A script was written against us but it has been nailed on the cross.
So, we are encouraged to know that the things written against us have been taken care of and we will continue to be taken advantage of by the devil if we are not aware of this.
The legal violation against us has been deleted and cannot be retrieved. The script against us can only be rewritten on the basis of the scriptures. What makes one script more powerful than the other is because the new script is carved out of the scriptures. There is a script over our life that is superior to the script the devil is laying claim on.
Colossians 2:11-23
Whatever script the devil is laying hold on, it’s ignorance on his part to hold on to it because someone has deleted it.
We should be mindful of the fact that whatever the devil has against us as a charge or accusation is on the premise that we were guilty of it. It’s called legal violation. On the premise that we are legal violators. As far as God is concerned, he is just God. He does not compromise on his justice. While we are legal violators and are to be subjected to the requirements of the law, the devil has grounds against us. By the virtue of the provision of the blood of Jesus, the legal decrees and demand were met by Jesus.
So, there was something written against us, in that script was the sentence of God.
There was a script written. If God was to unleash what was written in the script we cannot stand it.
Whatever Jesus went through on the cross is what we have received. That is the passion and sufferings of Christ. This is what covers all that He went through on or before going to the cross.
These are the things that are written. If we are supposed to go through what was written then we are going to say that we have no legal standing. This is because it was not written in our favour. It was written against us.
Jesus showed up. Jesus’ appearance ultimately made it end on the cross. He ultimately wiped out the legal decrees and demands.
When we see Jesus on the cross, there was a legal demand that was written against us, we are supposed to go through and be punished. All the decrees and demands were wiped out by what Jesus did. It was deleted! It cannot be retrieved!
He cancelled the unfavourable record of our debt with its binding rule and dealt away completely by nailing it to the cross.
The script was torn. The script was deleted. The written codes and regulations that were against us were taken away.
There was a script. The devil had it. God went ahead and cancelled our script through Jesus. He wiped away the script. The devil has no record. Every effort to retrieve it was proved abortive. The Father has wiped it off. It was blotted out. The script cannot be empty in spite of the fact that the whole script was deleted. The Lord has written His.This cannot be deleted.
Redemption is a ground for rewriting our script. Calvary rewrote our stories. They have been rewritten. Our story is a new one.
2 Corinthians 5:17-18 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things have passed away; behold, all things are become new.
And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
In the old script everything is deleted. We are on a fresh start and note.
The moment we are reconciled, He has added us to be part of His family and that we should be a part of the script. He gave us the ministry of reconciliation.
That is why believers need to be taught the meaning of ministry. This is because ministry is a major part in the body. It is not for a particular set of people but that everyone must not be a spectator. We must take part. The fact is that the old script has been deleted and a new script has unfolded.
We are not ones the devil lay claim on anytime again. The old script has been deleted. This is why the devil cannot be referring to the believers.
Paul in his old state jailed men and now says in one of his Epistles that he has never defrauded any man.
2 Corinthians 7:2
This is why Paul says if any man is in Christ Jesus… 2 Corinthians 5:17
The devil does not have any claim over any believer. The owner of the script is Jesus. All things are of God.
When we quote verse 17 and leaving 18 out we have not quoted the Bible. The devil’s script has been deleted; Colossians 2.
They cannot be retrieved. They are nailed on the cross. The devil’s hand is removed. He has no evidence. His demands and decrees are deleted. They are being nailed on the cross. By virtue of the cross to the believer, he is a new being. Anyone in Christ has started afresh.
This script is written and can be written on the premise of the promise of Christ in us contained in the scriptures. Anyone in Christ is a new creature, old things have passed away. It’s a big deal. It’s not a refurbishment that happened to you. You were not repaired nor rebranded. You came out fresh from the bowel of Jesus. You are a brand new specie, a new man. You were dead in trespasses but now in Christ, you have been made alive.
You are alive unto righteousness. It’s a new version of you, an emergence of newness, a new birth experience. If you understand this, you will understand why Paul bragged about his new identity as a new creature to everyone who cared to listen. Your life has a new script, derived from the scriptures.
Everything about your life in that script is who God says you are, and what he prepared for you. There was handwriting written against us and whatever that was contained in the scripts contrary to us that stood or opposed us have been deleted. That script could not remain empty. What can be on the script is traceable to Golgotha, the man who died on the cross, to all he accomplished on the cross and resurrection.
In Acts 9: 17 we see that Paul was first called Brother Saul. We see how Saul wreaked havoc on the body of Christ, how he was on the road to Damascus and with that letter and intention in his mind, he met with Jesus. A few days after that encounter, he was called Brother Saul. That was the beginning of the story of Paul being rewritten. The use of brother Saul would mean “welcome to our family.”
Christ came to save sinners but there are sinners and there are sinners
It was not just a change of name for Saul rather it was a transformation of life such that they recognized that this was the same Saul and they called him brother.
Redemption rewrites the stories of men ; it has the ability and capacity to rewrite the script of men.
Salvation is not moral adjustment or character adjustment; it is the evacuation of the old man such that the old man died. Although there is no way the old man is evacuated that it doesn’t then affect your character and morality.
This therefore means the old means the old man cannot be evacuated and your anger level still remains the same.
Paul constantly referenced calvary in his script, Paul can not claim authority, he would always refer back to calvary. Redemption happened to Paul, he is the product of the grace of God. Paul was the only apostle who didn’t have a direct contact with Christ yet what was given to him was greater than what the people that stood on the mount of transfiguration got.
John the beloved was very close to Jesus but he didn’t get what paul got, sometimes it is not proximity it is Grace, what grace can offer a man, proximity may not catch up with it in one thousand years. Paul on his way to Damascus encountered Jesus and from that day, Grace started rewriting his story.
No matter what name has been given to you, under the canopy and Grace of God you have a new name but the problem is you yourself may not know you have a new name.
Philemon1:8-10, Paul discipled Onesimus within a short while in the prison, so that he could return a changed and different man to his master Philemon. He ministered the gospel to him and discipled him such that a new man could emerge. The reality of new creation is very powerful and practical.
Onesimus is not a refurbished man, the cross happened to him and he became a new man. Onesimus left the prison a different man, changed from the thief he used to be. The practicality of new creation happened right before Philemon when Onesimus returned a changed and different man. Primarily it was a brotherhood kind of relationship that came first, not master to servant relationship. Calvary happened to Onesimus and he became a new script, redemption happened to him and he became a new script. Redemption has the capacity to rewrite a script on the premise of what is captured in the scripture, the scripture is our reference point.