“Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and 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 sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him. 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. No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. 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 3:4-10 NASB1995)

When Jesus Christ gave his life up for us on that cross, it was to put our sins to death with him so that, by God-gifted and God-persuaded faith in him, which is not of our own doing, we will now die to sin. And he rose from the grave in victory over sin, death, hell, and Satan so that we might now live for him in walks of obedience to his commands, in surrender to him as Lord (Owner-Master) of our lives, and in holy living, all for the glory of God!

So, as followers of Jesus Christ, sin is to no longer be what we practice, by habit. But righteousness, godliness, moral purity, uprightness, honesty, faithfulness, and obedience to our Lord and to his commandments (New Covenant) are to be what we put into daily practice, by the grace of God, and in the power of God. And this is not a claim to sinless perfection (1 John 2:1-2), but it is a command of God that we should die to sin and obey God.

And so we are warned here to make certain that no one deceives us. For if we abide (live) in sin, and if sin is what we put into practice, by habit, and not righteousness, holiness, and obedience to our Lord and to his commands, then we are truly not those who abide (live) in Christ Jesus as our Savior and Lord. For those who make sin their practice are of the devil, and Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil, not to pacify evil.

Therefore, no one who is born of God, by God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ, makes sin their practice. It doesn’t mean that we will never sin (1 John 2:1-2), but that sin should not be our habit, what we keep going to over and over again willfully, deliberately, without conscience, and without biblical remorse and true repentance, and in direct defiance to God and to his commands. For they are not of God who do not practice righteousness.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

Seven Woes

Based off Matthew 23
An Original Work / May 31, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Woe to you, teachers of the law;
Hypocrites, you keep men from God.
You refuse to obey the truth,
Nor will you permit others to.
You travel o’er land and sea
To win a single convert to you.
When he becomes one
You make him twice as much
A “son of hell” as you are.

Woe to you, blind guides of mankind.
You distort the words of your God.
By your practices you declare
Your oaths mean nothing, though you swear.
You give a tenth of your spices,
But you neglect justice, mercy.
When you focus your
Time and talents on
What is external, you miss out.

Woe to you, who appear so clean,
When inside you are crass and mean.
You work hard to look so upright,
While you hide all your sins inside.
You deceive yourselves when you think
You would not have done what others
Did to God’s messengers
And prophets of old,
For you will do much the same.
You’re to blame.

Everyone Who Practices Sin
An Original Work / February 26, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love