You know, as I travel around and teach the Grace of God found in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, I will often ask one particular question when I am speaking. Many times, I’ll get off the platform and come right to their face and say, “Who are you?” It’s fascinating to me the consistency of the answers that I get.
“Well, I’m Tom. I’m a doctor.”
“I’m Susie. I’m a nurse.”
“I’m Kathy. I’m a homemaker.”
“I’m Greg. I’m an attorney.”
“I’m Tom. I’m just a custodian.”
“I’m Larry. I’m just a garbage man.”
Now, some of those sound like better identities than others. It’s maybe better to be a doctor than a garbage man. But I trust you see that I have asked these people a question and not one of them has answered it. I’ve asked them who they are and they’re telling me what they do. These people have bought the lie that their behavior determines their identity.
If I asked you to bark like a dog, you could do it, but it wouldn’t make you a dog anymore than sitting in a garage will make you a car, or going to McDonald’s will make you a hamburger. You are not a custodian because that’s what you do. Identity, my friends, is established by birth. My children were born into my family. They are therefore Friedmann’s. My bride is Hispanic and I used to have dark hair so my children were born with dark hair and dark eyes because they are Friedmann’s. Now, I could behaviorally do some things like dye their hair blonde and put blue contacts in their eyes and called them Svenson’s, but they will never be Svenson’s because they were born Friedmann’s.
Birth determines identity. That's true in the physical realm. It's also true in the spiritual realm.
The Bible tells us that all men were born in Adam and therefore were born under the line of Adam and therefore born sinners. This is true of all men. It doesn’t matter whether they’re Spanish or Chinese or American, they are sinners. There’s only one way to get out of that identity — to receive the Lord Jesus Christ by faith. The Bible teaches that we will then be in Him. The Bible calls it being born again and through that birth, we gain a new identity as Saints of God, children of God.
There are only two identities in the entire world. You are either in Adam and therefore a sinner or you are in Christ and therefore a Saint. You are either in Adam and a child of the enemy or you are in Christ, a child of God. It’s time, my friends, to stop calling Christians sinners. That is a birth-determined identity and that is no longer who we are.
We have been born again into Christ, and we are Saints.
Sinning doesn’t make us sinners any more than barking like a dog will make us a dog. When you sin, it just means that you’re a Christian who didn’t act like it, and that’s really kind of stupid because why would you want to act like somebody you no longer are. You are a Saint. I am Saint Frank. You might be Saint Nancy or Saint Tom. I think it’s time, if we would believe who we are, to start acting like who we are. We are the light of the world. We shine the light of the love and Grace of God in Christ to a very dark world, but we can’t shine that light if we have a false identity.
Who are you? You are a Saint, a child of God. Walk in that confidence and let your light shine to this dark world.
