A Saving Phrase

But God
By Skip Heitzig


A while back, there was a family that was on the verge of losing their home, and they were saved by Superman. Well, kind of. The bank was ready to foreclose on them, and as they were packing up their belongings they found some old comic books in the basement. Among them was a copy of Action Comics #1, the first appearance of Superman, valued at over a quarter of a million dollars!


Serious as their situation was, your situation before you knew Christ as your Savior was much worse. Ephesians 2 says we were dead in trespasses and sins, and it calls us “by nature children of wrath.” It’s not that we are sinners because we sin. We sin because we’re sinners. It’s our nature. Self-help won’t change it, or education, or religion.


Verse 4 is where it gets good. The situation goes from dark to light with two words: “But God.” If you haven’t underlined or circled those words in your Bible like I have, do that. Those are some of the most sublime, eloquent, and inspirational words in all of literature. Verses 1-3 show how hopeless you were before Christ. You were dead on arrival! But then God stepped in.


Those two words change everything, don’t they? In Romans 5:7-8 Paul says, “Scarcely for a righteous man will one die... But God demonstrates His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Joseph told his brothers, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (Genesis 50:20). “But God” changes everything.


Start inserting that into your situation this week. My finances are in the pits. “But God.” I’m struggling with this or that issue in my life. “But God.” My relationship is really tough. “But God.” Focus on that, and don’t settle for anything less.


Notice that God is rich in mercy (v. 4). Mercy and grace are all over the Word of God, because He happens to be wealthy in both of those commodities. And aren’t you glad? Because He has lavished His mercy, His grace, His favor upon you, and He has adopted you as His child.


Allow me to paraphrase verse 7. You’re saved, you’re going to heaven. But that’s just the beginning. It will take God all of eternity to fully reveal and show to you the extent of his love and the exceeding riches He has for you.


It would be nice to find that priceless item in your house that would set you up for life. But it’s my prayer that you would see your wealth as a believer, what you have, who you are, and where you are in Christ. You were dead. “But God.”


Copyright © 2011 by Connection Communications. All rights reserved.

I Pick Slavery.

Another Word for Freedom

By Skip Heitzig

There is a popular song by Kris Kristofferson called “Me and Bobby McGee.” In it, there’s a line, “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.” Some have said that means that when you’ve lost everything, that’s freedom.


We have a skewed view of freedom. People say they want freedom, but sometimes freedom is another word for enslavement. People say, “I want to be free from guilt in my life. I want to be free from God. I want freedom from any moral laws.” They call that freedom.
But the more of that kind of freedom you have, the more enslaved you will become. The more you do as you please, the less you will be pleased with what you do. That’s a law you can live by. If you live to please yourself, you will not be pleased with yourself. Your life will go nowhere.


In the ‘60s the slogans were “Do your own thing,” “If it feels good, do it,” “Different strokes for different folks.” All that moral relativism has seeped into the bloodstream of our culture and wreaked havoc. It sounds good and tolerant, but it has caused devastating effects. The “freedom” to experiment with sex has caused millions of unwanted pregnancies and an untold number of abortions. “Freedom” to experiment with drugs costs society $40 billion a year. All these things promise freedom but create bondage.


Romans 6:16 says, “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?” If you live to please the Lord you will have joy, contentment and satisfaction that you can’t imagine, even in the worst of times. Freedom is being a slave of Jesus Christ. Those who are sold out to Jesus Christ become the freest people on the face of the earth.


You could say, “I don’t want to be anybody’s slave!” Well, too late; you already are! Bob Dylan put it this way years ago: “You’ve gotta serve somebody.” It’s true. And if you say “I’m not a slave to anyone else,” then you’re a slave to yourself and your own pleasure, and you’re in bondage. “But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life” (Romans 6:22).


So, as we celebrate our nation’s freedom, I want to remind you that true freedom is becoming a slave of Jesus Christ and that “Whoever the Son sets free is free indeed” (see John 8:36).

Good Friday

Extreme
By Skip Heitzig


The world looks at Christians celebrating death on Good Friday, and they can’t figure it out. They say, “That is so extreme! Why, before God could forgive people, would He require the death of His Son? Why wouldn’t He simply, benevolently, forgive people’s sin? If I did something against you, you would just forgive me. Why can’t God do that?”


But that kind of questioning betrays a sort of ignorance that is two-fold. One is of how heinous our sin is, and the other is of how great and holy our God is.


Nobody speaks of sin anymore. In fact, sin has almost disappeared from the American vocabulary. We speak of “problems” or “hangups” or “issues.” It’s called a “sickness” or it’s called someone else’s fault. But the Bible says very plainly that if we say we have no sin, we are liars (1 John 1:8).


How serious is it? Paul said, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). We sin because it’s our nature. “Through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). And we sin by choice. Every day we commit individual acts that are an affront to God.


They are an affront because God is absolutely holy. You see, holy God is wholly incompatible with sin and unrighteousness. “You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness” (Habakkuk 1:13). “Your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you” (Isaiah 59:2).


Perfect, holy God cannot coexist with sinful man. And because of that, we’re separated, we’re lost. So one of two things must happen. Either holy God must destroy unholiness, or holy God must declare that which is unholy, holy.


And that takes us to the cross. Jesus lived the perfect life that we could never live, and then took all our sins on Himself. So effectively, God said, “I’ll take the rap. I’ll take all of your wickedness and evil and I’ll put it on Myself so that when I die on the cross, it’s finished, once and for all.”


The cross is the only place that God will meet with mankind. The cross is the only place where both God’s mercy and God’s justice could meet. How can God be a God of love and a God of justice at the same time? How can holy, perfect God meet with sinful, rebellious man? Only at the cross. He came, He took our punishment, and then He declared you and me righteous because of it.




Copyright © 2011 by Connection Communications. All rights reserved.

My Redeemer!

Redeemer
By Skip Heitzig

Access to Christ the Redeemer was cut off last year. I’m talking about the famous landmark in Brazil that towers over the city of Rio de Janeiro. You’ve all seen pictures of it, a huge, 130-foot-tall statue of Jesus with arms outstretched on the top of a mountain. It’s been there since 1931, and two million tourists visit it annually. But last year Brazil experienced the heaviest rain in decades, resulting in landslides that blocked the roads leading to it. It took months to clear away the debris.

Back in the Garden of Eden, man’s access to God was cut off when Adam and Eve sinned. After that, man could only approach God through an elaborate system of sacrifices. Hebrews 9:22 reminds us that “without shedding of blood there is no remission” of sins.

But God had a permanent solution to the problem of sin, and that was to provide the sacrifice Himself. Jesus Christ, His only Son, took on all of our sins and died in our place. “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). The sacrifice of Jesus cleared the way and provided our access to the Father. Using the analogy of the Christ the Redeemer landmark, it’s as though that statue leaned over and used its huge hands to scoop away the mud and debris on the roads so that people could come.

The word “redeem” means to “buy back.” In the Bible it speaks of someone going to a slave market and purchasing a slave in order to set him free. That’s what Jesus Christ did for us.

Jesus, our Redeemer, is my favorite subject. And that should be the emphasis of every believer and every church: Jesus Christ, crucified, risen from the dead, coming again. I like talking about Him so much because He saved me. He redeemed me by paying a debt that I could never pay. I owe so very much to Him, and so talking about Him is something I plan to do until my dying breath.

Somebody said that the reason people have trouble being obedient to Jesus Christ is they have trouble taking commands from a stranger. A lot of people know a lot about Jesus Christ, but they don’t know Him. They know His address, so to speak, but they’ve never personally come into contact with Him.

So come to Jesus Christ. He’s not a huge statue on a mountaintop or in a church. He’s the Son of God, who can take away the mud and debris in your life, your sin. Let Him be your Redeemer.

Prove It! By: Skip Heitzig

Have you ever heard people say, “The God of the Old Testament is a God of hatred and vengeance, and the God of the New Testament is a God of love”? When I hear that, I want to ask, “Have you ever read it?”

In the final book of the Old Testament, God’s last words to His people (prior to sending His Son) are “I love you.” Look at Malachi 1:2. “‘I have loved you,’ says the LORD. Yet you say, ‘In what way have You loved us?’” God is saying, “Don’t you know? I love you!” And they’re arguing, “Prove it!”

This was the root of all of Israel’s problems, the failure to believe in the love of God. Actually, I think that’s perhaps the root of all our problems, too. In the garden, Satan suggested to Eve  that she doubt God’s love. She said, “We can eat of every tree, but we can’t eat of that tree. That’s what God said.” Satan said, “Really? Did God say that?” Then he said, “Look, God knows that in the day you eat thereof, your eyes will be opened. You’re going to be just like God!” So now a seed is planted in her heart, as if to question God and say, “Hmm... Why would God hide that from me? He must not love me.” In questioning the love of God, Adam and Eve fell.

Satan wants you to feel neglected by God. And that is why in your darkest hour he’ll come to you and say, “Look at you in your tough situation! You’ve been praying, and God hasn’t answered you! He must not love you as much as He loves those other people, because He’s answered their prayers! But not yours!” And the natural reaction is to say, “Yeah, that’s right!”

That’s why Jude said, “Keep yourselves in the love of God” (v. 21). How do you do that? Get the truth about God from the Word of God, not from your feelings. And you can find the love of God in the Old Testament as well as in the New Testament. It’s everywhere. Here’s one verse: “The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: ‘Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you’” (Jeremiah 31:3). Here’s another: “The Lord your God loves you” (Deuteronomy 23:5).

Again and again, God is described as “abounding in love.” It’s in Exodus, it’s in Nehemiah and the Psalms. “But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness” (Psalm 86:15).

And that’s only a smattering. When you look for the love of God, you’ll find it everywhere. The God of the Old Testament is the God of the New Testament. And He’s a God of love. He’s proved it!

A Valentine's Devotional

The Evidence 

WRITTEN BY SKIP HEIZTIG

A while back, a letter written by Abraham Lincoln to a schoolboy was sold to a collector for $60,000. Here's the story: When Lincoln was running for president in 1860, journalist James Patten interviewed him. Patten took his eight-year-old son George along. But later, when George told his classmates he had met Lincoln, they didn't believe him and they mocked him. The teacher finally wrote the president, and Lincoln responded: "Whom it may concern: I did see and talk with Master George Evans Patten, last May, at Springfield, Illinois. Respectfully, A. Lincoln." The boy had evidence he could show to anybody who doubted him, and that settled the matter.


In Exodus 3 and 4, Moses experienced a much bigger meeting, with God Himself. But Moses anticipated that the Hebrews might not believe him, and he said, "But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, 'The Lord has not appeared to you'" (4:1). So God gave Moses some miraculous signs to convince anyone who was doubtful.


Those of us who have accepted Jesus Christ as Savior have also had a meeting with God. But what do we have as evidence that we can show the world? Jesus told His disciples, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:34-35).


How else will people know that we're really disciples of Jesus Christ? By the bumper sticker on your truck? The Christian slogan on your t-shirt? The big Bible you carry? The cross necklace you wear? You know what? If you wear a cross without having love in their heart, you dishonor the cross!


You could say, "They'll know I'm a Christian because of my dizzying intellect, and my knowledge of theology and apologetics." But people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. They want to know that you love. That's the mark of being a Christian. Simply put, the more spiritual you are, the more loving you are.


So love is the dividing line. And it's not even love for the world that Jesus speaks of. He says if we can just love each other, that'll be enough for the world to understand. Isn't that amazing?
"We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren" (1 John 3:14). People may hear that you are His disciple, but they will know it when you love.


Copyright © 2011 by Connection Communications. All rights reserved.