Sinner or Saint?

In this podcast episode, the speaker begins by discussing the difference between being a sinner and being a saint. They explain that a saint is someone who is holy and set apart by God, while a sinner is someone who embraces sin. The speaker emphasizes that as believers, we may still struggle with sin, but that doesn't make us sinners. They argue that our identity has changed when we accepted Christ and we are now saints. The speaker also criticizes the idea of identifying as a sinner, stating that it is a lie from the devil that keeps us from understanding and walking in the victory that God has given us over sin. They back up their points with verses from the Bible. Welcome to CCI Fellowship's podcast. Thank you for joining us. At CCI Fellowship, we are reaching God, reaching each other, and reaching our community. We pray that this week's message challenges you in your walk with the Lord, causes you to grow in your faith, and encourages you in your love for the Word of God. Open your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 15 verse 10. It came to light in a conversation yesterday that apparently our series on 1 Corinthians got continued, because I ended that series and started this one and just went into chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians. Apparently I'm the last one to know that, because that wasn't intentional. But now that it was said, might as well make use of it. So our 12-part series in 1 Corinthians has morphed into a new series, and we're still in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 10, but by the grace of God, I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain. Father, we bless your name, and we thank you. We praise you for your presence here, and Lord, we present ourselves before your throne. Even as we do sometimes with kids, we have them sit on the floor and around a teacher, and we speak to them, well, teachers speak to them. Father, I feel like that this evening, this afternoon, that we are just sitting on the floor in front of your throne, and awaiting what you would teach us through your Holy Spirit. We open our hearts, Lord God, to receive from you. We open our ears, Lord God, to hear the voice of the Spirit, and what He would speak to us, and we open our eyes, Lord, with a willingness to see what we have not seen before. To see, Lord God, verses that we have looked at before, but perhaps have not understood them in this manner. Father, I pray that you would work a work in us tonight, and even throughout this series, that we would be absolutely convinced, not because of intellectual assent, Lord God, but because of revelations that has captured our hearts, Father, that we would be absolutely convinced of who we are in you, and that, Father, there would indeed be a change in us as a result of that. That we would continue to grow in reflecting the image of Christ, that we would continue to develop, Lord God, so that others can see you in us. Father, we praise you, in Jesus' name, amen. So the message tonight is entitled, with this question, Am I a sinner, or am I a saint? Am I a sinner, or am I a saint? A saint, in scripture, is defined as one who is holy, sacred, set apart by, or for, God. So when you hear the word saint, what do you think? Some people would, of course, think, in the Catholic sense, a saint is somebody who has died, has, during their lifetime, accomplished a certain amount of things, or miracles that have been done through them. They're the status that you have to attain to become a saint. But the definition has nothing to do with what we do. The definition of a saint is not based on our actions. It's not based on what we accomplish. It's not even based on how we can change our thoughts and change our actions, change our way of life to conform to this or to that. It has nothing to do with that. It has all to do with the work of Christ and what God has established. A saint is one who is holy, one who is sacred, one who is set apart by God and for God. It's the likeness of nature with the Lord and being different from the world. Scripture says, come out from among them and be separate. Be in the world, but not of the world. We are supposed to look different. We are supposed to act different. In Ephesians 2.19 it says, now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. There's a change that happens. There's a change in location. There's a change in citizenship. There is a change in identity. You are now fellow citizens with the saints. That's with all the other saints and members of the household of God. Now, a sinner is defined in scripture as one who is sinful, one who is sinning, one who is depraved and detestable. One who is sinful, sinning, depraved, detestable. It's one who loses because of missing the mark. One who blatantly sins. Now, as saints, as people of God, do we still struggle with sin? Absolutely. Absolutely. But that does not make us sinners. A sinner is one who embraces sin. There's no striving in a sinner to not be sinful. They may say, well, I'm just trying to be a better person. Okay, that's one thing, but you're still a sinner without Christ. One who blatantly sins. One who has not surrendered themselves to Christ. And scripture gives us a clear differentiation between these two. In Romans 3.23 it says, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But that doesn't mean we have to stay there. So do you know which one you are? Which one do you want to be? I've said before from standing in front of this congregation that I don't ever want to hear somebody say, I'm just a sinner. We're all just sinners. And I haven't heard people say that, so I don't know if they're just doing that because I said don't say it, or it actually came to the revelation that they're not sinners, but saints. And we're going to look at some of the differences regarding sinners and saints that scripture gives us. When I was growing up, there was this guy that would come to our church and he had songs. He was a singer, and one of his songs, it was a very catchy tune, but the song started out this way. I'm just a sinner saved by grace. But when I came to the realization that that's not true, I was like, well, that's a stupid song. That's bad teaching. That's not scriptural. That's not conforming to what scripture says about who we are. We are not just sinners saved by grace. We were at an evangelism training a couple years ago, and the person that got up and gave the training handed out all of the notes, and they said, you know, when you're talking to somebody, start out and say, you know, we're all just sinners. Well, why would we tell them that? If you are looking for something in your life to change, why would you go have somebody come up to you and say, I'm just like you? Okay, well, you can't help me. I'm not looking for somebody that's just like me. I'm looking for somebody that's different than me because me is not working. So if somebody comes up to me and says, I'm just like you, nothing's different. I just believe what the Bible says, but you know, I'm just like you. There's no hope in that. There's no, there's no victory in that. There's no chance of moving beyond where you are. Well, there's this mentality among believers that that's just being humble. Let me tell you that that type of humility is a lie, and it is a trap from the devil to keep you stationary and not understanding who God has made you and walking in the victory that he has given you over sin. Are you with me? For those who have accepted Christ, I trust that everyone in here has accepted Christ. Amen. So at one point, we were sinners. We were born in sin. We were born in the image and likeness of Adam. We've already talked about that. So we were born with a sin nature. Before we even were able to commit a sin, we were still sinners. That's the identity we were born with. So we were born sinners. We came to this understanding that we needed a Savior, and so then we were saved by grace. And now that we have been saved by grace, we are no longer sinners. We are now saints. Knowing what it was like to be on the side of the sinners, knowing what it was like to have that identity as a sinner, but now we have come into this kingdom. Our citizenship has changed. The name of who we are has changed. There has been something new that has happened. The old has passed away, as Scripture says, so the old identity has passed away. All things have become new, meaning your identity has become new. We are saints. Romans 5, let's turn there. Romans 5, verse 8-10. I need a Bible with bigger prints in order to figure out which part of my glasses to look through. 8-10. But God demonstrated his own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, one version says in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. While we were yet sinners, just the grammatic way that that sentence is structured necessitates that there was a change that happened. While we were yet sinners, meaning that we no longer are. There's a difference in that identity. We cannot, it is not possible to align with scripture and maintain the mentality that we are sinners. You just can't. We are saints. We are saints that are in the process of sanctification. We are saints that are striving against sin. We are saints that really do understand what Paul says in Romans 7, that the good that I want to do, I don't do. The good, the bad that I don't want to do, that's what I do. The do good dwells within me, but also my actions are having trouble. And elsewhere Paul says, that's why I crucify my flesh daily. I bring it under discipline. There's that process. But you see, somebody that is a sinner is not in that process. They're just happy and content with the way they are. They may not be content with life. They may be desiring something more and that's where that door of opportunity is open to say, hey, there's something more. There's a different identity available to you. You don't have to continue living this way. That's why it's important that we don't go up to somebody and say, you know, we're all just sinners, but we're not. Last week I mentioned about the letters of the New Testament being written to the saints, that they weren't written to unbelievers, they weren't written to sinners. And I want to look at a few of those verses so that you see how these letters are written. Romans 1, verse 1 and 7, Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God. Remember we said the definition of the saint is one who has been separated as holy to God. So Paul says, I am separated to the gospel of God. To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints, as the version says, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, when you go back to the Greek, you see that to be is in italics. Whenever you see that in your Bible, those words are added supposedly for clarity, not necessarily in the original text. So if we read it based on the original text, it says to all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called saints. Not called to be, one day you might attain to it, called saints. First Corinthians 1, verse 1 and 2, Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God and Sosthenes, our brother, to the church of God, which is at Corinth, To those who are in Christ, called saints. With all who are in every place, called on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours. This is another place where those words are added to be, but it is called saints. Second Corinthians 1, verse 1 and 2, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, you get a pattern here, by the will of God and Timothy, our brother, to the church of God, which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are all in Achaia. Ephesians 1, verse 1, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and faithful in Christ Jesus. Jude, verse 3, so not a Pauline epistle, I'll give you another example that's not from Paul. Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. These letters weren't written and delivered to a group of unbelievers. The Bible means nothing to anyone who doesn't believe in it. It's a good doorstop, a paperweight, whatever. If you don't believe what's in it, it really has no value to you. So a sinner is not going to value the word of God, but a saint to whom it was actually written. This book is life. This book is freedom. This book is deliverance. This book is intimacy with God. This book is our lifeline to teach us about this identity that we have been given. So when we read these letters, I challenge you to read them with that understanding that this is written to a believer, and it really changes the perspective. When you read it from that understanding, then if you're reading it as somebody who doesn't believe in the first place, pay attention as you read and see. I gave you an example that Romans 9 and 10 says, if you believe that Christ is the Son of God and that God raised Him from the dead, if you believe that in your heart and confess with your mouth, you will be saved. Well, Paul's not writing that to people who aren't saved. He's writing it to people who already are saved. So what does he mean, will be saved? Well, that's what we've talked about in the past couple weeks. And if you missed those, go back to audio.com, CCI Fellowship, and listen to previous messages so that you can understand that. That we have been saved. We are being saved. And we will be saved. But that doesn't change the fact that we are saints. We are not sinners. Well, you know, I just, I don't want anyone to think that I'm better than them. Newsflash, you are better than them. What makes you better is not you. What makes you better is that your name is in the Lamb's Book of Life. Well, I don't want to seem arrogant. It's not arrogant. You are written down in God's book. You are in a better place already. Ephesians 2 says that He saved us and seated us in heavenly places. We're already there. You are better than sinners. Are you better behaved than sinners? Well, maybe not. But as a saint, we are better than them. Therefore we should behave better than them. Because we have the words of life living inside of us. Jesus told, talking to his big group of disciples, and he says, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no part in the kingdom. And a grand majority of them said, that's gross, peace out. And he looked at his twelve and he said, are you guys going to leave me too? And Peter said, where else would we go? You're the only one that has the words of life. Where else are people going to go than to us? We possess the words of life. We possess the message of life. The word of life himself dwells within us. And the word of life is not going to inhabit and leave the same someone who is a sinner. He's going to come in, he's going to clean the house and he's going to put up a new sign. New ownership. The guy that used to live here doesn't live here anymore. Somebody new lives here. Well, it kind of looks like the same person, yeah, but he's completely different. He's a saint now, she's a saint now. And from that place, when the devil comes back and he's trying to move things back in that have been kicked out and washed out by the Holy Spirit, and he'd be like, well, you know, I put this here before this, this goes on the mantle. We can say, nope, this is not your residence anymore. I am not your house. I'm a saint and the Spirit of God lives in me. So what does the New Testament say about saints and sinners? First John five, verse 14 and 15. Now this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of him. But of sinners, the New Testament says this in John chapter nine, verse 30 and 31. The man answered and said to them, why this is a marvelous thing that you do not know where he is from, yet he has opened my eyes. Now we know that God does not hear sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, he hears them. A sinner is not going to do the will of God. A very hard verse that Jesus said, many will come to me in that day saying, Lord, Lord, you have done all of these things in your name, and he is going to say to them, depart from me. I never knew you, you who do not do the will of my Father. Sinners and saints. Obviously God hears the prayer of a sinner for salvation. But the difference between a sinner and a saint is that a saint can boldly go to the throne of grace and find help and mercy. A sinner comes to the throne of God trembling, and I do not know if you are going to hear me. How many times do we see in movies, God, I do not really know if you are there. I do not really know if you exist, but if you do, but you see a saint can say with confidence, I know you exist, and I know you hear me, and if you hear me, then I know that you are going to answer the things that I am praying for. I know that I am going to find help. I know that you are not going to reject me as I come to your throne. You can come to him in confidence. In Revelation 19, 6-8, it says this about saints, And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters, and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, Hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready. And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous act of the saints. Your very work for God is turned into the bridal gown of the church for that day of this great wedding, when Christ marries his bride. But of sinners, it says in Jude 1, 14 and 15, Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousand of his saints to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. Now, do you catch a theme in these verses? Do you see the relationship between sinners and ungodly? How can we still say that we are sinners? Well, Pastor, you said that we were saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved. There's things that are true at the same time. There are. And what is true in this case is that we are saints, and when we sin, we are acting like sinners. If that doesn't change who we are, whether we live up to who we are or not, well, that's too much pressure. I can't do that. How am I supposed to live up to that? Because you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you. Because the power of God resides in you, so you don't have to do what your sinful flesh craves. In the Old Testament, in Psalm 37 verse 28, for the Lord loves justice and does not forsake his saints. They are preserved forever, but the descendant of the wicked shall be cut off. I wouldn't have even had to choose another verse that has both of them in there. The Lord loves justice and does not forsake his saints. Which one are you? Which one do you want to be? Just by this verse, I definitely want to be a saint, not a sinner. They are preserved forever, but the descendants of the wicked shall be cut off. In Isaiah 1 verse 28, the destruction of transgressors and of sinners shall be together, and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed. Even under the Old Covenant, even in the Old Testament, God's people were called saints. The distinction is made throughout the Old Testament between God's saints and sinners. Even the world knows what a sinner is. We went to the movies on Friday and there was a preview for a new movie that's coming out, a terrible looking movie, and the title of the movie is Sinners. That should tell us all we need to know, that we are different. We are meant to be different. We are meant to act different. We are meant to live differently. But the wonderful thing about the grace of God is that he sustains us through the whole process of sanctification. And if it were not for his mercy, we would be consumed. Because though we are saints, we still have some behavior modification to work on in this process of being made holy. So it shouldn't bring to us a pressure of, man, I don't know if I can live up to this. I don't know if I can do this. I don't know. Yeah, well, you can't in yourself. But the same spirit that raised Christ Jesus from the dead, Romans 8 says, dwells in you. And he'll bring life to you. And he'll transform you. The people in the Old Testament, let me tell you, they excelled at sinning. In fact, one of God's judgments against them, he describes their sin and he says, you guys sinned to such a level that even the pagans didn't do what you did. They were experts at sinning. But yet God still referred to them as his people. And he still referred to them as his saints. So this shows us that our identity is not based on our actions, on our actions, but based on God's determination. Obviously we don't keep on sinning. Romans chapter six, verse one through four. I love how Paul asks questions and then says, he basically sets them up. And in King James, it says, God forbid. What shall we say then? Shall we continue to sin that grace may abound? Certainly not. How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? How shall we who have been changed from the darkness of the world to the kingdom of light, who have been changed from sinners to saints, who have been given new names, who have been given new spirits, who have been given the process of a new soul, who will one day have a new body. How shall we continue to live in the corruption of sin if we have died to it? Why would we choose to blatantly sin? Why would we choose to live as sinners if we have been made saints? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Even so we also should walk in newness of life. Not embracing the old life simply because God's grace is amazing. Not taking advantage of God's grace as has become quite a popular teaching in the church. Oh well, God's grace covers everything, don't worry about it. As long as you believe that Christ is God's son, you'll be fine, as long as you've prayed that prayer of salvation, you don't have to change, you can be like you were. Live life and more life. The reason God sent his son was because what we were was not good. He didn't send his son to die on the cross for us so that we could remain as we were. He sent him and received us as we were so that he could transform us into something else. Because he loves us too much to leave us the way that we were. So which life is it that you want to walk in? As the great theologian Catherine Matica said a couple weeks ago, calling yourself a sinner is like crossing the threshold into God's house, leaving the door open for the devil to attack you. We were driving home from church the one night, wasn't it? But it was a weeknight, I don't remember what was going on, anyway. We were here, we were driving home, she called Catherine, and that night in their meetings they were talking about identity also, and talking about sinners and saints. She popped out with this, just nonchalantly, and I was like, Catherine, that's really good, I'm going to use that. And she said, as long as you give me credit, so I'm giving my daughter full credit. Calling yourself a sinner is like crossing the threshold into God's house and leaving the door open for the devil to attack you. You don't have to give in to his attacks. You live in a different place. You live in a place of victory. You live in a place of overcoming. You live in a place of wholeness. You live in a place of joy. You live in a place of deliverance. So don't let the devil in. Even scripture says, don't give place to the devil. It also says, do not give place to the works of the flesh. Romans 8 says, if you buy the spirit, put to death the deeds of the flesh. It tells us that, no, we can't do it in and of ourselves. But by the spirit, we can do anything. We can do anything. So I encourage you to start seeing yourself as a saint and no longer to call yourself a sinner. You were a sinner. We were all sinners. Salvation by grace absolutely changed that. We're to walk in newness of life. So as the worship theme comes, the last slide is this, to be continued. Why? Because there are two verses in the New Testament that the word sinner is used in reference to a believer. I don't want anyone in their skeptical or critical mind to be confused by these two verses and say, well, no, that's not true. So we're going to look at those two verses next week. Obviously, I'm out of time, so we can't look at them today, but we'll look at them as I've been saying lately in the full counsel of scripture and understand them as we are to understand them. You are a saint, not a sinner. So let's live like that. Let's embrace that. Let's allow the Holy Spirit to sanctify us and continue to make us holy in him. Amen? Don't miss next week. Let's stand together. Father, we bless you and we thank you. Help us, Lord God, to understand who we are in you. That even as you said of David, a man who we know to have sinned what we considered great sins, yet you said of him, he's a man after my own heart. Father, because of Jesus, you look at us and you say the same thing because you don't see our old self. You don't see ourselves that is in the process of sanctification. You see, Jesus, may we have hearts that are after you that embrace who you have said we are. May we grow closer to you. May we be used greater as your instruments of righteousness to tell others there's a different way available to you. There's a different life than the one that you're living, that you would use us to bring peace to a world who is in such conflict. Lord, we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for listening to this week's podcast. If you are ever in the Tegucigalpa area and looking for an English-speaking congregation, please join us on Sunday afternoons at 4 p.m. in Auditorium 2 of Iglesia Cesei in Colonia El Trapiche, just off Boulevard Ciapa near Una. If you'd like prayer or more information about our church, contact us at fellowship.cci at gmail.com. That's fellowship.cci at gmail.com. Or follow us on social media. We hope to hear from you soon. Bye.