My sincere wish is that it will change they way you see yourself forever!
So often you will hear Christians say, "I am but a sinner." Well, I am happy to say to you today:
"YOU ARE WRONG...YOU ARE IN FACT A SAINT!"
Oh I can just see some reading this catching their breath and feeling very uneasy! A saved sinner...yes, but a SAINT...that's a bit arrogant, that's stretching it a bit far, is it not? Because what about my sin...for yes...no Christian can claim that they are without sin, can they? And right here is the dilemma that hinders so many to let go of the identity of a 'sinner' and claim the identity of a 'saint'.
I don't want to beat around the bush today. I want to jump right to Romans 5 because Romans 5:6-11 speaks of us...of Christians. It uses three mighty words to describe us and I want us to have a closer look at them. These words are 'ungodly', 'sinners' and 'enemies'. Let me point out that as described in Romans 5 you cannot be one of these without being the other. If you identify with being a sinner you are also identifying with being ungodly and being an enemy. So, without further ado, allow me to show you the meaning of the original Greek words translated as 'ungodly', 'sinners' and 'enemies' as explained by Strong's concordance with Greek and Hebrew lexicon:
Ungodly - 'asebes' - destitute of reverential awe towards God, condemning God, impious, wicked, bad and immoral.
Sinners - hamartolos - pre-eminently sinful, especially wicked, devoted to sin.
Enemies - echthros- hateful, hostile, hating and opposing.
Oh I hope you are beginning to see light!!! While you might have been thinking that you are showing humility by saying that "I am a mere sinner saved by grace" you were in fact contradicting yourself in the worst way. What you were in fact and at the very least saying was: "I am merely a person who is devoted to sin, especially wicked, pre-eminently sinful and saved by grace." And if you take the identity further as explained in Romans 5 you were in fact saying, "I am merely a person who have no respectful awe towards God but condemns Him. I am bad and immoral, devoted to sin, hateful and opposing of God...but saved by grace."
Is there any truth in the above? Yes, of course. Is this the whole truth? No, of course not. If we stop right here and adopt this sinner-identity we are living a half truth. Take another good look at Romans 5 verses 6,8 and 10 containing the above three words of darkness.
Do you see it?
IT IS WRITTEN IN THE PAST TENSE.
"When we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly."
"While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
"...when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled..."
Show me the bride who walks down the isle hating her husband-to-be, being devoted to all that he hates...why, that is no bride at all!
Dear friend, we all come from that place of hate and opposition regarding God and we are born in a state of wickedness and sinfulness. David said it in Psalm 51:5, "Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me." Yet, if you are a Christian, something has changed. You have been reborn of the Spirit. You are a new creation. You are not that sinner anymore! You are not of the first fallen Adam any more. You are now reborn of the second Adam. Surely now you can no longer relate to descriptions such as we saw in the original meanings of the words 'ungodly', 'sinners' and 'enemies'? As I also quoted him in my book, "Bride Adorned", Matthew Henry said it such:
"...the man who formerly saw no beauty in the Saviour that he should desire him, now loves him above all things."
This certainly is a description we can relate to, isn't it? We dearly love our Lord Jesus, don't we? Yes! Can you see how this differ from the definition of a sinner? We simply can't love Jesus and call ourselves sinners!!
I know...we still struggle with sin. And because we struggle with sin and we don't know where to put this in the equation, we wrongly hang on to the definition of 'sinner'.
Look at what Peter wrote in his first letter: "Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from the sinful desires, which war against your soul." (1 Peter 2:11) To whom did Peter write this letter? To the ungodly sinners and enemies of God living in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia? No, he wrote his letter to "God's elect..." And so also Paul and James wrote their letters, wherein they urge the readers thereof to let go of their sinful acts, to the 'churches' and the 'saints'.
So how can it be that the church, the saints, the Christians...the bride of Christ still struggle with sin??? Did Christ not redeem us? Yes! He gave us His Spirit and we were reborn. We were born of the Spirit who restores in us the image of God, teaches us God's ways and guides us on our journey. Where once we were enemies of God and happy in our sinful flesh, we now love God and are engaged in a war against our sinful flesh. For the truth is that the sinful self has not disappeared...he is living in my flesh...but I am not bound to him anymore...I can resist him and submit to the Spirit in me. If the sinful self has evaporated when I was reborn...why then did Paul find it necessary to tell us to "put to death...whatever belongs to your earthly nature..." and to take "off your old self with its practices" and to "put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator"?
Dear friend, you and I are not sinners any more. We love God. We agree with Him on what is righteous and good and holy. And we are on a journey where more and more we are being transformed into His likeness. We do no longer think that the sinful desires of our flesh are good and holy. On the contrary, we are now in a battle against the sinful desires of our flesh. Shortly put, we agree with God on what is sin and what is righteous according to His Word. We do not determine these things according to our own ideas and opinions anymore. We follow God and deny ourselves. We do not deliberately continue to sin. We submit to the will of God.
Jesus did not battle against a sinful nature, but He also had to deny Himself and submit to the will of the Father. In the Garden of Gethsemane He prayed, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." And being in anguish, He prayed more earnestly and His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.
"If it was a battle for our Lord, it is a battle for us. Yes, we are a new creation in Christ, but as long as we are alive in our earthly bodies, our choice to follow Him and submit our own will to that of God will have to be deliberate and it will be strongly opposed by our sinful nature. It is a fight until the end." (from 'Bride Adorned')
You and I are now saints. We are a saintly bride of Christ.
Do you know what the meaning of the word 'saint' is?
The original Greek word, 'hagios' means 'a most holy thing'
And we know what 'holy' means don't we...it means separated and consecrated unto God.
I don't know about you but, now knowing the full meaning of the word 'sinner', rather than saying I am but a mere sinner saved by grace, I would much rather embrace my new true identity:
"I am a saint, saved by grace, loving of God and Jesus Christ my Lord and ever striving to walk by His Spirit."
Lots of love to all the saints in Jesus Christ.
Lize
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