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Guest (Female): This is Connect with Skip Heitzig. Thanks for joining us today. Here at Connect with Skip, we’re passionate about helping you understand God’s word and apply it to your everyday life through clear, practical Bible teaching. That’s why we invite you to sign up for Pastor Skip’s free weekly devotional. You’ll receive biblical encouragement, ministry updates, and exclusive ministry content, all delivered right to your inbox. Signing up is quick, easy, and completely free. Visit connectwithskip.com today. That’s connectwithskip.com. Now, let’s dive into today’s teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig.

Skip Heitzig: "When Christ," verse 4, "who is our life." You know, one of the things I noticed about Colossians, and I think I told you last week or the week before, I’ve just been making a 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.

So Paul just makes Jesus front and center. In all things, He might have the preeminence. He’s the creator of all things. He was before all things. 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. 1 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, 1 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. You know, I walk around and do my thing and I feel like I’m in my 20s. And then I look at that horrible thing called a mirror, and I’m reminded of the reality of 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 or 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, this is his description, "lowly bodies." It’s 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. So I love that. 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. So 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 manners 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 it back down under the casket. It’s a daily reality. Hey, get back in that coffin, you! Put it to death. Reckon it to be dead. This is what DL Moody meant when he said every Bible, how many of you have leather Bibles? Anybody?

And when I open my Bible, it usually says like either genuine calfskin or imitation leather or plastic or whatever it’s bound by. But mine’s bound by leather. But DL Moody said every Bible should be bound in shoe leather. Of course, what he meant by that is the truths that we know positionally should be lived out practically. So put to death those things by God’s help and His strength. Reckon them to be dead. I’m crucified with Christ; nevertheless, I live.

The thing about crucifixion, that’s Paul’s term in Galatians. Here, he just says put it to death. You died. Put it to death. Reckon yourselves to be dead. Romans. But in Galatians, he said, "I am crucified with Christ." And I think it’s a very descriptive term. People knew what that was back then. A lot of people had been crucified. But crucifixion was a slow death. A slow and very painful death.

Jesus was on the cross six hours. Most victims of crucifixion were on the cross 24 hours. Sometimes 48 hours. It was a very slow, excruciating. The word "excruciating" means "from the cross." Very, very hard, arduous, slow death. Likewise, sometimes when it comes to putting to death the old us, it’s a painful, slow process. It is a process. The process is called sanctification. Salvation happens instantaneously. Sanctification takes a lifetime. And part of the process of sanctification is putting to death, putting to death, putting to death. It’s slow, it’s difficult, but it must be done.

And then verse 6. Because of these things, that list of sensual sins that are mentioned in verse 5, that he says put those things to death: fornication, uncleanness. Fornication is the word porneia, pornography. Evil desire, covetousness. Because of these things, watch this, "The wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience." Now, let me just talk to you for a moment about this subject, the wrath of God. In the book of Romans, Paul spends like three chapters highlighting the wrath of God.

The theme of the book of Romans is the righteousness of God, but it’s divided into four sections: Section number one, the wrath of God. Section number two, the grace of God. Section number three, the plan of God. Section number four, the will of God.

Guest (Female): You’re listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Every day, friends like you help connect people around the world to the life-changing truth of God’s word through clear, verse-by-verse Bible teaching. Our world constantly tells us we need something more, but the book of Colossians reminds us that everything we truly need is found in Jesus Christ. That’s the heart of Pastor Skip’s resource "Expound Colossians." As he walks verse by verse through this powerful New Testament book, you’ll discover why Christ is supreme over all things, how to recognize truth in a world full of competing voices, and what it means to live each day firmly rooted in Him. We’ll send "Expound Colossians" as our thanks when you give $50 or more to support Connect with Skip Heitzig. Call 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com/offer. Now, let’s return to today’s teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig.

Skip Heitzig: But in chapter 1 of Romans, verse 18, all the way to chapter 3, verse 20, he’s just describing the wrath of God. And in chapter 1 of Romans, verse 18, this is what he says: "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness." The wrath of God is revealed from heaven. It’s in the present tense. It means it is constantly, without stop, as an ongoing disposition being revealed from heaven.

It’s not like God’s coming and He’s really mad and He’s going to get you one day. No, the wrath of God is not an outburst of anger; it’s a settled position that is ongoing. The wrath of God is God’s reaction to the hostility of sinful man. So it is, it’s not like God is ticked off and loses His temper and goes, "I’m wrathful." It’s the steady, ongoing disposition of a holy God against rebellious sinful mankind. That’s the wrath of God. Now, the wrath of God is manifested in a few different ways. Number one, there is the eternal wrath of God. The eternal wrath of God. There’s a shorter word for it. Anybody know what that is? Hell.

Guest (Male): Hell. That’s the eternal wrath of God. A person will be cut off eternally from God forever. That’s the eternal wrath of God.

Skip Heitzig: But then there is the eschatological wrath of God, which is the final day of wrath, sometimes called the Day of the Lord, sometimes called the Tribulation. It is a concerted period of time in which the God of heaven will display on earth all the wrath that is stored up that will be unleashed at the end of days. So there’s the eternal wrath of God, there’s the eschatological wrath of God.

There’s also the cataclysmic wrath of God. The cataclysmic wrath of God is where God interrupts history in judgment for His specific purpose. So, for example, the worldwide flood is a cataclysmic judgment upon the earth that happened once, it’ll never happen again. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, cataclysmic wrath of God upon that community.

So there’s the eternal, eschatological, cataclysmic. There’s another area of the wrath of God: the consequential wrath of God. The consequential wrath of God is whatever you sow, you will also reap. Be not deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that will he also reap. There’s the law, spiritual law, as just like the physical law: what you plant, you’re going to reap. There are consequences that you will experience due to your choices. Even though you’re forgiven, there may be consequences that can be experienced.

The fifth and final category is the wrath of God’s abandonment. Described in the book of Romans: God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things that are unseemly. It’s when a society or an individual says no to God so long, "I don’t want God, I want this." And when a society begs for it, God says, "As part of my wrath and judgment against you, I’m going to give you what you say you want, and I am pulling back and not intervening."

All of that is the wrath of God in a nutshell. So back to our verse: "Because of these things, the wrath of God," and think of those five categories, "is coming upon the sons of disobedience." Probably thinking of that second category, the eschatological wrath of God. "In which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them." You remember when Paul wrote to the Corinthians, that weird church in Corinth, and he talked about adulterers and fornicators and swindlers and all these bad people out there in the world, homosexuality. He listed several sins and he said, "And such were some of you." That’s your background. That’s who you and I were.

And so the idea here is very much the same. "In which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them, but now you yourselves are to put off all these." Now he gives us a second list. The first list was a list of sensual sins back in verse 5. Now these are sins of hostility, usually in relationships. "But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him."

Any of you were raised in my era when you used to call your dad "the old man"? You ever remember that? So back way back in the 60s, 70s, we used to say, "You know, my old man," and we didn't mean my old me, which is what Paul means, but we meant my dad, "the old man." When Paul uses "the old man," he’s not speaking about your dad; he’s speaking about you. The old you, the old sinful you, the old Skip who I used to be before Christ. I’m to put that off. I’m to put that off just like I reckon myself dead to sin and alive to Christ. I put off the old man and I put on the new man. I have a new nature in Christ. I gotta put one off and put the other on. So take off your grave clothes, put on your grace clothes.

Your grave clothes are all this horrible list or both of these lists that we have read. Your grace clothes, that’s the new you. New appetites, new desires, new activities that you have experienced since you’ve come to Christ. Put off the old man with his deeds and put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him.

Here’s the thing about putting off and putting on. You have to put something away, or put something off, take something off, before you can put something new on. So if you have a job where you work among, let’s say you have a real smelly job, if you work out in the community and you sweat and you are around certain substances that when you come home everybody in your house goes, "Oh my goodness, dad’s home. I can smell it. The door was open and I got the whiff." You wouldn't go through your door in those clothes and just put new clothes over the old clothes. You’d need to put something off before you put something on, right?

But once you put something off, you should always put something on. Now, here’s what I’m getting at. Some Christians have a life of negatives. I don’t do this and I don’t do that, and I stop doing this and I stop doing that, and it’s all what I don’t do. You can’t stop there. There’s certain things you gotta put on that are part of the new nature. Otherwise, you’re just doing a spiritual striptease. You’re a spiritual nudist. "I don’t do this, I don’t do that." What do you do? What do you have on?

You put on the new man. And that new man is like Jesus. And it is, notice in verse 10, "renewed in knowledge." You see, the thing about your new life in Christ, you gotta keep renewing it. You gotta feed the new man. You’re doing that right now. People who don’t just come on a weekend but come on a Wednesday, they’re serious about, you know, it’s been a few days, I need to get back together and fellowship with other believers and sing those songs out loud and make that confession, get prayed for, hear the word of God, participate in that. You get renewed in knowledge. Hosea chapter 4, "My people perish for lack of knowledge." 2 Peter chapter 3, "Grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." So that is how you get renewed. You get renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him.

Let me give you your life in a nutshell. First of all, you were formed. Mankind was formed. That’s creation. God created us in whose image? His own image. He formed you. We were formed in God’s image. But then Adam and Eve sinned. That’s the fall. So after creation, the fall. So we were formed, but now humanity is deformed. The image of God is deformed. It’s marred. We were formed, we were deformed. Third phase: transformed. You came to Christ, transformation, change. New nature. Fourth phase: conformed. We are to be conformed to His image. And that is an ongoing process. Just like putting away, putting on, being renewed is a constant process. So we put away stuff, we put on other things. Formed, deformed, transformed, conformed.

Guest (Female): Thanks for joining us today on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Now, here’s how to pre-order an exciting resource from Pastor Skip that’s coming next month.

Guest (Male): Many Christians want to spend more time in God’s word, but they’re not always sure where to start. That’s why Pastor Skip Heitzig wrote "Soaring Above It All," a one-year devotional that helps you understand the big picture of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation through clear, engaging daily readings. Whether you’re new to scripture or have studied it for years, this devotional will help deepen your understanding of God’s word. Pre-order your copy today wherever books are sold.

Guest (Female): Before we go, remember: Your generosity helps share God’s word with people around the world through clear, verse-by-verse Bible teaching. And this month, when you give $50 or more, we’ll send you "Expound Colossians" as our thanks. In this five-message study, Pastor Skip explores one of the Bible’s clearest pictures of the supremacy of Jesus Christ and shows how being rooted in Him changes the way you live every day. Give today at connectwithskip.com/offer or call 800-922-1888. See you next time on Connect with Skip Heitzig.