Benefits of a Saint
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2025 · 6 April 2025
In all of Paul’s letters, he uses the word saint to refer to Christians; not dead ones, but living ones; not a few, but all. In fact, it must have been his very favorite word for Christians, because he used it about 60 times. We who know the Lord Jesus Christ are saints. And so, here he says, “You are saints, along with everybody else that calls upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
So, anyone who is saved, who knows the Lord Jesus Christ, is a saint. And we said last time that he starts out by saying, “You are sanctified” - it’s the same root word as saint. In other words, “You have been made holy, therefore, I am writing you this letter to tell you to act holy.” That’s really the purpose of his first nine verses, where he talks about being a saint, being holy.
All through the New Testament, it tells us that we are holy because of what Christ is; therefore, we ought to act like Him. Our lives ought to conform to Him. Remember in John 8, the woman taken in adultery? And Jesus said to her the words, “Go and sin no more.” He was commanding a woman who was a prostitute, who had been caught in the act of adultery, to stop doing it.
She had been granted a new life. And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” In other words, “From now on, I hold no sin against you. You are holy in My eyes; therefore, act like it.” That’s the same point that is made throughout the New Testament. You are not condemned; you are holy. Your sin is forgiven, now act consistent with your new nature.
And so, Paul begins the 1 Corinthians 1:1-9, by telling them who they are; and he lays down that foundation of “here’s who you are.” Then, from 1:10 clear through the end of chapter 16, he says, “Here’s how to act commensurate with who you are.” Now, Paul, then, in verses 1-3, just calls them saints. Now, from 4 -9, he expands what that means. What is involved in being a saint?
This is a divine presentation of why you should be a Christian, as opposed to not being one. These are reasons to be a saint, and they are the results of being a saint that become the reasons to be one. Now, there are three dimensions in this, past, present and future. In the past, there’s grace; for the present, there are gifts; in the future, there are guarantees. That’s the greatest kind of policy there is.
How do I be a saint? By believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. First, let’s look at the grace concept, which deals with the past; verse 4 -6, “I always thank my God for you because of the grace of God given to you in Christ Jesus, 5 that you were enriched in him in every way, in all speech and all knowledge. 6 In this way, the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you.”
The first benefit of being a saint is grace. It was given you in Christ Jesus. The idea is some time in the past, it happened in a moment of time. So, it was at the moment the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you. And he refers to their salvation, the time when they received God’s saving grace. This is the first benefit of being a saint. It’s what happened to you when you became a saint.
And this is unique with Christianity. This isn’t believing the teaching of Christ; many do that. It isn’t believing about Christ. It is being in Christ. And that is an appropriation of committing myself to Him in total unity by faith. And once I am in Christ, then the grace of God is mine. The word grace literally means undeserved, unrecompensed kindness. It means mercy. It is undeserved kindness.
It is undeserved, and it cannot be paid back. Grace always in Scripture has to be a free gift, unearned. Now, in order for us to understand saving grace, we need to understand some things. And the best way to approach this would be to see three things that can’t coexist with grace, and this will help you to define grace. First, any recognition of human guilt cannot coexist with grace.
Grace and guilt cannot go together. Grace must provide for the alleviation of guilt. God cannot say, “I am gracious, and I give you salvation. One false move, and I’ll take it away.” No, that’s not gracious; that’s just laying a law on us. You see, grace must provide for the elimination of guilt. If grace is withheld from the sinner in the least degree because of his sin, then it isn’t grace.
Grace is undeserved, unmerited forgiveness. Grace must allow for sin. Grace can only operate when there’s sin there; if there’s no sin, there’s no grace, right? There’s got to be something to forgive, or grace isn’t grace. God, knowing that the penalty for sin had to be paid, sent Christ to the cross. And Romans 3:25-26 says, “Christ died to take care of sin, so that God might still be gracious.”
Are you thankful for the grace that’s forgiven you all your sin, and holds you absolutely guiltless before God for the rest of your eternity? And I say to you, if you’re not a Christian, isn’t it somewhat inviting for God to say to you, “I will cleanse all your sin. I will forgive all of it. I will set aside all your guilt. I will hold you blameless and holy forever.” Isn’t that a kind of nice offer?
It was a gift. Can you pay a gift back? No. In Romans 4, it says, “Whatever is earned is not grace.” And believe me, it is saving grace, so you can’t earn it. So don’t think that because of what God has done for you, you’ve got to pay Him off. God gave you salvation as grace. In a sense, we owe Him affection just naturally, and I think that comes to the genuine Christian.
Grace cannot coexist with any recognition of human merit. It does not come only to the best people. You’re no better than anybody else. Neither am I. And that’s wonderful consolation. It wasn’t my goodness that got me here. Aren’t you glad of that? Some of you aren’t too sure about that. Grace cannot exist with human merit. In other words, God didn’t save only the good ones.
You know who got that in their heads, and had it there for centuries? Israel. Yeah, they thought that God chose them because they were better than everybody else. And in Romans 3, Paul really explained that. Are we better than they? No. Romans 3 says. No, you’re not better than anybody else. Paul said, “I am the chief of sinners.” You and I do not deserve salvation.
Grace is the free, loving forgiveness of God, independent of your deserving it. All of us are sinners. “There is none righteous” Romans 3:10 says - “no, not one: There is none that understands, there is none that seeks after God. The poison of asps is under their lips. They are full of bitterness and cursing.” All men are the same: sinners before God. No, grace cannot coexist with human merit.
It was God’s grace. Now, do you see how giving you those three concepts help you to understand what grace is? When you were saved, grace included the fact that no sin or guilt would ever be held against you the rest of your eternity. When you were saved, you were given the freedom to know that you’d never have to pay that back. That’s His gift. There is nothing you have to do.
There are three reasons for which God did this. God saved us by His grace in order to produce good works. Because God knew that good works could touch the lives of the people. Saving grace is to produce good works. Titus 2:14 says, “He gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people for his own possession, eager to do good works.”
Why? Titus 3:8 says, “This saying is trustworthy. I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed God might be careful to devote themselves to good works. These are good and profitable for everyone.” God saved us to do good works, because good works benefit men. It’s good to do good in the world; even from the standpoint of an unbeliever, it’s good to do good.
Secondly, saving grace is to bring blessing to Christians. God saved us, not only to do good works for the world’s sake, but He saved us to pour blessing on us for our sake; to pour out His riches on us forever. And lastly, saving grace is to glorify God. God saved us to be to the praise of His glory. In Ephesians 3, He said, “I saved you that all men might see the mystery that was hidden in the past.”
So, you have in verse 4 the divine side, in verse 6, the human response. You hear about saving grace and all that it is, and you believed it, and it was settled in your heart. And then the benefit became yours. All sin totally forgiven forever; no guilt ever yours again. And that grace includes the pouring out of riches, and more riches on your life through eternity. That’s the blessings of grace.
And the grace equips you to do good deeds to men. That’s the first benefit of being a saint. The first benefit is past tense, you received grace. Present tense, gifts, verses 5 and 7. Saving grace continues in the present, and it manifests blessings through all the believer’s life. Verse 5, “that you were enriched in him in every way, in all speech and all knowledge.”
Did you know that you are enriched in everything? 1 Corinthians 4:8 says, “You are already full! You are already rich! You have begun to reign as kings without us—and I wish you did reign, so that we could also reign with you!” And when he says everything, it’s a qualified everything. It means you have everything you need. 2 Peter 1:3 says, you have “all things pertaining to life and godliness.”
Verse 6 says, “In this way, the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you.” God has given you the capability and the capacity to speak the truth. The biggest problem that Christians have is the ability to speak. You are a witness. You can speak. Do you have the Holy Spirit as a Christian? Can you respond to the Holy Spirit and be filled with the Spirit as a Christian? Yes.
That means trust the Holy Spirit to give you the things to say. You have a message. And you know, when they’re talking about the miracle, they’re not nearly so shocked at the miracle of the new birth as they are the miracle of their own usefulness. 2 Corinthians 4:6 says that He’s given us “the light of the knowledge of Jesus Christ.” We have truth. We have knowledge.
Verse 7, “So that you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul goes from utterance and knowledge, to the specific that he has given you. This is the present tense. Grace in the past; gifts for the present. You know what he said to these Corinthians? “You lack nothing.” And yet they were the most corrupt Christians in the New Testament.
Verse 7 has primary reference of the believers to minister to each other. They were adequate to reach the world, and they were adequate to build the church. They lacked nothing. You’ve got spiritual gifts, every single one of you who are Christians have gifts of the Spirit. It is given to you to minister to the body, and they are adequate to build this church. And that’s why the church is growing.
But you need to know what your spiritual gifts are, whether you have the gift of teaching, or preaching, or exhortation, or administration, or helps, or the gift of giving, or the gift of faith, that ministers to one another. In 1 Corinthians 12:1, Paul says, “I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning spiritual gifts.” But notice what he said. “It isn’t because you lack spiritual resource.
God not only gave us grace in the past, and gifts for the present, but guarantees for the future. One of the benefits of being a Christian is hope. I don’t care what happens to this world, because I know God’s going to take care of His own. I just trust God totally with it. Now, why do Christians have this hope? Number one: it means the exultation of Christ, and He deserves it.
Secondly, it means the defeat of Satan. He’s going to bind him for a thousand years. At the end of it, He’s going to let him loose for a little while. Then He’s going to chain him, and throw him into the lake of fire. Thirdly, because it means justice for the martyrs. Paul writes in 2 Thessalonians 1:5-6, “I know you’re suffering, seeing it is just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you.”
Fourth, it means the death of Christ-rejecters. 2 Thessalonians 1:7 says: “and to give relief to you who are afflicted, along with us. This will take place at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with his powerful angels.” He’s going to judge those who hate Him. Lastly, because it means heaven for me. It means that I’ll be like Jesus. I don’t deserve that, but oh what grace.
Look at verse 8, “He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you will be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” How many sins are going to be held against you when Jesus comes? None. “Are you sure?” Verse 9 says, “God is faithful; you were called by him into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” If you got in by grace, you’ll be kept by grace. Let’s pray.