A debt-free life | Apr. 19, 2026 | Pr Raph

A debt-free life.

We all know the crushing, suffocating weight of debt. When you owe someone something you cannot pay, it dictates how you live, how you sleep, and how you see your future.

If you owe money to someone, their presence is uncomfortable.

If you come across an opportunity to travel or enjoy a restaurant meal and, by chance, you meet that person, shame will control you.

Debt is directly related to shame.

God desires to remove all spiritual shame from the believer and replace it with “double honor.”

Isaiah 61:7 7 Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion; instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot; therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion; they shall have everlasting joy.

The root of shame goes back to the Garden of Eden. Eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (which represents living under the Law) opened humanity's eyes to their nakedness, producing shame.

Shame produces feelings of inferiority, guilt, and ultimately, fear. 

Shame prevents people from approaching God with boldness, stepping into leadership, or exercising faith to receive God's blessings.

This shame immediately leads to fear and fear to shame. 

I was talking to my niece Nataly, who is a sweet little girl, and she is afraid of dogs. We noticed that because yesterday we had my cousin’s dog around us for a family celebration. As people were trying to convince her that she did not need to be afraid of the dog, I noticed not only fear but also shame about that fear. It is a vicious cycle that pulls us down.

But the ultimate fear and shame is the fear of facing God, which is expressed by the fear of death.

The Bible teaches of the ultimate debt, the ultimate payment, and the absolute freedom that belongs to the born-again believer.

The Problem of sin

For centuries, humanity lived under a shadow of a debt it could not pay. We see the origin of this problem in Genesis 3. When Adam sinned, a fundamental fracture occurred in the human spirit. 

Genesis 3:8-10 8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”

Mankind was plunged into spiritual death. From that moment forward, iniquity—a bent toward self and away from God—began to grow like a terrible weed, wrapping itself around the human heart.

From sin to iniquity. 

The spiritual degradation from a single, isolated act of missing the mark (sin) to a deeply ingrained, habitual pattern of inner corruption and willful rebellion (iniquity).

Imagine a car hitting a pothole. The tires stay functional, but the wheels suffer permanent damage. This impacts the suspension and handling, making the car bent and misaligned. The driver can still operate the vehicle but must remain alert to its tendency to drift sideways and veer outside the lanes. Constant vigilance is necessary because the car's usual straight path is compromised. 

Iniquity is essentially the tragic downward shift from committing a bad action to developing a twisted, hardened character.

From the fall in Genesis 3 to the problem of wickedness in Genesis 6.

Genesis 6:5 5 The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

The problem of evil grew so dark that it created blindness to our own condition.

The human heart became so saturated with darkness that, without divine intervention, humanity was completely blind to its own depravity and utterly incapable of fixing it.

Jeremiah 17:9 'The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?’

The unregenerate human heart is not just broken; it is an active deceiver. It lies to us. It tells us we are good enough, strong enough, and righteous enough on our own. It masks our spiritual sickness with pride. 

(Mark 2:17) 'And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”’

I am reminded of a story about a grandmother who absolutely refused to go to the doctor. She used to say that every time she went to the clinic, she would come back with a new disease. In her mind, the problem was not her aging, decaying body; the problem was the doctor and those pesky lab results. If she just avoided the doctor, she could pretend she was perfectly healthy.

Isn't that the exact problem with the human heart? We run from the truth because we are terrified of the diagnosis. Many people refuse to allow the light of the Gospel to touch their lives because they know, deep down, it will reveal their true spiritual condition. 

John 3:19-20 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.

We are examining the issue of sin, which in theology is known as Hamartiology. This branch studies the doctrine of sin, derived from the Greek word hamartia, meaning "to miss the mark." It explores the origin, nature, extent, and consequences of sin.

The Light is no longer a threat; it is a deliverance, it will bring relief. 

That is when sanctification starts. It is simply the Holy Spirit continually shining the Light of Christ into our daily lives, not to condemn us, but to apply the healing power of His finished work to our minds and actions.

Everything that has light grows and flourishes.

I talked to the pool maintenance manager this week. I asked how I could get rid of the persistent algae growth in my pool. He said, until Florida continues to be the Sunshine State, you can’t get away from growing algae. Because the light brings life, not death. 

The Mirror: Law

For a long time, there was no written law. Sin was a deadly disease, but it had not yet been codified into a legal framework. Then, God gave the Law to Moses. Why?

God gave the Law to reveal our desperate condition. Think of an MRI machine at a hospital. If you are sick, an MRI is incredibly useful because it provides a clear picture of the tumor. It reveals the exact nature of the problem. But an MRI machine has absolutely no power to cut the tumor out. It can only show you that you are dying.

(Romans 5:20) 'Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,'

The Law was never given to cure the disease of sin; it was given to diagnose it. 

We all went from being simply infected with sin to being active, willful lawbreakers. Yet, in His infinite mercy, God ensured that wherever sin was exposed, His grace would flood.

(Romans 3:20) 'For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.’

We see this when the rich young ruler came to Jesus. Jesus was using the law properly. 

Matthew 19:16-22 16 And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” 17 And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” 18 He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, 19 Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

The blindness was so great that, as it is still among the religious circles nowadays, the young man thought he was righteous because of his outward behavior.

I believe age is also a factor. Remember, the first to leave the challenge to cast the first stone at the adulterous woman if they were without sin was an elderly man. 

John 8:7-9 7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.

Jesus applied the true, heavy standard of the Law to the young man, revealing his absolute spiritual bankruptcy. 

20 The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” 21 Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

The Law was not given to bring righteousness; it was given to destroy our self-righteousness so we would look for a Savior.

(Romans 7:10) 'The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me.' 

The Law was holy, righteous, and good, revealing God's perfect standard. However, because of the indwelling disease of iniquity, mankind was completely unable to keep it. Instead of bringing the Law diagnosed our fatal spiritual condition, provoked our sin into active transgression, and brought the legal penalty of death if used wrongly, it can be deadly.

The law was meant to completely destroy any reliance on self-righteousness, pointing out that life can only be found in God's grace and the finished work of Jesus Christ. 

Until Christ

(Galatians 3:24) 'So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.'

The Law turned our sin into literal transgressions; it gave the enemy a legal demand over humanity.

Pastor John Warton wrote in his book about Job.

Satan impugns the character of both Job and God by his accusation that Job only reveres God for the benefits he receives. Put another way, he is accusing God of buying Job's reverence with these benefits. This accusation is exactly in accord with Satan's evil nature and typical actions. Jesus describes him as a liar and a murderer (John 8:44). The Apostle John warns the future Church of his evil nature, calling him "the accuser of the brethren" (Revelation 12:10), which is exactly what he did to Job."

Satan is an accuser.

Before the Law, we were broken; after the Law, we were legally guilty. 

Satan held the rulebook, pointed to our undeniable failures, and claimed a rightful, legal ownership over our eternal destiny.

Think of an X-ray machine. The radioactive element is what allows the machine to work correctly. In 1987, my city was the site of the most serious radioactive accident the country has seen in its history. 

All because of the misuse of one device that was meant to make a diagnosis, but it was wrongly used. You can research the accident, the Radiological Accident in Goiânia. It is often referred to as the "Brazilian Chernobyl" due to the widespread contamination with Cesium-137 teletherapy unit, which was stolen from an abandoned hospital site on September 13, 1987, and broken open, exposing the public to radioactive powder.

The Law is a mirror, not a cleanser. It was never designed to justify mankind or make us righteous through our own performance. Its purpose was to expose the deep-rooted sickness of our iniquity, making us fully conscious of our absolute inability to save ourselves and our desperate need for the finished work of Jesus Christ.

But then came Jesus.

Colossians 2:13-15 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

The requirements of the Mosaic Law were violated. The 'debt' signifies the punishment owed for sins. We were all responsible for breaking the principles of the Law, we knowingly acknowledged, even if we were not directly under the law.

Before you could ever respond to God, while you were entirely dead in your sin, God made you alive in Jesus. He did not achieve this by ignoring the Law, but by fulfilling it.

The author of the hymn "Amazing Grace" was John Newton, a former slave ship captain who experienced a profound conversion and later became an Anglican clergyman and an abolitionist.

Newton was William Wilberforce’s spiritual mentor. Wilberforce experienced a profound spiritual conversion in 1785, and he seriously considered resigning from Parliament to become a minister. Confused about his future, he secretly went to visit John Newton.

Newton strongly advised Wilberforce against leaving politics. He convinced him that God had intentionally placed him in Parliament for a specific purpose: Newton told him, "I hope the Lord will make you a blessing both as a Christian and a statesman. How seldom do these characters coincide! But they are not incompatible."

Following Newton's advice, Wilberforce stayed in politics.

In 1833, the British government passed the Slavery Abolition Act to free over 800,000 enslaved people across the British Empire. However, there was a massive obstacle: the slave owners held legal ownership over these individuals. The enslaved men, women, and children were entirely destitute. They had no money, no rights, and absolutely zero ability to purchase their own freedom. They were completely helpless to change their legal condition.

To permanently break this system while satisfying its strict "legal demands," the British government stepped in and took an unprecedented step. They took out a staggering £20 million loan—which represented 40% of the government's entire national budget at the time—to literally buy the freedom of every single slave.

The enslaved people contributed absolutely nothing to this payment. They could not earn it, they did not help finance it, and they did not have to prove their worth to receive it. The emancipator entirely absorbed the colossal debt, legally satisfying the rigid demands of the old system. 

The captives simply woke up to the reality that the impossibly high price for their lives had been paid in full by someone else, and their legal status had been permanently changed from "slave" to "free."

Jesus completely eradicated the massive debt that Satan held against us. By paying the penalty through His blood, Jesus completely stripped the enemy of his legal right to accuse us.

The absolute sufficiency of Christ’s work precedes any action on our part.

I was teaching this to our brothers in Pakistan. This modern-day slavery in the brick kiln industry is a widespread system of debt bondage (or "bonded labor") affecting millions. Despite being legally outlawed in 1988, the practice persists due to weak enforcement, extreme poverty, and social hierarchies.

Impoverished workers often take small "advance" loans (peshgi) to cover emergencies like medical expenses or weddings. Employers then manipulate these debts through high interest rates and a lack of transparency, making repayment nearly impossible. When a debtor dies, the debt frequently passes to their children or spouse, perpetuating a cycle of servitude that can last for decades. Families work 12 to 14 hours daily to meet a quota of 1,000–1,500 bricks, earning as little as $1.50 to $6 per thousand.

The verse says

Colossians 2:14 … the record of debt that stood against us

Record of debt — χειρόγραφον — (hairá-grafon) — A handwritten document, hand-signed paper that confirms the bond and the certificate of debt.

Satan held a signed confession of our spiritual bankruptcy, a massive, undeniable debt. 

Jesus was entirely without sin and had no reason to feel shame because there was no debt owed to Him. However, during His trial and crucifixion, He voluntarily endured the deepest forms of human humiliation—He was stripped naked, spat upon, beaten, and mocked. He absorbed this shame so that you would never have to pay it again.

Jesus took the legal document, absorbed the wrath it required, and nailed it to His cross, eternally stamping it "Paid in Full.”

A debt-free life

The enemy has no paperwork left to use against you.

If God has gone to such extreme lengths to cancel your spiritual debt, He desires that the believer live a debt-free life in finances as well. 

Financial freedom. Financial debt is a worldly system designed to mimic the spiritual bondage Christ already destroyed.

(Romans 13:8) 'Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.'

Your core identity is now debt-free in the heavenly places; you are called to manifest that freedom in your daily living.

A life burdened by financial obligations restricts your ability to freely serve, give, and advance the Kingdom. Owe nothing but love, allowing the freedom of grace to dictate their finances, not the pressure of lenders.

(Proverbs 22:7) 'The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.'

God does not want His children living in slavery to anyone or anything.

When we willingly enter into consumer financial debt, we subject ourselves to the authority and anxiety of a worldly master. 

It is time to recognize that financial stewardship is a vital part of spiritual maturity. 

Be aggressive in pursuing financial freedom, you break the chains of the borrower and step into the limitless provision of the Father.

Philippians 4:19) 'And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.'

His "riches in glory in Christ Jesus." Your spiritual and natural needs are met through His finished work. You do not need to live in financial or spiritual anxiety, but can rest securely in the Father's overflowing sufficiency.

(2 Corinthians 9:11-12) 'You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God.'

We have inherited the unsearchable riches of Christ's grace. Your eternal debt has been nailed to the cross. The enemy has been disarmed.

Do not put the yoke of slavery back on your own neck, whether through legalistic religion or through suffocating financial debt.

Galatians 5:1 "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."