1 John 3:7-8 - Let No One Deceive You (11-21-11)

1 John 3:7-8 - "Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil."

There are those who would say that once you are saved you can live however you want. That our salvation is basically fire insurance, a get out of hell free card. This is terribly wrong. While it's true that we are not saved by our works and our righteousness is as filthy rags, once we're saved by faith and clothed with Christs righteousness God wants us to live by faith, to practice righteousness, to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. James talks about a man being justified by works and not by faith alone. That doesn't mean that we're saved by our works, but our faith manifests itself through our works. Christ did not die to simply save us from hell and then allow us to continue in our sins, but He actually died to put away sin. It is a contradiction for someone to get saved and then continue in sin. In fact John says back in verse 5 - "You know that He(Christ) appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin." He came to take away sin, that's true. He put away sin by the offering of Himself, but notice what this verse says. "He appeared in order to take away sins" Yes, He came to put away sin, but here it says He appeared in order to take away sins, plural. He didn't save us so that we could continue to live in sin, and anyone who continues to live in sin is simply showing that they do not belong to Christ. However, the one who practices righteousness is righteous just as He is righteous. I'm not saying that when someone truly gets saved they never sin again, we still have a human nature. But once He saves us He begins to transform us into His image and we no longer continue to live in sin. I think the word 'continue' is the key. We do sin, and when we sin we confess our sins, and when we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But if we continue in sin we prove that we are not of God but rather we are of the devil. 1 John 3:10 - "By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother." 

1 John 3:7-8 - "Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil."