Can Christians Sin?

I was asked a question not too long ago that on the surface seems very simple. Can a Christian sin? I'm sure that almost every one of you might answer a certain way to that question. I think this is an important question, and the study is important, especially as we approach the spring Holy Day season, and especially for anyone who might be contemplating baptism or thinking in that direction. I was asked, could you explain 1 John 3.6 and 1 John 3.9 verse 6. King James version says this, Whosoever abides in him, sins not. So if we abide in Christ, we don't sin. Whosoever sinneth have not seen him, neither knows him. Then in verse 9, Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin, for his seed remains in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God. So what does it mean he cannot sin? Why would John even be writing this in the book of John here, 1 John? If that were true. We have traditionally taught, although we've changed it, we have traditionally taught this scripture refers to being born into God's kingdom. And once you're born into the kingdom, you won't be able to sin. Now that's true. But is that what this scripture is talking about or referring to?

Is it referring to the fact that an individual right now cannot sin if he receives the Holy Spirit? Or is it referring to the future when we're born into the family of God? Well, it's not referring to either one of those, as we will see. It's hard for me to fathom that anyone would think that we can no longer sin.

All you have to do is look at yourself, right? You know, I don't have to look at you, I just have to examine myself, and all of you have to live with yourself. And we all know that we're human, that we fail, we make mistakes, we sin. However, I can understand a person thinking that God will not impute their sins to them if they truly do repent. So I'm going to take a look at this topic today, but also need to realize that there are many false ideas and false teachers around, and we need to rightly divide the word of truth. We need to rightly understand what God says in the scripture. 1 John describes who are the sons of God and who are not the sons of God. That's one of the major themes of this book. How can we evaluate and how can we know the difference in the true sons of God and those who are not? John describes who truly has fellowship with God and who does not have fellowship with God. In 1 John, the apostle addresses several heresies that threaten the church. Now, many of those heresies actually have been brought down into Christendom even today, and we're faced sometimes with those false ideas. The Westward Study in the Greek New Testament has a very good write-up on this section where he explains part of this. Remember, John, the apostle John, was the last of the original apostles alive. He wrote 1 John, 2 John, 3 John in the book of Revelation somewhere around the end of the 80s into the 90s, maybe the change of the century. So he lived to see all kinds of false teachers coming into the church, the church beginning to change in its outlook and its teachings.

He quite strongly in these books wrote against some of these ideas. John, in essence, was contradicting Gnostic teachings. There were two groups of Gnostics back at this time, but both agreed on one thing. That matter was evil. The flesh was evil. You know, that's what they thought. Some Gnostics practiced asceticism. Some Gnostics practiced licentiousness. It's like you had the Stoics and the Epicureans, you know, that went to different extremes.

You had the Docetic Gnostics who denied Christ's actual humanity.

Doceticism, Docetics comes from the Greek word dokyo, meaning to seem.

And they argued that Christ only seemingly had a body. Didn't really have a body. He just appeared to have a body, not a real physical body. Then you had the Serenthians. That's spelled with a C, C-E-R. Serenthian Gnostics. They distinguished between the man Jesus and the Aeon Christ. They thought he was part of the Palermo, or the greater Aeons. And they said that Jesus was a human and that the Christ came on him when he was baptized and left him when he died on the cross. So it was there for a period of time. He came here. He left here. So, you know, that was their ideas. The word Gnostic comes from the Greek word Gnosis, which means to know. They believed that they had a superior knowledge, that they had private knowledge over and above that of the Bible. That you needed to understand what they understood to really comprehend what was going on. So the Gnostics didn't just rely on the Bible. They came up with their own secret knowledge. And for those of you who have been around for a while, you might remember I gave three sermons on Gnosticism a few years ago dealing with this particular topic. Nine times John gives a test for knowing the truth and he uses in the Greek the same verb all nine times. Let's go over here to 1 John chapter 2 and verse 3. Let me show you what I'm talking about. 1 John chapter 2 and we will read in verse 3.

Now by this we know that we know him. So how can you know that you know God or know Christ? Well, if we keep his commandments, that's how you know. If you don't keep his commandments, you don't know God. That's very plain. He says, this is how you can know. He who says, I know him. So those who claim that they knew him and don't keep his commandments, he's a liar. So, you know, he's very plain on that. Verse 5. But whoever keeps his word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in him. So if we keep his word, the love of God is perfected in us. So how will people know that we are the true sons of God? The love that we have for one another. What did Christ say? The night of the Passover. He says, by this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love, one for another. In chapter 3 and verse 16, another example.

By this we know love. Okay, if you say you love God, you love your mankind, or mankind, how do you know? Well, this is how you know. Because he laid down his life for us.

So we know that God loved us because he sent his son, and his son gave his life for us. We also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. So we need to be laying down our lives, sacrificing for the brethren. Verse 19. By this we know that we are the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. So I'm not going to read all of these, but these are some of the ones dealing with knowing.

This is why in chapter 1, beginning in verse 1, John talks so much about seeing Christ, hearing Christ, looking on Christ, feeling of Christ. The apostles were eyewitnesses to the fact that he was God in the flesh. Notice, that which from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled concerning the word of life. The life was manifest, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declared to you that eternal life which was from the Father, which was manifest to us. That which we have seen and heard, we declare to you. Now you also may have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.

So the apostles were eyewitnesses that Christ had come in the flesh.

He wasn't just a manifest being. In the Old Testament, God would appear unto the prophets. He'd appear unto Abraham, and he could manifest himself, but boom, he'd disappear. He was still a spirit being. Spirit beings can manifest themselves in physical form, and then they disappear. Christ, Jesus Christ, was God in the flesh. Remember Matthew 1, verse 20? Emmanuel, meaning God with us. Now, let's move on here.

Let's go on over to verse 5 here and take a look at the theme of 1 John. And you'll see how clearly John explains who is a true Christian and child of God. We'll see who is not. Beginning in verse 5, it says, this is a message which we have heard from him and declare to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all.

If we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. Now, the word fellowship conveys the idea that one person has a joint participation with one another in something possessed in common. We come to church. We say we fellowship with one another. What does that mean? Well, we have joint participation in something we have in common. What do we have in common?

Well, we have God's Spirit. We are the same family spiritually, are we not? It's God's Spirit that places us in the body. We are in the same church. We believe the same basic beliefs, doctrines, and teachings. We are all striving to do what God commands us to do. So, there is a commonality that we have, and we fellowship. The English word fellowship is sometimes used in that way when it talks about college. It might talk about scholars, you know, scholarly fellowship, and it's used in academic circles in that way. To have fellowship with Jesus Christ and the Father in the sense of companionship. We must like what they like, dislike what they dislike.

We must have common values, standards, character. We must love righteousness, and we must hate sin. Now, it's interesting here in verse 6. It says, if we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, this is the present subjunctive tense and speaks of a habitual habit or action. It's talking about a person who habitually walks in darkness. Walks in darkness is a way of life. Now, the world, the unconverted, lives in darkness.

Light is compared to truth, darkness is compared to error. So, you find that most people live in utter darkness. They habitually walk in darkness. If a person's manner of life is to walk in darkness, then you notice he does not practice the truth, or he doesn't habitually practice the truth. So, if a person is habitually going against what God says, he is not of the truth. Now, notice Paul uses this contraction a lot. One of the things you'll notice going through the book of 1 John is that a lot of the scriptures that he uses, a lot of the verbs, are present progressive, meaning that they talk about continual action, habitual action, practices, manner of life, this type of thing.

In verse 7, it says, but if we walk in the light, or habitually walking in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sins. So, to fellowship with Christ, we must be habitually walking in the light. Not just something you do occasionally.

It has to be the way you live, the way you think. Greek implies that we are habitually ordering our behavior according to the light. The light, the revelation, is contained in the Bible. You open it up, you study it, you read it, and it shows you how to live the right way. And so that is our standard. Now, it's interesting here in verse 7. It says, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sins. Now, again, it implies continuous action. As Westward's study says, and the blood of Jesus his Son keeps continually cleansing us from all sins.

Now, this verse alone shows that we still sin, and that you're baptized when a person is baptized. All of our past sins are forgiven. But what happens if we sin in the future? Well, we have to go and repent and ask God to forgive us. So we are continually, the blood of Christ, is continually applied to us so that our sins can be forgiven.

And John includes himself here. He talks about our sins, us, and so on. So we should not be habitually sinning. Now, going on in verse 8 and 9, if we say we have no sin, now why would he even write this unless there were some who were saying, we don't have any sin. So he says, if you say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. And the truth is not in us.

So we do sin. But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

So again, he's attacking the idea of the Gnostics. John writes on that. Breton, we all realize that we have weaknesses, we have faults, and we do sin. I want you to hold your place here, but let's go back to Romans 7. Just read a couple of scriptures here to reinforce what we were saying. In Romans 7, beginning in verse 14, Paul describes here the struggle that we all have with our nature, that we want to do what's right, we don't always do it. He says, for we know that the law is spiritual, but I'm carnal, I'm physical, I'm fleshly, he says, and I'm sold to understand. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice. But what I hate, that I do. How many times do we struggle and try to overcome something? We think we're on top of it, and we give in, or we sin again, and we stumble. So he says, that which I hate, which I don't like, I do. If then I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it's good. But now it is no longer I who do it, but the sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, nothing good dwells. For to will is present with me, but how to perform. What is good I do not find. It is that how to perform, isn't it, that we all have problems with. That's where the rubber meets the road. How do we do it? How do we keep the law? How do we obey? Where do we get the strength, the power, the motivation? Where does all of that come from? Well, it comes from God. God works in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure. So God is the one who inspires us in that way. But he says, I find a law that evil is present with me. The one who wills to do good. And I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I say, now the law of my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. O wretched man, he says, that I am who will deliver me from this body of death. So he goes on to show that it's through Christ that we are delivered. Then in chapter 8 he explains how this takes place. That we have the Spirit of God, if we have the Spirit of God dwelling in us, and we're living obitually according to God's way. That we're no longer in the flesh, but we're in the Spirit. And we have to be led by that Spirit. Now, if you back up to Romans chapter 6, Romans 6 explains how all of this takes place.

Romans 6 is describing the process we go through before baptism.

It says, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him. Romans 6, 6. That the body of sin might be done away with, and that we should no longer be slaves of sin. See, in the past we were slaves of sin. We were held in chains to sin.

For he who has died has been freed from sin. When you're baptized, the old man, the old way of life, is to die. When you go under, you have said that you want to live a new way, God's way. The old is out, the new is in. And so he explains that. And this is exactly, we are no longer to be slaves to sin. Then he goes on. Well, verse 6 is interesting here also that the body of sin might be done away with. Well, you and I still have the body of sin, don't we? You're still fleshly.

As the margin shows, the word means to render an operative. We are to render it an operative. That is no longer to dominate us, but God gives us the power through the Holy Spirit to begin to rule over ourselves. Now in verse 11, likewise you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God. Therefore do not let sin reign your mortal bodies, that you should obey it in its lust. So he shows the process that we go through. And verse 14, for sin shall not have dominion over you. So we're not to allow sin to have dominion. We are to become slaves of right righteousness, as verse 19 shows, no longer slaves to sin. So can Christians sin? Well, sure, we all sin. But as we will see as we progress here through the book of 1 John, there's a difference.

The fact that we still need to repent demonstrates that we sin. Remember in Revelation chapter 2, let's go back to Revelation 2 and 3. Revelation chapter 2, we have the message to the seven churches here, and to each one you'll notice that God tells them to do something.

In verse 4, nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen and repent. What does the word repent mean? Well, it means to change your mind for the better, to amend your ways. You and I are to change and go God's way. So with each one of these groups, he brings out what their faults are, and he says, repent, change. So you've got to go to God, ask for God's forgiveness, and then ask God to help you to change. Verse 16 says, repent, else I will come to you quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. Verse 22, the last sentence, unless they repent of their deeds. And you can go on chapter 3, verse 3, chapter 3, and verse 19. All of them tell us that we have to repent of our sins.

Now, you and I have to repent of our wrong approach. Let's notice 2 Corinthians, chapter 7, and verse 8. 2 Corinthians, chapter 7. Paul had written a letter to the church in Corinth, what we call 1 Corinthians. He had corrected them quite sharply, had rebuked them. And when he first got a report back from Corinth about how they took it, sort of shook him up a little bit because he was afraid maybe he'd come on too strong. Let's notice in verse 8. For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it, though I did regret it. Initially, he regretted it, but when he saw the fruits that it produced, he said, I don't regret it. For I perceive that this same epistle made you sorry, though only for a while, just for a little while. Now rejoice not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. So here was a church that had to repent of their sins, of their mistakes. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us, and nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance to salvation, in other words, that will lead ultimately to our salvation. Not to be regretted for the sorrow of this world works death, or produces death. The example of the church in Corinth demonstrates that true Christians are not sinless and need to change. What if Jesus Christ wrote a letter to the church in Chattanooga?

What would he say? What would he say to the church in Rome? Or whatever congregation it might be. Well, let me tell you what he said to the church in Corinth.

Chapter 1 verses 11 through 12, he said there are contentions and divisions among you, and I believe it. Chapter 3 talks about how they were carnal because they were following various leaders and picking different ones to follow. Chapter 4, he warned them that they needed to change. He said, do you want me to come with a rod or shall I come to you gently? Chapter 5, he had to correct them over the fornicator, telling them to put them out of the church. Chapter 6, he corrected them about going to law with a brother. Chapter 7, there were all kinds of marriage problems, and he had to straighten all of that out. Chapter 8 has to do with meets offered to idols and offending one another. So he explained what our approach should be in that area. Chapter 10, he talked about idolatry, meets offered to idols, offending one another. Chapter 11, he talked about long hair, short hair, long hair for men, short hair for women, and division over the Passover, and how they were keeping the Passover wrong. Chapter 14, the misuse of gifts, especially of tongues. Chapter 15, false teachings about the resurrection. So you find the whole book deals with false ideas, wrong ideas, and he had to correct them. The command was for them to change to overcome. And guess what? Back in Revelation 2 again, through the churches, Paul wrote to repent, but what did he also write? Did he not say to him who overcomes, I will do such and such? You have to repent, and you have to overcome. Okay, with all of that in mind, let's go back to 1 John. 1 John, and verse 10, chapter 1, and verse 10. 1 John, if we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

So anybody who says he hasn't sinned, the Bible says, is a liar. 2 John, if we say we have not sinned, and are not now in such a state that we could sin, a liar is not in us. That's how he translates that particular verse.

Now let's take a look at chapter 3, because that's where we started. And that's what we want to take a look at here. In chapter 3, begin reading in verse 1, it says, Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called the children of God. So he's talking about who are the children of God. So he says, Look, we are the children of God. Therefore, the world does not know us, because it did not know him. They didn't accept Christ as the Messiah. And do they accept us as the true Christians? That what we do is the right way to worship God. Beloved, now we are the children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure. Now it's interesting in this verse. Notice verse 3, and I'll read it to you out of West. West has translated the whole New Testament into Greek. In his translation of verse 3, everyone who has his hope continually said on him is constantly purifying himself just as that one is pure.

So verse 3 here, again, is talking about the present progressive, that we are constantly purifying ourselves. It is a process that we're going through of growth and development. It's not a one-time deal. It's not a matter you're baptized, and that's the only time you ever have to repent. Now we have to repent till the day we die. There's not one of us here, I don't think, who go through a day. And at the end of the day, looking back, you know you didn't live up to God's law and standards the way you should, and you have to repent. Well, he goes on then in verse 4 of this chapter, and he says, whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness, and you know that he was manifest to take away our sins. And in him there is no sin.

John shows the incompatibility of being a child of God and continuing in sin. As a child of God, we do not continue in sin as a way of life. Again, let me read verses 4 and 5 out of West. Verse 4, everyone who habitually commits sin also habitually commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know absolutely that the one was manifested in order that he might take away our sin, and sin in him does not exist. A child of God does not habitually commit sin. It is not his way of life. He does not habitually have a lawless attitude. John is again talking about the manner of life that we have, our way of life, our style of life, what we do, and how we live. In verse 6, chapter 3 verse 6, whoever abides in him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen him nor knows him. Now this is one of the scriptures that was quoted to me. Notice how this is translated by West. Everyone who in him is constantly abiding, so we have to constantly abide in Christ. How do we do that? How do you abide in Christ? Well, you do that by renewing God's Spirit in you daily, by prayer, by Bible study.

We have to abide in the right way, doing what is right, what is good, according to God's law. So everyone who in him is constantly abiding, in other words, we don't go off the track, we don't derail, we don't go off into heresies, and so on, is not habitually sinning.

So again, we find the practicing, or habitually sinning, everyone who is constantly sinning has not with discernment seen him, nor has he known him. With the result, that condition is true of him at present. So many of these Gnostics claim that they had seen Christ, they knew him, he had given them special information, and so Paul comes back and says, look, a person can say he knows him, seen him, touched him, and all of that, but if he is constantly habitually sinning, he's a liar, and he's very clear about that. See, character is shown by one's habitual actions. What is character? Or character is knowing what is right, doing what is right. See, we know God calls you, opens your mind, he reveals his law to you. So it's not just agreeing with it, but you've got to do it. So you know, and you do.

A Christian, as a habit of life, does righteousness, and sin is not a habit with him. John does not teach that believers do not sin, but he's speaking of character a habit. Verse 6 is not talking about the impossibility of sinning, but a Christian does not practice sin, does not live in sin as a way of life. It is not his behavior or manner of life. I've used the illustration before, and I'll use it again. On the Sabbath, the vast majority of people in society do whatever they want to. They go to work, or they go swimming, they go on a picnic, they paint the house, they repair the car. They do whatever they want to. They have no consciousness of the Sabbath. They are habitually breaking the Sabbath. That means it is their manner or way of life. That's the way they live.

Now, you and I know that from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset is the Sabbath. And so we strive to obey and keep the Sabbath as closely as we can. Do you ever sin in your observance of the Sabbath? Well, there are times that we do. There are times that we do things that are wrong on the Sabbath. But see, that is quite different from habitually. There is a lifestyle breaking the Sabbath. And that's what he is talking about here in verse 6. Now, notice verse 7.

Verse 7 actually is fairly well translated here. It says, Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness, see, habitually or practices it, is righteous. That's how you can tell who's righteous.

Just as he is righteous.

Now, Wes says, Little born ones, stop allowing anyone to lead you astray. The one who habitually does righteousness is righteous, just as that one is righteous.

Now, verse 8 explains that habitual sins or habitual righteousness comes from a specific source. Let's notice it. He who sins is of the devil.

In other words, he who practices sin is of the devil. Or as Wes says, he who habitually is committing sin is out of the devil. That's the influence there as a source, because from the beginning the devil has been sinning.

For this purpose there was manifest to the Son of God in order that he might ring to naught the works of the devil. So the person who makes righteousness his business, that's his way of life. That's what he's striving to do. Even though he will sin, have to repent, he has a struggle going on, we find that that person, by his example, by the way he lives, shows that he is truly a child of God. Now, verse 9, especially the one scripture in question, whoever has been born of God does not commit sin. For God's seed remains in him, and he cannot sin because he has been born of God.

Now, the King James Version says, does not commit sin, should be translated, does not habitually do sin. And I will read verse 9 to you. Everyone who's been born out of God with the present result that he's a born one of God does not habitually commit sin because his seed, God's seed, remains in him. And he is not able habitually to sin because out of God he's been born with the present result that he is a born one of God. As we know, we are in this life begotten by God's Spirit, and the resurrection will be born again into the very family of God. It is the principle of divine life, God's Spirit, that makes it impossible for a child of God to live habitually in sin. Now, does that mean, though, that you're converted and a person can never fall away from God's way of life? We've all known people who've fallen away from the truth. You and I, as we have read through here, must abide in God. We have to remain faithful. That's what it's talking about when it talks about abiding. We have to obey. We have to remain faithful. And if we give up and we quit, then we're in trouble. Now, in verse 10, notice, in this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God. Very simple. And he who does not love his brother. And this is a message that you heard from the beginning that we should love one another. So again, verse 10 is talking about habitual practice or action.

I'll read it again out of West. And this is a parent who are the born ones of God and the born ones of the devil. Everyone who is not habitually doing righteousness is not of God.

Also the one who is not habitually loving his brother with a divine and sacrificial love. So you and I must show by our example that we love our brother. True Christian will practice righteousness and will habitually love his brother. So rather than you and I must show that love and it should be something that is habitual with us, a practice with us.

If you have a new American Standard Bible, it gives a very good description of this whole section. It's a fairly good translation because it uses the word practice. And practice is another way instead of saying habitual, meaning to practice and talking about a practice as a way of life.

Verse 11 of this chapter, and I won't read all of these verses, it says that we should habitually be loving one another. In verse 14, it talks about because we are habitually loving the brethren, and if we're not habitually loving them, then we're faced with death. Verse 15, everyone who habitually is hating his brother is a man-slayer. And verse 22, habitually asking. So we find this mentioned over and over. I could go through 1 John 2, 1 John 4, 1 John 5, and you'll find the same thing mentioned over and over. John was not teaching that Christians do not sin. He was teaching the exact opposite. He was teaching against Gnosticism. I've sort of looked at this from a negative point of view, trying to show you what John was talking about.

But there is also a very positive aspect of everything we've covered here that God is telling us to do as his children, as true Christians. Notice what we've covered, but I haven't summarized it, which I will do right now. That we are constantly to live in the light.

In the truth, we continually confess our sins to God. That's a positive so we can be forgiven. We constantly obey God. It's a practice with us. We habitually keep the Word of God.

As a habit of life, we live in a close fellowship with God and with our spiritual family. And so this is where our spiritual fellowship is. We habitually love our brother.

We habitually do the will of God. We constantly abide in God or rely upon Him.

We habitually do righteousness. We are constantly purifying ourselves. We do practice obedience to God's law, so we are consistently law-abiding. We continuously ask God for His help. Our source of strength and help is God and the Holy Spirit. Our gifts come out from God. He's the one that we rely upon. We have to trust Him for help. That's quite a list when you look at it of what we've simply covered here in the little bit of time we've had to go through 1 John. It is clear who are the children of God, who are not the children of God in 1 John. 1 John clearly explains how we have passed from death into life. A converted Christian still sins, but it is not his manner or style of life. Our style, our manner, is one of righteousness, doing what is right, obeying God's law. We practice God's way of life. We fall short of it, but our overall approach is to head in that direction. Think of it this way. At one time, we were going in this direction, 180 degrees away from God's kingdom. We'll say, this is God's kingdom. This is the lake of fire over here. Our way of life was leading us in this direction. We were in darkness. We were confused. We lived habitually in the wrong way. God calls us. He opens our mind. He reveals his way of life. We repent. We turn around. We change. That's what repentance is. And we start towards God's kingdom. Now, that's our goal now. The world is going this way. We're going that way towards God's kingdom. As we head towards God's kingdom, do we stumble and fall? Well, the book of Proverbs says, the righteous stumble seven times. But you know what? They get up and they keep going. You and I might stumble. We might fall. We sin. But our thrust, our desire, our motivation where we're headed is to the kingdom.

And so that is the difference. You and I have changed around. We're headed for the kingdom. We stumble. We fall. But we keep going in that direction. We pick ourselves up, repent, ask for God's forgiveness, and God leads us. Whereas the world until God calls them are going in the exact opposite direction. Those who are practicing lawlessness are of the devil. Those who practice righteousness are of God. And that is clearly what the apostle John told. God is creating his nature, his character within us. So, brethren, if somebody comes along teaching that a Christian doesn't sin, you read an article to that effect, don't believe it. Believe what the Bible says. Believe God.