Children of God or of the Devil?

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.”

Many people today, at least here in America, are being taught that all they have to do is make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ and now all their sins are forgiven (past, present, and future), and heaven is now secured for them when they die, and that it can’t be taken away from them. But that is not what Jesus taught, and it isn’t what his NT apostles taught, either. They all taught what John taught here, and that is that if sin is what we practice, and if righteousness (of God) is not what we practice, we don’t know God.

So, if sin is our practice, our habit, our go to, we are still enslaved to sin, and so we will die in our sins, not have eternal life with God. Sin is also lawlessness, and Jesus will tell those who are lawless and who do not obey the will of God the Father that he never knew them and that they are to depart from him, for they are “workers of lawlessness.” For they were busy calling him “Lord,” and proclaiming all the things they did in his name, but they didn’t obey God, and so they did not enter God’s heavenly kingdom.

Thus, the point of all of this is that, if we are of genuine faith in Jesus Christ, sin should no longer be what we practice. We should not be those who are still addicted to and entrapped in sin who go from sin to sin to sin deliberately and habitually without conscience or true remorse. So if we abide in sin, meaning we obey it, conform to it, and adhere to it, in practice, and if we keep on sinning deliberately and habitually, we do not know God, and we are not born of God, but we are of the devil, this teaches us.

And with regard to those who are righteous in the eyes of God, they are those who put the righteousness of God into practice in their lives, by the grace of God, in the power, wisdom, and strength of God, and not of our own doing, i.e. not of the flesh. So this is not a false righteousness of people who are trying to be good enough to get into God’s heaven. This is us who believe in Christ operating in the righteousness of God which comes from him, is empowered by him, and is gifted to us by his grace to us.

Now, the reason that Jesus gave his life up for us on that cross was to deliver us from our slavery (bondage, addiction) to sin so we would now be slaves (servants) of God and of his righteousness. He died that we might die to sin and live to righteousness, and that we might live for him and no longer for ourselves. And he shed his blood for us on that cross to buy us back for God (to redeem us) out of our lives of sin so that we will now honor God with our bodies, i.e. with our lives.

[Romans 6:1-23; 1 Peter 2:24; 2 Corinthians 5:15; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20]

So, we cannot regard ourselves as children of God and as true believers in Christ Jesus if we do not deny self, die daily to sin, and follow Jesus in obedience to his commands, in practice, as part of that believing faith. For the true children of God are those who are being led by the Spirit of God, meaning we are following the Lord in surrender to his will in doing what he has called us to do, we are not resisting him, and we are not living in sin. But righteousness and obedience to God are what we practice.

And then it warns us here that if we do not love our fellow Christians, who are truly God’s children by how this Scripture defines those who are God’s children, but we hate them, instead, then we are not the children of God, but we are children of the devil. And this word love means to prefer what God prefers, which is what is holy, righteous, godly, morally pure, honest, upright, and faithful, etc. So, if we are loving others with this kind of love, we will do to them and for them what is godly and honest and pure, etc.

Therefore, we will not deliberately and habitually nor premeditatedly sin against God and against our brothers and sisters in Christ who are the true children of God. And we shouldn’t treat any other humans in any manner that is sinful or immoral or is mean and hateful and spiteful, in fact. But if we do treat the true children of God spitefully and maliciously, with full intent to cause them harm or hurt and suffering, then according to what this teaches, we are not of God, but we are children of the devil.

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

My Sheep  

An Original Work / June 24, 2012  

Based off John 10:1-18 NIV

My sheep hear me. They know me.

They listen to my voice and obey.

I call them and lead them.

They know my voice, so they follow me.

They will never follow strangers.

They will run away from them.

The voice of a stranger they know not;

They do not follow him.

So, I tell you the truth that

I am the gate, so you enter in.

Whoever does enter

Will find forgiveness and will be saved.

Nonetheless whoever enters

Not by the gate; other way,

He is the thief and a robber.

Listen not, the sheep to him.

Oh, I am the Good Shepherd,

Who laid his own life down for the sheep.

I know them. They know me.

They will live with me eternally.

The thief only comes to steal and

Kill and to destroy the church.

I have come to give you life that

You may have it to the full… 

They know my voice, so they follow me.

https://vimeo.com/114938263