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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709. Born Identity: You Are a Saint

The world tends to view saints as people who are rewarded for good behavior. That’s not how God sees it.

While most believers in Christ are being told in no uncertain terms - week after week - that they are nothing but dirty, rotten sinners, we find God identifying you as something quite the opposite… holy. It’s part of the inheritance you have received.



   
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652. Freedom from a Sin Consciousness

“How many here are sinners?” Ask that question in most churches and the vast majority of hands will go up. “How many here are righteous?” Ask that question and you’ll typically see the hands remain on their lap. Why? Empty religion that has mixed the Old and New Covenants has left people with a mistaken identity, frequently trapped in a consciousness of sin… the very thing Jesus came to deliver people from (Hebrews 10). In fact, we have been delivered from the powers of darkness, and guilt and condemnation has been removed forever. We can’t do anything about our own sin problem, but Jesus did — by giving His own life. The reason people fall into condemnation and get confused about their identity is because they have tied it into their behavior and performance, instead of the gift.



   

471. Stop Trying to Be Like Jesus

In Christ, we have a brand new identity. We're no longer "sinners saved by grace," but we're saints who are fully dependent upon God's grace. We've been made new. We're sanctified, holy, righteous, blameless and complete in Him. And while each of these things is true of every single believer, God has also made each of us as unique individuals.

So this week we talk about how we're not trying to be like each other - and we're also not trying to be like Jesus! Rather, while we are in union with Him, we live our daily lives as the unique individuals He has made us to be. Along with this, we talk about two common words that are often used in the church to describe believers, and yet aren't mentioned in the epistles of Paul, Peter, James and John: "disciples" and "followers" of Jesus. Hmmm!


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