You Are What You Practice

1 John 3:1-3 ESV

 

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.”

 

The Children of God

 

We read in 1 John 1 that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. And darkness is the opposite of light. So, darkness is the opposite of God. God is good, he is righteous, and he is pure and upright and holy. So, darkness is evil, unrighteousness, impurity, immorality, and godlessness, i.e., it is sin.

 

So, if we walk (conduct our lives in practice) in darkness (sin) while we claim to be in fellowship with God, we are liars who do not live by the truth. But if we walk (in practice) in the light, as God is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.

 

Then, we read in 1 John 2 that we know that we have come to know Jesus Christ if we keep his commandments (New Covenant). For, if we say that we know him but we do not do what he says, then again we are liars and the truth is not in us.

 

We also read that if we love (prefer, honor, give our loyalties and devotion to) the world or the things in the world, the love of God the Father is not in us. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.

 

So, from this context we know that those who are the genuine children of God are those who do not walk (in practice) in the darkness (sin), but they are those who walk (in conduct, in practice) in the light (Jesus Christ, righteousness, and holiness).

 

They are those who make it their practice to obey our Lord’s instructions to us and who do not embrace the desires of their flesh, but whose desire is for God/Jesus, to follow him. And they are those who purify themselves as our Lord is pure. They leave their sins behind them to follow Jesus in his ways.

 

1 John 3:4-10 ESV

 

“Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.

 

“Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

 

“No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.”

 

What the Scriptures Teach

 

John is not the only writer of the New Testament who taught this. Paul taught it, too. He taught it much in most all of his writings, if not in all of them. He taught that we must die with Christ to sin and live to Christ and to his righteousness and that if we continue living in sin that we will die in our sins (Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8).

 

So, if you make sin your practice (habit, addiction) while claiming faith in Jesus Christ and heaven as your eternal destiny, you need to be aware that the Scriptures DO NOT teach that you can keep on sinning deliberately and habitually and that you will still inherit eternal life with God. In fact, it teaches the opposite.

 

So, if you keep on viewing pornography, or in that extra-marital affair (romantic or sexual), or if you keep taking care of your own sexual desires, or if you keep lusting after someone or anyone, or if you continue having that private relationship behind the back of your spouse, or whatever your sin is, and you think God will do nothing, think again!

 

So, according to God, those who make sin their practice, as their life course, and who turn away from the Lord, and who put their hands up and say “No!” to God when he shows them the truth of his word and the way of righteousness, they will not inherit eternal life with God!!

 

The righteous in God’s sight are not those who are merely positionally righteous through “faith” in Jesus Christ, well, because there isn’t such a thing. For it is only those who practice (not fake, not perform in the flesh) righteousness (in God’s power) who are truly righteous.

 

This is not saying, however, that we will never sin or that we cannot ever sin (1 Jn 2:1-2). But this is saying that those who are genuinely saved, by God’s grace, who have died with Christ to sin, cannot continue living in sin as though Jesus didn’t die to free them from their slavery to sin.

 

So, all these people who are telling you that you can “believe” in Jesus and that you can have your sins forgiven and that heaven is guaranteed you no matter what you do from that moment forward, they are lying to you. That is not the Lord’s gospel. That is a gospel created in the minds of men.

 

So, please listen to the truth here. You walk in sin, you will die in your sins. You walk in righteousness, you have eternal life with God. For, we are all going to be judged by what we do in the body. If we live to please the flesh, from the flesh we will reap destruction, but if we live to please the Spirit, from the Spirit we will reap eternal life. So, believe it and live it!

 

Walking in The Light  

 

An Original Work / November 16, 2011

Based off 1 John 1-2

 

When I lift up my voice, and

Sing praise unto God,

I will fellowship with my

Lord and Savior, King.

In Him there is no darkness.

He is in the light of truth.

If we walk in His light,

From sin He purifies.

 

If we repent of our sins,

He’ll forgive us now,

When we humble ourselves, and

Before Jesus bow.

The man who says, “I know Him,”

But does not obey His truth,

There is no truth in him.

In darkness still he’s found.

 

Do not love the world of sin,

For it is hell bound.

If you follow the world, you’ll

Not in Christ be found.

The world and its desires

Will not last; they’ll expire.

The one who does God’s will,

Receives eternal life.

 

See that what you have heard from

Christ remains in you.

Then, you’ll remain in Christ, and

In His Father, too.

This is what He promised us –

His eternal life with God.

So, continue in Him, and

You’ll receive a crown.

 

https://vimeo.com/114160122