At Home in Holiness

Everyone who sins is breaking God’s law, for all sin is contrary to the law of God. And you know that Jesus came to take away our sins, and there is no sin in him. Anyone who continues to live in him will not sin. But anyone who keeps on sinning does not know him or understand who he is. Dear children, don’t let anyone deceive you about this: When people do what is right, it shows that they are righteous, even as Christ is righteous. But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil. Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God. So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God.

Does this leave you feeling depressed?

Does this passage leave you feeling depressed?

1 John 3:6–7 NLT

Anyone who continues to live in him will not sin. But anyone who keeps on sinning does not know him or understand who he is. Dear children, don’t let anyone deceive you about this: When people do what is right, it shows that they are righteous, even as Christ is righteous.

Does that seem as impossible as 'Be holy, as I am holy'?

Do you feel condemned, condemned to a life of failure?

Are you waylaid by your wants?

Defeated by your desires?

Tripped up by your will?

Sabotaged by your lack of self-discipline?

I know I often am.

I'm too often harsh and impatient.

I worry too much about what people think of me.

I invest myself too much in things and possessions.

I can be prideful and arrogant.

And I feel condemned.

Do I really know and love Jesus?

John seems to suggest not.

But John doesn't mean us to get depressed.

Taken as a whole, this passage is full of hope.

It gives us hope that we can be free of sin.

And it tells us how we can be free of sin.

God

We are not to be indifferent to sin

But before we get to the hope, we must not water down what John says.

No-one who lives in Jesus keeps on sinning.

But we need to be clear about what John is saying.

The present tense in Greek here appears to have continuous force.

In other words, we should interpret these verses as:

'No-one who continually lives in Jesus makes a habit of sinning'.

John is not talking about individual acts of sin, but an attitude.

He is talking of a lifestyle of sin.

Our attitude to sin is important.

You and I have no business with sin.

We must never be complacent about it.

When we are aware of it, we must root it out.

We must check our attitudes and ensure that we are not wilfully rejecting God's will.

If we are in active disobedience to him, then we must get ourselves back on track.

We are to live in Jesus instead

But the hope in this passage is found in Christ himself:

1 John 3:5 NLT

And you know that Jesus came to take away our sins, and there is no sin in him.

Jesus faced the same trials and temptations that you and I face, and yet he did not sin.

That's why he could die for you and me in order to take away our sin.

And through his sacrifice on the cross, we have been born again.

We have a clean break from our past, and from our sinful lifestyle.

And instead of living in sin, we must develop a lifestyle of living in Jesus instead.

If you walk by faith and love, if you are watchful in prayer, then sin is excluded from your life.

But the moment you cease to walk by faith, love and prayer, the devil can snare you again and you commit sin.

It really is that simple.

I prove it in my own life, more often than I would wish to!

John says the antidote is to live in Jesus; to abide in him.

We've looked at this word before.

The Greek word is meno and it is often translated as abide, remain, stay, live, dwell, lodge, continue, last, persist, await or wait.

We must live in Jesus.

We must stay close to him; never leave his side.

You

Where do you live?

So where are you living today?

Where are you abiding?

Are you living in your own little world, with little thought for anyone else?

Are you living in the past and the painful memories it gives you?

Are you living in your achievements?

Are you living in your computer screen or smartphone?

Do you live in magazines or shops?

Do you live here?

In your ministry, or in our traditions, our songs, music, uniform?

Or are you living in Christ?

Do you draw your spiritual life from him and his indwelling Holy Spirit?

Is he fashioning and forming your attitude to sin and the lifestyle you are leading?

Is Jesus your daily source of strength?

Is he your number one priority each day?

Is he in everything you do?

You see, the problem is, you cannot live in two places at once.

You can either live in sin, or you can live in Jesus.

As John makes clear, you cannot live in both places.

If you live in yourself, then you are not living in Jesus.

If you live in the world, then you are not living in Jesus.

If you live in religion, then you are not living in Jesus.

If you want to abide in Jesus, then recognise him as Lord

If you want to live in Jesus, then you must recognise him as Lord:

1 John 4:15 NLT

All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God.

Acknowledging Jesus as the Son of God joins us to him.

But that's only the beginning.

We have to remain in him moment by moment.

We must renew our allegiance to him every day.

We must love him above all.

We must love him more than anyone else in our lives, and more than anything around us.

That's really hard, because those things seem good to us.

But we must keep on living in him.

We must return to him when we find ourselves preoccupied with who or what we love more.

We should repent and then turn our focus back to Christ.

We recognise him as Lord when we recognise that we have fallen into sin and repent.

He recaptures us by his goodness and grace.

Acknowledging Christ as Lord means lining up our desires, our wants and our wills under his.

If you want to remain vigilant against sin, then pray

How can we do this?

We can only do it through God's power:

Ephesians 3:20 NLT

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.

And one of the main ways you and I tap into this power is through prayer.

If you want the power to reject sin, then pray.

If you want the power to cling to Jesus, to live in him, then pray.

If you want to focus on him, then pray.

It's when you pray that you learn to listen to God.

Prayer helps us to learn from God.

Prayer is perhaps the primary means that we learn to love God.

And it is in prayer that God leads us to follow his will for our lives.

In prayer we present ourselves to our holy God to be made holy.

We're going to do that this morning:

Next Steps

SB 595 - In this quiet moment

In this quiet moment, still, before your throne, Conscious of your presence, knowing I am known. In this quiet moment set my spirit free; In this quiet moment, make a better me! John Gowans (1934-2012) © The General of The Salvation Army. Used By Permission. CCL Licence No. 232358 Copied from The Song Book of The Salvation Army Song Number 595

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