Show me someone who says “Christians are not sinners” and I’ll show you an idiot! But Show me someone who says “Christians are all saints” and I’ll show you someone who knows their Bible better than most!
If you are in Christ you are a saint. What do I mean by “saint?” I am not using that word in the way that the Catholic Church uses it, as a title of reverence given to some in the history of the church such as St. Anselm, St. Thomas Aquinas, or St. Patrick. Saint is a biblical word. It occurs 97 times, 34 times in the OT and 63 times in the NT. The Hebrew and Greek words that are translated as saints mean “holy ones.” So when I say that all Christians are saints, I mean that all Christians are people who God looks at and relates to as holy. They are holy in two ways: that they have been called apart from the world to be His, and that they share God’s holy character.
God no longer relates the Christian as a sinner deserving judgment, but as a saint, as a son or daughter whom He loves, in whom He sees no sin at all. That is a strong statement. And I am convinced it is a true statement. Let me give you three reasons why.
God does not listen to sinners. John 9:31 (NIV) We know that God does not listen to sinners. But is that true of you Christian? Has not the Father promised to listen to your prayers and to answer them? Did Christ not say in Matthew 7:7-11 (NIV)
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
God cannot look at evil without punishing it. Habakkuk 1:13 (NIV) Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing. But is that true of you Christian? Did not Paul say in Romans 8:1 (NIV) that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus? And in Romans 8:33-34 (NIV)
Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
God does not love those who do evil. Psalms 5:4 (NIV) For you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness; with you, evil people are not welcome. Does God not look at you, and with great love, and with great care? Did not Jesus say in John 16:27 (NIV) the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God? Did Paul not say in Colossians 3:12 (NIV) that we are God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved?
God does not listen to sinners, He cannot look at evil without punishing it, and He does not love those who are evil. But, Christian, He listens to you, He sees no reason to condemn you, and loves you no less than He does his own son. He does not see you today as a sinner, he sees you as a saint.
Learning To Be Full Of Grace And Truth. 