A case of mistaken identity

Who are you? A sinner or a saint? Surely if you’ve trusted in Christ as your savior, you may be more aware of your sins and unworthiness than ever. Moreover, so often our battle to possess our birthright seems to be a losing proposition. So often we hear the words, “I am such a sinner.” We may praise God for His forgiveness of our sins, but what about our condition that still causes us to sin? If we are to be honest before God, how dare we claim to be saints? Think about it.

Every born-again believer should appreciate what has been called “positional truth,” that is, how God sees us who have trusted our life to Christ and His work on the cross. Sadly, many fail to appropriate here and now the blessings God declares to be true. Rather than looking upon ourselves as sinners, we need to see that we are saints (no matter how many warts we have). Our problem keeping us from enjoying the full blessings of our sanctification is the same one we encountered before being saved--focusing on ourselves rather than on what God declares to be true. Three reasons come to mind.

1. Our preconceptions of sainthood may be wrong. Contrary to religious notions, nowhere does the Bible say saints are perfect in themselves, that by their good works they are worthy of their title. The world judges by outward appearances while God judges the intentions of the heart. Indeed, to be a saint is to admit a sin nature, to confess that we have no righteousness other than that which God attributes for our trusting Christ. Even the apostle Paul confessed that, naturally speaking, nothing good dwelled in him (Rom. 7:18).  As a saint matures, his life will increasingly reflect the nature of Christ; but that is the outcome of being a saint, not the condition for it. A saint is only a dependent vessel in which God’s spirit can dwell to will and do His good pleasure.

2. We trust in our experiences, emotions, and limited understanding rather than relying on faith alone. When the Devil points to our sins, we need to remember they are forgiven sins.

3. Finally, our problem may be a faulty understanding of our very nature. Paul prayed to God that, “our whole spirit, and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Thess. 5:23). We are indeed new creations blessed with a spirit we had never known before coming to Christ. However, nowhere does scripture say we have been given a new soul or body. Certainly our present bodies have no eternal life but are destined to die. Concerning our souls, that is, our natural intellectual/emotional outlook, Romans 12:2 advises us to "...not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."  Surely this is where the battle is joined--to make real in our understanding and experience what God declares. How? By becoming familiar with scripture and heeding its advice. We are urged to “walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” The Bible is full of promises that God will patiently wean us from our natural self-centered behavior to an increasing spiritual dependency to rest our thoughts and actions on God’s word.  Quite apart from any efforts of our own, God will in His own time and way bring us into an increasing foretaste of the eternal life we possess. To that end, the verses that follow should be part of every Christian’s spiritual diet. 

SANCTIFICATION:

John 17:17 “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” [Such was Jesus’ prayer for you and I, and such was his confidence in God’s truth. Think of it! In verse 21, we read, “the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one.”]

1 Corinthians 1:2 “...to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord” [Never once does he refer to us as sinners.]

1 Corinthians 6:11 “And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”  [It’s a package done deal.]

1 Thessalonians 5:23 “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”

Hebrews 2:11 “He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren.? [We’re family, us saints]

The problem is that upon reading such scriptures, many unfortunately respond with such comments as, “Well, I don’t see how...” or “I just can’t understand...” or “I don’t feel...” But what has that got to do with faith in the truth? As Paul declares in Rom. 1:17, “The just shall live by faith.” Let’s quit striving by our own efforts and just rest our spirits in what God has revealed to be true. 

COUNT IT TO BE SO:

Romans 6:11  “Likewise reckon [count on the fact] ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” [It’s been advised that when the Devil knocks on the door, we should send Jesus to answer it. Our enemy would deceive us; our battle tactic is to focus on God who cannot lie, whose promises are guaranteed to us.]

FLESH VS. SPIRIT:

John 3:6 “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

John 6:63 “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” [Jesus said we are “to live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” Do we?]

Romans 7:18-20  “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.” [Paul’s battle in Romans 7 ended in his discovery of his separation from sin So it will be for every believer when his failures end in the victory Paul expressed in Romans 8:2 “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.”]

Romans 8:4-5 “That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.”  [Walking involves taking one step at a time. Even as kids, it took us a while to learn. We would fall, get up, and take another step, never giving up. Sure, we’re slow to learn to focus on God rather than ourselves, but He is a great teacher. He is painstakingly thorough in bringing us to maturity.]

Galatians 3:3, 5:16 “Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” [It’s time to make up our minds. Will we rely on our own smart and strength or trust the One who made us and who is our life?]

WHO WE ARE IN CHRIST AND HOW WE ARE TO LIVE:

Romans 6:3-7 “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.  For he that is dead is freed from sin.” [Note that Paul is speaking of sin (singular, that is, the old sin nature), not sins.  It’s been truly said that we are not ready to live until we are ready to die.]

THE SECRET TO OUR WALK:

I John 1:8-9 “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” [John is distinguishing between our sin nature (SIN) and what it produces (sins). It is the sinner who hugs his sins, whose pride and self-reliance won’t permit him to humble himself before God. The very fact that the saint hates sin is evidence of his faith.]

Romans 6:4 “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” [Here is the clincher for enabling our walk, the discovery that we have died to our old nature and made alive in Christ who is our new life. Let us rejoice in all our Godly perks!]

Think for a moment. Suppose you died today. Certainly, if you had trusted in Christ as your savior, you would find yourself in his presence, beholding him in his glorified body, made like him. You literally would be “out of this world!” Would there any longer be any concern over the power of sin, the demands of the law, the fears and concerns that plague us all? Of course, such is not the case in natural fact; we are very much in this world, even though not of it because of God’s grace. We daily do battle against the sin nature that besets us, taking sides with God because of our growing appreciation of who we are in Christ. Yes, we suffer defeats; we are often chastened but we gradually come to appreciate the words of Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

Yes, we have done business with God. We have traded our life for the life of His Son. In the place of pride, we have been made meek and lowly. In place of guilt our sins have been washed white as snow by the blood of Jesus. In place of our striving we begin entering into a rest. Our self reliance has given way to a confidence in God to care for every detail in our lives. We have a whole new set of desires, hopes, and dreams, all bent on pleasing God. Sure, in the process, we keep getting hit with all sorts of trials and sorrows. We fail daily as God continues to show us aspects of our old self of which we were unaware. It’s funny the way we exclaim in surprise, “Really? Who me? Then, to our surprise, after perhaps some initial serious disagreement, we end up thankful that He knows us better than we know ourselves. Our calling so far surpasses what we dared imagine. Though we see dimly and are sometimes blinded and deceived by our sin nature, let’s run the race with a patient optimism. God in his good time will enable us to experience a measure of the eternal life He has promised. “He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6. He has given us His word!

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