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Guest (Female): Now here's today's message from Pastor Skip Heitzig.

Skip Heitzig: So far in the book of Colossians, Paul has been speaking to us about who we are positionally. Let me explain that. He says you are in Christ, you died with him, you were circumcised with the circumcision not made with hands. This is the previous chapter. You are baptized. All of these metaphors that speak of realities, all of what has happened to you when you gave your life to Christ. When you said yes to Jesus, a number of truths happened. It's not always easy to put into words what happens when you get saved.

I know it was very difficult for me to explain to my family and friends what happened. So what happened to you? You say you got saved. What does that mean? And I was trying hard to find language to convey this incredible experience that I had. I had never heard the words born again at that point in my life. I had never read the New Testament. I had given my life to Jesus Christ in the summer 1973.

A friend of mine who lived down the street who had made a commitment to Christ months before I did, not knowing that I had made that commitment, came up to me one day and put his finger in my face and wanted to witness to me and tell me that I needed Jesus. He said, "Heitzig, you need to be born again." And I stopped and I said, "Where did you get that term?" He said, "What are you talking about?" I said, "You just said the words born again. Where did you get that term? Because that's exactly what it feels like that has happened to me."

I had never heard that, but when I heard that, I thought that's perfect descriptive language for what has happened in my life. I have been born again. I have a whole new life. I just don't know how to express it in words until I heard that description. And he said, "That's in the Gospel of John Chapter 3. Jesus said you must be born again." And I thought, well, that is perfect language.

So Paul is describing this incredible experience of the Colossian church, those who are saved, and what it's like to be born again. And he uses a number of metaphors that speak to the reality of the Christian life positionally: in Christ, seated in Christ, circumcised, baptized, raised from the dead, etc. All these positional terms. Now he's moving from speaking positionally to speaking practically. There's a lot of therefore. This is how those truths that I've been speaking about positionally, what they should look like in your and my daily life.

So in Chapter 3, we begin in verse one: "If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things of the earth. For you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God." If then you were raised with Christ, and you have been. He said in the previous chapter, buried with him in baptism, raised to newness of life.

When a person gets baptized, and we had a wonderful baptism this last weekend, and I love listening to the stories of people's salvation. The water of baptism symbolizes death, death and burial. That's the whole idea of taking a person, placing them in the water, underneath the water, and bringing them back out of the water. One speaks of death, burial, burying the past, and then bringing the person back up. Paul said in Romans, "Even so we should walk in newness of life."

If then you were raised with Christ positionally, here's the practical. Seek those things which are above where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Your feet may be on earth walking on earth, but your heart, your mind, should be in heaven. You should be and I should be seeking those things which are above. Then verse two, set your mind on things above, not on things of the earth.

I wonder how much you actually think about heaven. Most if not all unbelievers don't think about heaven. It's not on their mind. It's not on their radar. They don't really give it a thought. Sadly, a lot of Christians don't think much about heaven either until they go to a funeral. Then at the funeral, they're talking about where that person is. If they've been a believer, they're before the Lord. Then all of a sudden that comes into focus once again even for a believer.

I think one of the reasons we don't think much about heaven is because too many Christians think inaccurately about heaven. I think most believers think that heaven is like one long church service where you're going to just sit around and sing all day long because they really haven't had a good exploratory study in scripture on what is going to happen in heaven. Now yes, eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love him. That is often quoted, but keep reading. It says, "but God has revealed them to us by His Spirit."

There's a lot we don't know, but there is a lot we do know. Once you do know, you're going to be thinking more and more about it. Why should we think about heaven? Why should we set our sights on heaven? As he says here, seeking those things, setting your mind on things above? Because the moment you gave your life to Christ, here's another positional truth, you became at that moment a registered citizen of heaven.

It is where you're going to spend your future. If you look at all of eternity and you compare all of eternity to the little sliver called time and space continuum where you and I live here on this earth, it's nothing. It's a blip. It's a comma. It's a hiccup compared to eternity. Because you and I are going to spend all of our time in eternity, and if you're a believer, in heaven, because your citizenship is in heaven, it stands to reason that you would think about it more. You would seek it more. You would as Jesus said, lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moth nor rust can corrupt or destroy. You and I, we are citizens of heaven.

Seek those things which are above where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. I just want to unpack briefly this idea. Jesus rose from the dead, ascended into heaven bodily because he rose from the dead bodily, ascended into heaven in human form bodily, and is sitting at the right hand of the Father. That means a couple of things for us. Number one, it means that the work is finished.

The work that he did for us is finished. Let me explain. In the Old Testament, when you would bring a sacrifice to the tabernacle or the temple, the priest was always on his feet. There wasn't a chair in the temple nor the tabernacle. The priest was always on his feet offering sacrifices, doing the work for one and then another and then another, and it was an ongoing work.

Jesus did the work of atonement for us on the cross, was buried, rose from the dead, ascended to heaven, and now he has sat down because the work is done. Hebrews Chapter 1 verse 3, having by himself purged us of our sins, has sat down at the right hand of the Father, right hand of majesty. For Jesus to sit down, sitting at the right hand of God, speaks of a finished work.

Number two, it speaks of his authority. The right hand of a king was the place of authority, a place of status, a place of honor. Jesus sat down taking his place of honor and authority at the right hand of the Father. Don't picture Jesus just sort of up there twiddling his thumbs. He's seated and he's just sort of on the iPhone kind of doom scrolling, looking around because there's nothing else to do. What is he doing in that seated position of the finished work and the position of authority? What is he doing? He's praying for us.

He is at the right hand of the Father and Hebrews says he ever lives to make intercession for us. So here you are, citizens of heaven on the way to heaven. Before you even get to heaven, there are prayers being said for you from heaven. Great truth. I love it when somebody says Skip, I've been praying for you. I'm honored, but get this, Jesus is praying for you. You're in a no-lose situation. He's at the right hand, a couple of times once in Romans, once in Hebrews tells us he's interceding for us.

That's where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things of the earth. It's hard to do. Easy to read, hard to do because we get consumed by this life. We get distracted by so many things and it's so easy to be materialistically minded. Here he says don't let it swallow you up. Set your mind on things above, not on things of the earth. And here's why. For you died.

That's a positional truth because you are breathing, so you're still alive. But he says you died and your life, that's the raised part, your life is hidden with Christ in God. Now let me go through in that verse three, not one, not two, but three positional truths. Truth number one: you died. When Jesus died, you died. Jesus died for you, yes, substitutionary atonement. He died for you. He died in your place.

Though Jesus died for you, the other truth is when he died, you died with him. You identify with his death. Paul said in Galatians 2 verse 20, "I am crucified with Christ." So when Jesus died positionally, I died. That means I'm dead to the old way of life. It does not have to, though it often does, but it does not have to dominate my existence. I am freed from the power, the grip of sin and death because Jesus died for me, but when he died, I died with him.

Truth number one, you died. Truth number two, you were raised because it says in verse one, "If then you were raised" and you were. That's the second positional truth. I just quoted Galatians 2 verse 20, but I only quoted part of the verse. Now listen to the rest of it. "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. But it's not I who lives, but Christ lives in me. And the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me."

So two truths, positional truths: you died, you're raised. Truth number three: you're hidden. For you died and your life, that's the raised part, your life is hidden with Christ in God. That's a truth that should comfort you. Jesus said that no one can snatch you out of his hand. This speaks of your security in Christ. If you wake up tomorrow morning and you go, you know I felt really saved last night at church, but I feel a little less saved this morning. I had weird dreams last night and I just feel less close to God, less saved.

Don't go by your feelings. That's when you can't trust your feelings. You died, you were raised, and you are kept. You are hidden. Your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, verse four, who is our life. One of the things I notice about Colossians and I think I told you last week or the week before, I've just been making the habit of reading it every day for like 30 days straight. It's all about the centrality of Jesus Christ.

It's all about him because of that Gnostic heresy saying that Jesus is less than God, he's one of the many emanations and Jesus is a good start, but we're going to take you through a superior knowledge to the pleroma, the fullness of God. Paul just makes Jesus front and center. In all things that he might have the preeminence. He's the creator of all things. He was before all things. And in him all things consist. He's the head of the church.

Now he says when Christ who is our very life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Now that's not a positional truth. That's an eschatological truth that is literal. One day Jesus is going to appear and he's going to appear for the believer in two ways. First, at what we call the rapture of the church. First Thessalonians Chapter 4: the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, the trumpet of God.

The dead in Christ will rise first. We who are alive and remain will be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air. So shall we ever be with him. In the moment, First Corinthians 15, in a twinkling of an eye, we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be transformed, changed, metamorphosed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. When Jesus appears for the church in the clouds, if you are alive and if I am alive, we will be instantaneously meeting saints who have died with the Lord in the air.

We will all be resurrected, transformed physically. We'll go to be with the Lord, but then when he appears the second time, he comes to the earth in bodily form, not meeting us in the heavens, but he comes all the way back to the earth at the end of the tribulation period. It says we, his saints, will be with him in those resurrected, glorified bodies. Now look at the verse again. "When Christ who is our life, when he appears, you will also appear with him in glory."

As we age, we look at ourselves in the mirror every day and we naturally become disappointed. I always say, I walk around and I do my thing and I feel like I'm in my 20s. Then I look at that horrible thing called a mirror and I'm reminded of the reality and frailty of human life and the certainty that I have an end date. One of the glorious things about being a Christian and thinking about heaven, our citizenship is in heaven, why should we be looking above, seeking above?

It's because you're not just going to change locations. You're going to change looks. Paul said in Philippians that he will transform our lowly bodies. Pretty accurate, our lowly bodies. That it would be like his own glorious body. And do you remember that Paul said in Romans that we groan desiring to be delivered and clothed with our heavenly body? The older you get, the more you groan. Am I right? And I hear myself all the time groaning.

But when Christ who is our life, he didn't just give us life, he is our life, when he appears at the rapture of the church, that's resurrection day for the believer, that's when all the physical transformation takes place, then you also will appear with him in glory. Heaven isn't just a destination, it's a motivation. Therefore, therefore. See here's the practical part. He goes from positional to practical. Therefore, and there's always a therefore in the Christian life.

Therefore, because of that truth, put to death. The old King James says mortify. Put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness which is idolatry. Because of all these positional truths, these positional truths should look like practical truths. Our theology should become our biology. This is how we actually are. Therefore, that's the idea behind the therefore.

Put to death. Now that's Paul's language here. In Romans, he uses a little bit different language, same idea, but different. He says, "Therefore or likewise reckon yourselves to be dead to sin but alive to God." That reckoning, that supposing, that making a decision to make a break from the past because you have the power to do so. And I know you have the power because there's three propositional truths: you died, you were raised, you're hidden.

Therefore, you have the power, I have the power to stop doing certain activities. Our theology can become our biology. We can reckon ourselves to be dead to sin and alive to God. We can overcome the grip of the enemy in those habits. Therefore, put to death the members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desires, covetousness which is idolatry. You and I have a problem.

We're citizens of heaven but we're living on the earth right now. Our spirit is awakened unto God, we have a new nature, but we also carry about still our old nature which is at war with our new nature. So we know certain things to be right and true, but living them out isn't so easy. We're dead, but sometimes we forget that we're dead to those old manner of living, the old lifestyles, the old activities. We're dead, but the old man keeps wanting to get back up out of the casket. Push him back down under the casket. It's a daily reality. Hey, get back in that coffin, you. Put it to death.

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