YesToTheTruth: Are You an Ex-Sinner Calling yourself a Sinner?

If you are a sinner, the Good News is for you!

Jesus spoke this word:

Luke 5:31-32
31 Jesus answered them, "Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Repentance and faith in Jesus is the path for sinners to become righteous:
Acts 20:20-21
[you know] 20 how I did not hold back from declaring to you anything that was profitable, teaching you publicly and from house to house, 21 testifying both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

That's about all God has to say to sinners: Repent or else be ready to be punished in the final judgement. And that's the Good News for those who "hunger and thirst for righteousness" (Matthew 5:6) and desire with all their heart to live for God and be through with sin.

If you have responded to God's call by the Gospel to sinners, you have been forgiven your past sins and have been made righteous. You have been reconciled to God, from being previously his enemy as a sinner. You are no longer a sinner. Some synonymous for "sinner" in the Bible are "wicked", "rebellious", "unrighteous", "disobedient", "worker of iniquity/lawlessness", "evil doer", "transgressor." Are you still that? That's not what God calls his servants, his children, his people.

1 Peter 2:9-10
9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

Romans 5:6-11
6 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly [sinners]. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified* by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

Galatians 2:17
But if, while we seek to be justified* by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? God forbid!

*justified: made right with God / declared "righteous" by God

The thief on the cross became an ex-thief before Jesus could promise him a place with Him in paradise! His heart was changed and Jesus saw that. See The Salvation of the Thief Who Was on the Cross. He came to hate his life as a sinner up to that point, so he was ready to receive the new life in Christ (Romans 6:4; John 12:25) if he had remained alive. He had lost all pleasure in robbing people right there on the cross as he came to fear God and repented. If he did not rob for the pleasure of hurting people, then he certainly came to be in agreement with God that stealing is wrong and deserving of punishment by his divine hand. Such change happened. Every sinner who comes to God becomes an ex-(some wicked thing). The people of God are not sinners, but anyone coming to God in the first place cannot say, "I have no sin/not sinned," as then they would be liars deceiving themselves (1 John 1:8). [See this post about the popular incorrect application of 1 John 1:8: Problem in the Church: 1 John 1:8.]

The people of God are ex-sinners — He calls them his saints, or holy ones:

2 Thessalonians 10-10
9 These [the wicked] shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, 10 when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed.

Matthew 13:40-43
40 Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. 41 The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, 42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

It's the righteous whose prayers God hears:

John 9:31
We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshipper of God, and does his will, He listens to him.

1 Peter 3:12
For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their prayers; But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.

Sin is what sinners are saved from! [video]

Acts 3:19
Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord

Sinners who repent and are converted are put on a path of righteousness; they have turned away from the path of unrighteousness/sin. Jesus has set them free from that path of sin (John 8:34-36, Romans 6:16-18)! The grace of God teaches them to say 'No' to unrighteousness/sin (Romans 6:1-2, 12-19; Titus 2:11-14). Sin is not the way forward for them. Sin is not the center of their world. Jesus, the King of righteousness, is!

2 Timothy 2:19
However God's firm foundation stands, having this seal, "The Lord knows those who are his," and, "Let every one who names the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness."

Righteousness and holiness is the path of the righteous or saint:

Revelation 22:11-12
11 The one being unrighteous, let him be unrighteous still; and he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he who is righteous, let him do righteousness still; and he who is holy, let him be holy still.” 12 “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with me, to give to each one according to his work.

Hebrews 12:14
Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord

Sinners have no connection with holiness whatsoever, because faith which implies obedience to God is the path that leads to righteousness, the practice of which leads to holiness (John 3:36; Romans 6:16-19). See Faith Implies Obedience.

Salvation belongs to the righteous:

Psalm 118:14-15, 19-20
14 The LORD is my strength and song. He has become my salvation. 15 The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous. "The right hand of the LORD does valiantly.
19 Open to me the gates of righteousness. I will enter into them and praise the LORD. 20 This is the gate of the LORD; the righteous will enter into it.

The righteous are called to remain faithful to the end:

Revelation 12:11
And they overcame him (the devil) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives even unto death.

Revelation 14:12
Here is the endurance of the saints, those keeping the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

May Jesus bless you!

See also:
Are we all sinners?