“I am no saint,” is a phrase often uttered by individuals reflecting on their past. They take a cursory glance at all the actions and choices they made and know that perfection is far from them. “A true saint wouldn’t act like me,” they may sigh.
But what is a saint? Who is worthy of holding this title? Saints are individuals set apart by the Lord. They are those who have been kept by God from the foundation of the world and placed “into the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ.” All who believe in Christ are worthy of the title of sainthood. “Saints, then, are not people who are dead and buried, and are stuck up in niches for us to admire. There are saints, no doubt, before the throne of God; and we, too, are saints here below if we are what we should be, and if we have received that grace which brings with it deliverance from the reigning power of sin, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the heart.” This honor does not depend upon the one holding the title but upon the One bestowing it. They are now “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession,” (1 Pet 2:9, ESV).
Furthermore, saints of God are exalted high above the rest of creation. They are placed first in the office of sainthood by “God’s grace and mercy, because he has done the most for them.” Saints are now a new creation in Christ, and this second creation is greater than the first. “The new creation of saints infinitely surpasses the creation of the world. Saints are even placed higher than the angels who are around the throne of God […]”
So marvel, all you who have placed your faith in Christ, in this high and holy privilege that you have been given. Bear your title with humility and gratitude. Go out and proclaim to the world that this gift is available to all who believe. “Tell them that there is no life like life for God; there is no joy like joy in Christ, no riches like the riches of God’s grace, no heaven like the heaven of dwelling for ever with him.” And let all the saints praise His name.
Excerpt:
God has taken man into the nearest possible degree of consanguinity to himself, and has illustrated this by varied degrees of relationship. He has made us to be his sons and daughters, and as a corporate body he has made us to be the spouse, the bride, the Lamb’s wife. The Lord Jesus is not ashamed to call us brethren. Thus are we child, spouse, brother. The nearness of our kin to Deity ought to overwhelm us with humble gratitude and with intense delight. God has done infinitely more for us than for all his creatures besides. Rise as you may in creatureship, even till you reach the cherubim and the seraphim, if they be creatures of his hand; even above these stands the Son of God, — the Son of man,— and we are one with him. Oh, the exceeding riches of the grace and the glory of God in his saints!
Read the rest of the sermon here.