NOTE: New Light Faith Ministries and Barry Johnson Ministries, founded by Rodney V. Johnson and Barry O. Johnson, respectively, are partnering to offer Bible studies for Christians who are seeking to grow in their relationship with Jesus. This is a Bible study lesson, not a sermon. The Bible studies teach foundational truth that are designed to challenge, encourage and, most importantly, flame the fire of hunger in the Christian who wants to learn more about who they have become in Christ Jesus. The Bible studies you find on this site contains the written version of the lesson. However, these lessons also include a video and an audio file of the study, a PDF version of the lesson and a sheet for note taking. If you would like any of the additional resources for these studies, please email us at newlightfaithministries@gmail.com or bjteachingltr@gmail.com for more information or contact us at the email provided on both of our Sermon Central pages. Be blessed.
Are Christians Still Sinners, But Saved By Grace? Part 2
(Rev. Barry Johnson and Rev. Rodney Johnson)
Introduction
In our first lesson of this series, we shared with you that the statement, “I’m a sinner saved by grace!”, while popular in the Church today, biblically is not true. A more biblically accurate description of a Christian is, “I was a sinner saved by grace! Now I’m a righteous, blameless, holy child of God!”
This is the second lesson in our series dealing with the question of whether a person, who has accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and is now saved, can continue to live the life of a sinner because they are saved as a result of God’s grace. In the first lesson, we focused on the answer to the following questions: (1) How does being born again change us? and (2) How can being born again change how we live? For the purposes of this series, we identified seven ways how being born again changes us understanding that there are more. The seven ways we discussed in lesson one are:
1) The devil is no longer our father, which we saw in John 8:42-44.
2) God becomes our Father, found in First John 4:4 and First John 5:4.
3) We received eternal life, found in First John 5:11-13.
4) We are free from the power and the authority of darkness in Colossians 1:12-14, which destroys the thoughts that we can continue in sin.
5) We are made holy and just like our Father. (First Peter 1:15-16)
6) Because we are born again, we can now think exactly like Jesus, which we found in Philippians 2:5 and First Corinthians 2:16.
7) And lastly, we are exactly like Jesus with one exception: we are not deity as we saw in John 14:12.
These are the seven ways we are changed after we are born again. Because of this change, we also examined, for the purposes of this series, nine different ways being born again can change how we live, again understanding that there are more. These are:
1) We can choose not to sin, which we saw in Romans 6:4 and 12.
2) We can choose to bless those who wrong us, found in Romans 12:14.
3) We can choose to love God by living by His standards, which we saw in First Corinthians 6:1, 6 & 7.
4) We can choose to have a servant’s heart and we saw this in Galatians 5:13-14.
5) We can choose to share a brother’s burden with him until he is restored, found in Galatians 6:1-2.
6) We can choose to agree with the mind of our new nature, which we found in Ephesians 4:22-32 and Ephesians 5:1-4.
7) We can choose not to worry about anything, which we read in Philippians 4:6, 7 and 11-13.
8) We can choose to forgive people and live in peace with them, which we saw in Colossians 3:12-15.
9) We can choose to stand in the gap for those in authority by praying for them, as seen in First Timothy 2:1-4, 6.
As we ended the first lesson, our plan was to discuss who we are because of Jesus Christ living on the inside of us in the second lesson. And we will. But as we began to put this lesson together, a verse that we highlighted in the first lesson needed a more detailed examination. That verse is Romans 3:23 which says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We’re going to spend a few minutes looking at this verse. We only have to answer one question to understand this verse.
Understanding Romans 3:23
Thanks Barry. For us to understand Romans 3:23, the question we need to ask and understand the answer to is, “Who is the ‘all’ that Paul is referring to in this verse?” When we read verses 9 through 12 and 19 through 22, we see that Paul is talking about both the Jews and the Greeks (Gentiles) and their common spiritual condition – “they are all under sin.” (Romans 3:9) The Jews had the Law of Moses; the Greeks did not. But they did have one thing in common: both were sinners because they did not have the righteousness of God.
We see this in Romans 3:21-22 when Paul contrasts the righteousness of God to the Law. Paul writes, “(21) But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, (22) even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference.” (Romans 3:21-22) The word apart means “at a space, that is, separately.” This tells us that the righteousness of God cannot be obtained through any kind of law. It is only available through faith in Jesus Christ. Paul said that neither the Jews nor the Greeks had the righteousness of God because they did not have God’s righteousness, His life and nature, on the inside. Hence, they were sinners. It is very important that we understand this. The Jews, under the Law, were attempting to be righteous and live righteously by following a set of rules that God had handed down. We see in their interactions with Jesus that no matter how strictly they followed the Law, the Law, in and of itself, could not change their hearts. Even though some of them were faithful in how they lived according to the Law, their hearts remained far from God which made them no different than the Gentiles who did not have the Law. So this brings us back to the word “all” that Paul is identifying. So, who is the “all” being identified? The word “all” is identifying Paul’s original audience, the Jews and the Greeks, and anyone today who is like them – who does not have the righteousness of God on the inside. The word “all” is not referring to the person who is born again. It is not referring to a Christian! We could read verse 23 this way and maintain its scriptural integrity: “For this reason, all people who are not born again, who are not Christians, have sinned because of their sinful nature and fall short of the glory of God.”
So let’s summarize what Romans 3:23 is really saying and who it is talking about. It says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” This is a true “historical” statement because all of us were born into sin because of Adam’s disobedience in the garden of Eden. When he ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he lost the holy and sinless spirit that God had given to him and received a sinful life like that of the devil’s in its place. This is the general character of the human race before they are born again – and that is key to understanding why we cannot continue in sin. While every person is born with a sinful nature through Adam’s transgression, it is that sinful nature that causes them to commit their own individual transgressions, and this is where it ends when a person gets saved. We are born with Adam’s nature. When we are born again, we are born with a new nature, one that was received through Christ. One nature was of sin, the other nature was of righteousness. Yes, we all sinned and fell short of the glory of God before we were born again. But after we accepted Christ, things changed. Romans 3:23 cannot be used to justify our staying and continuing in a life of sin after we are saved! Now, let’s get to the meat of this lesson – who we are because we have the life of Jesus living on the inside of us.
Who We Are In Jesus
A good place to start our learning, grasping, and understanding of who we are because we have Jesus living on the inside of us is John 3. It is the account of Nicodemus, a Pharisee and ruler of the Jews, who came to see Jesus at night unbeknownst to the Jewish council. We’re only going to read the first three verses of the chapter. “(1) There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. (2) This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God: for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.’ (3) Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’” (John 3:1-3) Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews and member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish council, comes to Jesus and tells Him that, like him, there are other members of the council who believe that the only reason Jesus can teach the way He does and do the signs (KJV says “miracles”) He has done is because “God is with Him.” This phrase communicates two very important points about what Nicodemus and the other members of the Jewish council believed.
The first is that God was with Jesus because of the doctrine that He was teaching. Remember, the Pharisees were responsible for teaching the Law and to hear someone teach something about the kingdom of God that they didn’t teach caught their attention – and not in a good way. The only reason Jesus could teach what He taught was because He had the same life and nature as His Father. The second point it communicates is the truth that Jesus partnered with God to carry out His will on earth, as Nicodemus noted in the signs He produced. Ladies and gentlemen, we are in these three verses. We have the same life and nature as Jesus, and by extension, as God, and because of this, we can also partner with God to produce signs that show His will is being done on earth. This is who we because Jesus lives inside of us.
Remember when Jesus told the disciples how to pray? He said they should pray to God “…. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10b) The only way God’s will is going to be done on earth in the same manner as it is in heaven is through our willingness and obedience to do it. When this happen we will begin to partner with God to produce the signs demonstrating His will is being done here on earth.
Now turn to Acts 10:38. We just talked about Nicodemus’ observation that God was with Jesus and that’s why He could teach the way He did and do the signs that He did. We’re going to see another thing that Jesus did because God was with Him. “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, Who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” (Acts 10:38)
God was able to anoint Jesus with the Holy Spirit and power because they shared the same life and nature. The word power means “force or ability to do.” God anointed Jesus with the power to force the devil to release those he held captive through oppression, those he was weighing down through their thoughts and emotions. When we accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we received God’s life and nature. Now follow us closely. What this means is that, just like God, our Father, anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and with power, He can supply us with the same anointing. Spiritually, we are just like Jesus and that means what we are reading in Acts 10:38 is how God sees us! This is who we because Jesus lives inside of us. Let’s talk about what is captured in Roman’s chapter six.
Now we’re going to look at four verses in Romans 6 that tell us who we are because Jesus lives inside of us. We are going to read verses 10 through 12 and 14. “(10) For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. (11) Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (12) Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts….(14) For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law but under grace.” (Romans 6:10-12, 14) With His death, burial and resurrection, Jesus died to sin, but is now alive with the life of God and He lives that life for His Father. Likewise, through Jesus, we are also dead to sin, alive to God, and can live our lives for God. But there’s a catch: we must make the decision to live by who we are now, not who we used to be. Remember what we said about Romans 3:23? It says, “All have sin…” The word “have” is past tense. If we are all just sinners saved by grace, that verse would have said, “All sin and fall short of the glory of God.” But that is not what it says. The word “have” is a past tense word, not present tense. So, while that verse talks about out past, it does not talk about our present and that’s why verse 11 says “reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin.” The word "reckon" is an accounting term that means “to take into account, calculate or decide.” We must look at who we are now that Jesus lives on the inside of us, take that into account and make the decision to be dead to sin. Why? What changed when we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior was our spirits. The old sinful spirit was destroyed, and we received a new sinless spirit. However, our minds and our bodies did not change and can be tempted to sin. We must reckon the ability to sin dead in our lives. This is who we because Jesus lives inside of us.
The person who confesses that they are still sinners but saved by grace is really testifying that the blood of Jesus was not strong enough to change their spirits. While they accepted Christ as their Savior, there was no change on the inside and they are still sinners. Do you know that the Bible tells us that if there is no change on the inside we are still going to hell no matter how much we profess our relationship with Jesus? Remember, Jesus said to Nicodemus “‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’” We cannot be born again and not be changed. The whole point of being “born again” is a change or birth, a change of origin, a new beginning. If I was going to be born again and not be different, then I would have to be reborn of my parents to be the same way. Do you understand this? To be born again means that a change has taken place and without that change there is no salvation – even with grace!
Now let’s look at Romans chapter 12. We are going to look two verses that were not available to us before we received God’s life and nature. The verses are Romans 12:1-2. “(1) I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. (2) And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Romans 12:1-2) Before we were born again, we could not present ourselves to God for Him to use for His kingdom. Now we can. Before we were born again, it was impossible for us to be holy and acceptable to God. Now we are. Before we were born again, it was impossible for us not to be conformed or formed or molded to the world and its system. Now it is possible. Before we were born again, we did not have a spirit that could transform our minds. Now we do. This is who we are because Jesus lives inside of us. Now let’s spend a minute discussing a few promises available to us because Jesus is living on the inside of us.
Promise Available To Us
Let’s look at Philippians 4. We are going to read a promise that is available to us because we have Jesus living on the inside of us. Philippians 4:4 says “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, Rejoice!” I want you to see what this verse is saying. We are to rejoice in the Lord. During the most difficult situations, the Bible tells us to rejoice, and it tells us to do it always! We can rejoice in the bad situations just like we can in the good ones because of our relationship with God. For a Christian, every difficult situation, every trial is an opportunity to put our faith in God’s promises to us. It’s an opportunity to trust – one more time. This is who we because Jesus lives inside of us.
Now look at verses six and seven. “(6) Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; (7) and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7) Because we have Jesus living inside of us, it is possible for us to do what may seem to be impossible – not to be anxious in any situation! The impossible becomes possible when we give it to God! And He promises us that when we come to Him with feelings of anxiety, He will give us His peace, the peace that will guard and protect our minds from the emotional upheaval. I do not think we understand what it means when Paul states that the peace of God will “will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” If we think of our heart and mind as a city with walls and gates surrounding it, God’s peace is that wall and gate, including the actual guards who are posted along the walls and in front of the gate. When trouble approaches and tries to enter your heart and mind, God’s peace stops them. God’s peace reminds us of Whose we are and what is available to us. When this happens, instead of becoming anxious and worrying, we shift to rejoicing. This is who we because Jesus lives inside of us. Are you beginning to understand who you are because Jesus is living on the inside of you? Let’s continue.
Second Timothy 1:7 says, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love, and of a sound mind.” Now that we belong to Jesus, our spirits are no longer governed by cowardice. In other words, before we were born again, we made decisions based on our best interest with little regard it may have on someone else. The spirit that we received from God is one of power, love, and a sound mind and gives us the ability to respond like our Father in every situation. This is who we because Jesus lives inside of us. Now we can look at what is actually available to us through grace.
What’s Available to Us Through Grace
The next passage we are going to read tells us what is available through grace to those of us who have Jesus on the inside. Titus 2:11-12 says, “(11) For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, (12) teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age.” (Titus 2:11-12) The Bible, contrary to how grace is often taught in most Churches today, is clear about the purpose of God’s grace. It teaches (instructs, trains and disciplines) us to deny (reject in all forms) ungodliness (wickedness) and worldly lusts. The passage doesn’t say grace covers us when we act ungodly or when we lust for things. No. It says grace teaches us and trains us how to reject these behaviors.
Think about it this way. You get into a bad financial situation and your only hope is to get some money fast. You make the bad decision to rob a bank. In the process of attempting to rob the bank you get caught. As you stand before the judge, with your embarrassed family members and friends sitting behind you, and your enemies on the other side smiling and laughing at your misfortunes, you explain to the judge why you did it. The judge announces that you are guilty and deserve prison time. However, he is choosing to give you another chance if you can pay the fines and promise not to do it again. You committed the crime because you were in dire financial trouble, so you know you cannot pay the fines. You hang your head realizing that you are about to be sentenced to jail – separated from your family that you committed the crime to try and help.
Just when you thought all was lost, a stranger steps up and agrees to pay all your fines as well as give you a donation to help you and your family get back on your feet. Now, at this point, when you were facing prison time and huge fines and suddenly it was all being take care of for you, would you not be grateful? Because of the grace extended towards you in this situation, would you not feel humbled and so grateful that you would make a vow never to get into this situation again? Of course you would. All of us would. Now if we would do this in the natural, why do we not do this when it pertains to sin? When it comes to sin, in this situation we accept everything the person does for us in front of the judge and then leave the courthouse and do the exact same thing the next day. Does this make even a little bit of sense? Grace empowers us to reject all things not of Christ! This is who we because Jesus lives inside of us.
Now turn to James 4. We are going to read verses six through eight, but our focus is verse 7. The passage says, “(6) But He gives more grace. Therefore He says, ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ (7) Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. (8) Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” (James 4:6-8) It is critical for us to understand the importance of submission to God. Verse seven begins with the word “Therefore” which tells us why we need to be submitted to God by connecting verse seven with verse six, which tells us that God resists or is against the Christian who is proud and not submitted to Him. We know that pride caused Lucifer to be kicked out of heaven (Ezekiel 28:17). But, on the other hand, the Christian who is submitted to God receives more grace, or all the grace they need to get though whatever situation they may find themselves in. We can choose to submit to God and have access to all the grace we need to live our lives for Him, or we can be proud and miss out on His grace. And because we have His life and nature, we can draw close to our Father, especially when we need Him the most. This is who we because Jesus lives inside of us.
The next verse we are going to read, we are going to read from the New King James, as we have throughout this lesson, but we are also going to read it from the Amplified Bible, which brings out its meaning more clearly. The verse is First John 3:9. We will read it in the New King James first. “Whoever has been born of God does not commit sin, for His seed remains in him: and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.” (First John 3:9) If a person only reads the New King James, they could come away thinking that this verse can’t be right because they have committed sin after being born again, and sometimes on several occasions. That is the reason why we want to read the same verse in the Amplified Bible. “No one born (begotten) of God [deliberately, knowingly, and habitually] practices sin, for God’s nature abides in him [His principle of life, the divine sperm, remains permanently within him]; and he cannot practice sinning because he is born (begotten) of God.” (First John 3:9) Do you see the clarity that the Amplified Bible brings to the verse? The person who is born of God, who has accepted Jesus Christ as His Lord and Savior, does not deliberately, knowingly, and habitually practice sin. It is possible for a Christian to sin, but it not possible for a Christian to have a lifestyle of sinful behavior. And that is what this verse is talking about.
There is a passage in Romans that complements First John 3:9. Romans 2:12-15 says, “(12) For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law, (13) (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; (14) for when the Gentiles, who have not the law, by nature do the things contained in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves: (15) who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them.)” (Romans 2:12-15) This passage is clear. If a Christian is thinking about committing sin, for example, committing adultery, the new life inside of them will accuse them – will tell them not to do it – before they commit the act. The person who says they are a Christian but are living a lifestyle of sin, will eventually stop hearing the voice, will no longer be accused. When that happens, they will have lost their salvation or be on the cusp of losing it. Thank God that we have a nature on the inside of us with an early warning system. This is who we because Jesus lives inside of us.
Summary & Close
I hope that you all understand how important it is to your life and where you will spend eternity to understand that you cannot accept Christ as your personal Savior and continue to live the same life you were living. It simply cannot be done. When we accept Christ, a change happens within us that begins to pull us away (renewing of our minds) from the sinful ways we had prior to accepting Christ. This is the proof of our walk with Him. We buried our brother unexpectedly last month. He had just turned 64 years of age. Prior to his death, he wrote something in a book that he wanted read at his burial. I want to share a couple of sentences with you.
He wrote, “If you died today, do you know where you’ll spend eternity? I did. Prior to 2016, my eternity would have been in Hell. The Bible says that all liars, fornicators, adulterers, etc. will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. If I had died back in 2016, because I was doing those things and some, I would have died in my sins. True, like some of you here today, I was raised in church with the belief “once saved, always saved” however, that isn’t the case.”
He went on to describe what he is doing right now and who he is doing it with. He is in heaven because he came to believe that he could not continue living as he was and still make it into heaven. There are many people who are living in sin thinking they are going to heaven because they have been baptized and this is why this lesson is so very important. We are trying to get the truth out there that the Bible does not support the doctrine that a Christian is still a sinner who has been saved by grace. We hope that this lesson has been a blessing and an eye opener for you.
