one side is God and on the other side are the people of this world. In order for us to get across the Gorge, God sent His Son Jesus Christ to bridge the gap between himself and the world. In the illustration, the cross is placed into the Gorge where people of this world can cross the bridge of Christ to reach God.

Sin causes this world to be in a state of separation with God. In order for us to be in heaven someday we need to be brought back and reconciled to God. This is why God sent Jesus Christ. Christ coming to save this world is a giant act of reconciliation. He reconciles the entire world unto himself for as many as are going to accept the truth.

We are in the age of grace and grace is available to you but you have to come and receive it. The Apostle talked about it as the ministry of reconciliation. Sin causes us to be an enemy of God in our own minds. Have you ever heard the saying that you are your own worst enemy? In our sinful condition we are alienated from a relationship with God. God hates sin, but grant’s us grace to change.

God wants to forgive us. God doesn’t desire anybody to perish but to come to a place of repentance. He wants us to come to Him and the throne of grace so that we can become pleasing to Him and do His will. He wants to reconcile us. Even while we were yet sinners he offers us forgiveness.

Reconciliation is the restoration of a friendly relationships. God is perfect and just and holy. Someday God is going to punish sin for all of eternity, but God sent Jesus to save us from that penalty. God wants us to follow His son Jesus and the things that he taught in the scriptures.

In the church when we were enemies with God he forgave us and restored us. There are numerous examples of reconciliation found in the scriptures. Joseph’s brethren were reconciled to Joseph through his forgiveness. The Apostle Paul reconciled onesimus to Philemon. In the parable of the Prodigal Son, the son was reconciled to his dad when he returned and confessed is faults. He admitted his wrongdoing and felt bad about what he had done. His dad completely forgave him on the spot and reconciled him to himself through his mercy.

God extends to this entire world mercy and Grace in his son Jesus Christ but what each of us need to do is accept the fact that we’ve all come short of the glory of God. We need to reach out for that mercy in Christ and confess our sins as the humble publican did. He cried out to God for mercy. This has to happen in order to be justified with God. We have to own up to our own mistakes in our own minds so that God can wash our sins away. Our God is a God of Mercy.

Col 1:21-23 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled.

God wants us to be with him in heaven. God wants us to return unto Him. What we need to do is confess our sins. We need to purge those sins that are inside of our hearts and our minds so that God can wash them away.

In the church we are in a new relationship with God through what Christ Jesus did for us. We are reconciled to him through the body of his flesh through death. He cleanses us from sin so that we can be holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight, but He wants us to keep our distance from sin. He wants us to obey scripture.

It doesn’t matter if you have sinned one time or a thousand times it can all be forgiven. Some people may feel it’s too late in life. Some people may say that God will not forgive them. Others claim that they have sinned so many times that there is not enough grace to cover it. I’m letting you know today, that grace is available with God. What is required is repentance and a contrite heart. What is required is a heart that is ready to lay those sins down and admit fault at the Cross of Christ.

When the prodigal son returned home, his dad completely forgave him. He didn’t hold a grudge against the son. Everything that happened in the past between them was completely forgotten and they had a celebration. After forgiveness happened he treated the son as if no time had passed between them and they simply picked up were they had left off before.

God is capable of presenting us holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight because when he forgives, it’s like having your memory wiped. It’s like deleting everything on a laptop. The conscience is cleansed. It’s like erasing everything that you have ever recorded in your life and starting over. That is the power of God’s forgiveness and Grace.

There are so many people who really don’t understand real forgiveness because in their human nature they still hold on to a grudge. They continue to bring up things from the past that were confessed and forgiven. They continue to dig skeletons out of the closet. They continue to dig up bones. When God forgives us it’s like hitting the delete button. When you delete something it means to completely erase it.

How many of you would like to delete moments of your life? How would you like to go back in time with a huge pencil eraser in order to erase the things that you have done wrong? Maybe you’d like to take some white out and blot out things that you shouldn’t have said.

Many times I think about sin as dirt on the kitchen floor. People used to sweep all that dirt underneath the carpet. The dirt was hidden from view and nobody could see it. That’s what God can do for each of us. He has a portion of grace awaiting you. You just need to come and get it.

So many people today cannot comprehend and understand the power of God’s forgiveness. You may look at the power of a huge hydroelectric Dam, You may see the power of a comet as it passes near to the Earth, but there is no greater power that I have ever known then the power of God’s forgiveness. It is greater than anything that you could ever possess on the Earth. It is worth more than all the riches that you could ever store up, and this treasure you will only find when you seek the truth of Jesus found at His cross.

God wants us to come home and to confess our faults. He wants to cleanse our hearts and our minds from those things that have kept us from a relationship with Himself. When we finally do that, God wants to push that delete button in our lives. God wants a relationship with us, but it’s sin that causes seperation. Sin is what caused the prodigal son to leave his dad. No matter what we have done wrong, there is forgiveness in Christ.

God extends to us his mercy and Grace so that we can start over again. He forgives us so that we can get off of that wide road of sin and get on the narrow road that leads to heaven. It requires humility in order to do that. It requires that our hearts break inside so that we can release all of those things that we’ve done wrong in our lives in our past.

I think of unconfessed sin like a brick wall that you build around yourself. You make yourself your own prisoner because of your own sin. It continually gets higher and higher each day. The only way to get out is to break out of there with a sledgehammer. You’ve got to get free of that wall and the weight and the burdens that are holding you down.

You are like a falcon who wants to fly but you are tethered to a tree because of sin. God wants to free us from our sinful condition, and those things in our conscience that hurt that we shouldn’t have done.

God extends to us mercy so that we can be reconciled unto him again. Forgiveness is waiting, we just need to confess and admit the truth that I am a sinner. it doesn’t matter how many sins you committed, grace is available to cover those sins. That’s why Jesus came, to cleanse our consciences so that we would no longer be at enmity with him. You have to trust in God’s grace.

When God forgives, it’s water under the bridge. It’s never to be seen again. It’s like crumpling up a piece of paper and throwing it in a river and watching it disappear as it floats away.

God wants us to trust in his grace that is found in his Son. He wants us to be grounded and settled in the faith. He doesn’t want us to be moved away from the hope of the Gospel.

Each of us at times have to tell God I’m sorry, but remember that when God forgives, he forgets the past and hits the delete button.

Let’s think about those things for today and Lord willing we’ll talk to some more tomorrow till then bye-bye everybody