908. False Assumptions: "I'm Just a Sinner Saved by Grace"

Christians have been told through religious sources they are identified as sinners saved by grace, which makes sense to most people ... because after all ... everyone has sinned, and all who believe have been saved by grace. But nowhere in new covenant writings are believers in Christ identified as sinners. We have now become a new creation, inheriting the righteousness of God. If we are stuck in a mindset that thinks "I'm just a sinner," we'll abide in that place of defeat, while missing out on the empowerment of God's grace and who we have already been made to be as holy, righteous and perfected people.

Do we still fail? Yes. But our identity is not based upon what we do, but who God has made us to be. Some might try to argue that Paul declared himself the chief of sinners—as if he were bragging about what a bad person he is. It's amazing how a few words can be misunderstood and taken out of context to be twisted into an entire doctrine or mindset which doesn't line up with the gospel message. So we'll take a look at this and how it really compares to the many other places where Paul referred to fellow believers as saints.



   
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174. By the Grace of God I Am What I Am

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Last week we talked about how God has qualified us as His children, and He has qualified us to do all the things we are called to do. It's all by His grace. This week we continue discussing this, and we talk about how in Christ we are complete (Col 2:10) and how the anointing that we have in God abides in us (1 John2:27). It's not up to us to struggle or strive or spend hours in prayer, or spend a certain amount of time meeting with other saints, or in Bible reading in order to become more anointed or to walk in the anointing. Not that any of those things are "bad" in and of themselves, but we rely upon God's grace, not upon those things, in order to live our daily lives in Christ. The Father Himself has already qualified us in every way!

Finally, we take a look at the Apostle Paul's words in 1 Cor 15:10, "by the grace of God I am what I am," and we look at what he meant by those words.