In episode 165 of the No Doubt, No Fear, Only Believe podcast, host Greg Ryan invites listeners to contemplate a foundational identity question: when a person receives salvation, are they a "sinner saved by grace" or a "saint of God"? He frames the discussion with several biblical passages—Proverbs 18:20 on the power of the tongue, Proverbs 25:2 on the glory of searching out a matter, and references to Revelation’s depiction of Christ as King of Kings. Ryan emphasizes the impact of spoken words and internal thought life, citing a Barna study that 78 % of Christians experience predominantly negative thoughts, and describing Satan’s role as the accuser who fills minds with lies. He contrasts this with the biblical promise that believers hear the voice of Christ through Scripture. Using the metaphor of believers as “kings” who are called to search out truth, Ryan poses the central reflective question, urging listeners to own their self‑identification in Christ and to pray for insight. The episode ends with a brief prayer asking God to help listeners discern whether they view themselves as sinners saved by grace or as saints, and promises a follow‑up episode where the answer will be explored.
Welcome to episode 165.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Spending time in the Word of God is the best way to spend time with God. Welcome to No Doubt, No Fear, Only Believe podcast, where we will encourage, inspire, and empower you to live your best life in Christ. Here's Greg.
Welcome to episode 165. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to welcome you to the Saturday edition. If you're listening to this on time, this is going to come out on Saturday, and if not, it is episode 165 and it don't matter what day. But I want to do a quick— and this is going to be unlike my normal videos— I'm going to ask a question And I'm just gonna give a couple scriptures and I just want you to ponder it. Two reasons really, because God kind of put this thought in my head and I wanna put it into your head and I wanna get you thinking. And then I'm gonna study out the answer and then maybe on the next podcast, maybe the next episode, I'm gonna try to give my answer or, I mean, I've already in my mind got the answer, but I haven't backed it up with scripture. And I don't wanna give you my opinion. I wanna see what the scripture says about it. And I want to go to Proverbs 18:20. A man's stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth. From the produce of his lips he shall be filled. Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit. That's a popular scripture, one I've used before, but our mouths and our words have power. And you know that if you've been here, if you're a fanatic, you know that your words have power and that you know they give you life and they give you death. And so what we say and how we say it is important. But I want you to— the thoughts that go inside your head, and I've talked about that book Soundtracks, and it is an awesome book, and I'm going to go back and revisit that book. I'm not going to talk about the book again on the podcast, but it is an awesome book. I saw an email from Barna that said 78% of most Christians' thought life are negative, and I just thought that was so amazing. Satan is such a punk, and he's so good at what he does. He is the the accuser of the brethren, and he accuses you and I in our heads. And then he's got people, prominent people in the church, in the body of Christ, that says that God doesn't talk to people. And but Satan is talking to you all the dadgum time. And it just fires me up. I don't know if you can tell, but it just makes me so angry sometimes when I hear believers tell me that God does not speak to his people anymore. But Jesus, in his own words, in red, said his sheep hear his voice. You know, I just don't know reconcile all of that. And I know that people— because I've seen Christians that go off on the deep end and they're, you know, tuned in and all this stuff— tell you that God talks to me. He talks to me through his word because I'm in his word all the time, and I get thoughts from the word of God, and it's about other scriptures in the word of God. And I want to go to another scripture that I love, and if you can tell, I've been in Proverbs a minute. It's Proverbs 25:2. It is the glory of God to conceal a matter. But the glory of kings to search out a matter. And I want to remind you again, in Revelation, when Jesus comes back, what is written on his thigh is he is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And that's— he didn't say he was the King of Queens. He didn't say he was the King of Kings and Queens, or— he is the King of Kings. You and I are a king. I don't care if you're male or female. You are a king and you rule over a kingdom. All right, I think I properly set this thing up to where we're going to use our king-like searching out a matter, our glory of the king. We are going to— what we're known for, the glory of kings, what kings are known for, is searching out a matter. And so we're going to search this thing out, and I want to ask you this question, and then I'm going to I'm going to sign off. I'm going to pray. This is going to be a real short episode because I just want you to think. I want you to take time and I want you to think about this question. When you receive salvation, when you become a new creature, are you a sinner saved by grace or are you a saint of God? And I want you to think about that question and that answer. I want— and I want you to own it. I don't want you to just say, well, I think I'm this, or well, I think I'm telling you, like that pearl of great value, you need to own whatever it is that you think you are. You need to own it, and you need to understand who you are in Christ Jesus. And we're going to get to that in the next episode, but let's pray real quick. God, I thank you so much for the person listening to this episode. God, I thank you for continuing to talk to me in your word. God, I thank you for quickening in me things that you want me to talk about, or things that you want me to at least think about and ponder. And search out of my own self. And Lord, I thank you that you've given me this platform to visit with people. And I pray in Jesus' name that the person listening to this episode will start digging in and start praying and thinking, am I a sinner? Am I a saint? Am I a sinner saved by grace, or am I a saint of God? And God, I thank you for the answer. I thank you for your word, and I thank you And we love you and we ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, thank you for being a part of this, and I look forward to visiting with you on the next episode.
Thanks for listening to the No Doubt, No Fear, Only Believe podcast at www.nodoubtonlybelieve.com.
