Is Righteousness Our Practice?

[Christsfreeservant]

“And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. 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. ​

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“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.” (1 John 3:3-10 ESV)​

So far, in the book of 1 John, we have learned that if we say that we have fellowship with God/Christ, but while we walk in darkness (sin), we lie and do not practice the truth. Only as we walk (in conduct) in the light (Jesus, truth, the gospel, righteousness, obedience) do we have fellowship with God/Christ and with his body of believers in him, and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. For if we say, “I know him,” but we do not obey his commandments (New Covenant), we don’t know him. We are liars.

Now I did not cover the whole of the first two chapters, but mainly what goes along with what I am reading now in chapter three. For here we read basically the same thing. If sin is what we practice, we practice lawlessness, for sin is lawlessness. And no one who abides in Christ keeps on sinning, making sin his practice. For Jesus died on that cross to put our sins to death with him so that by faith in him we will die with him to sin and be raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin, but to God.

And then it goes on to say that if we keep on sinning, i.e. if sin is what we practice, i.e. if we deliberately and habitually sin against our Lord and against other humans, then we do not know God. For it is those who make righteousness their practice who are righteous in the eyes of God. But this is not self-righteousness, but it is practicing the righteousness of God in our daily lives, by the grace of God, as empowered by God, and not of ourselves. So we are now walking in obedience to our Lord in holy living, by his grace.

Therefore, we are not to let anyone deceive us. And right now, in our day and time, especially here in America, the multitudes are definitely deceived in so many different ways, and not just on a Christian/non-Christian level, but on multiple levels by so many different people and factions and organizations. We definitely live in a day of massive deception where lies and liars and manipulators of truth abound everywhere, including within the gatherings of much of what is called “church” these days.

But definitely deception on a “Christian” religious level is massive in America and across the globe right now. We are, in fact, being absolutely bombarded with all sorts of deceiving spirits pretending to be of God, and of Christ, and pretending to be bringing us the truth about our Savior and about salvation from sin and about eternal life with God. And they are everywhere – on TV, in movies, in videos (especially short ones), in cartoons, in TV series, in “Christian” song lyrics, in ads, and in social media memes, and the like.

And they are altering, not only the gospel of Jesus Christ and its message, but they are altering the divine character of God – Father, Son (Jesus Christ), and Holy Spirit. And they are altering the character of the body of Christ, the Lord’s church, his servants and his witnesses who have trusted in him to be Lord and Savior of their lives, and who have been crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to righteousness.

And the BIG LIE that is being taught is that we can “believe” (rarely biblically defined) in Jesus, have all our sins forgiven (past, present, and future), have heaven secured for us when we die, and be assured that it cannot be taken away from us, but regardless of how we live, i.e. regardless of what we do or do not do in heart and love response to Jesus Christ for what he did for us in taking our sins upon himself so that we could be delivered out of our slavery (addiction) to sin so we can now live holy lives, pleasing to him.

But the Scriptures teach the opposite of that. Paul especially taught the opposite of that, as did the other NT apostles. They teach us that we must deny self, die daily to sin, and follow our Lord in obedience to his commands for us to have salvation from sin and eternal life with God. They teach us that if sin is what we practice, and if righteousness and obedience to our Lord are not what we practice, then we don’t know God, we are not born of God, we are of the devil, and we will not inherit eternal life with God.

Now this is not saying that we will never sin again (1 John 2:1-2), or that we will never fail. What the Scriptures teach us is that God basically draws a line in the sand and we have two options. On one side we can deny self, die daily to sin, and follow him in obedience, in practice, and have eternal life in him. On the other side we can follow the flesh, and live however we want, in sin, and not make righteousness nor obedience our practice, and hell is our destiny. So it all comes down to what we practice – righteousness or sin.

But this is not of our own works. We can’t even come to faith in Jesus Christ unless God the Father first draws us to Christ, i.e. unless he first persuades us as to his righteousness and holiness and of our sinfulness and of our need to repent of (turn away from) our sins and to follow Jesus in obedience to his commands. So this is the working of the Spirit of God in our lives, but as we cooperate with his work of grace which trains us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-24; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-11; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

Broken and Contrite

An Original Work / May 13, 2012

I come before You, Lord, my Savior,
With humble heart and crushed in spirit.
I bow before You, I implore You,
Heal my broken heart, I pray.
Love You, Jesus, Lord, my master,
You are the King of my heart.
Lord, purify my heart within me;
Sanctify me, whole within.

Oh, Lord, I long to obey fully
The words You’ve spoken through Your Spirit.
I pray You give me grace and mercy,
Strength and wisdom to obey.
Father God, my heart’s desire,
Won’t You set my heart on fire?
Lord, cleanse my heart of all that hinders
My walk with You, now I pray.

Oh, Jesus, Savior, full of mercy,
My heart cries out for understanding.
I want to follow You in all ways,
Never straying from Your truth.
Holy Spirit, come in power,
Fill me with Your love today.
Lord, mold and make me;
Your hands formed me;
Live Your life through me, I pray.