"Practicing righteousness proves it."

1 John 3:1-3 “1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.”

RECAP OF VERSES 1-3

John reminds us to look deeply into what kind of love the Father has loved us with that we should have the great privilege to called children of God. The world does not get this kind of love. The world’s love is fleeting and fickle, the Fathers love is lasting, eternal, and sacrificial.

John makes the declarative statement that “we are God’s children,” however the full extent of what we will be has not yet been fully realized. We are in the already state of redemption but the not yet full completion of our sanctification in Christ. However, when Christ appears riding on the clouds we shall see Him in all of His splendor and glory, then we will be fully realized and complete in Him. Those who hope in Him are constantly being purified and transformed into His image. Our full identity is wrapped up in Christ alone.

J. I. Packer on Being God's Child

"You sum up the whole of New Testament teaching in a single phrase, if you speak of it as a revelation of the Fatherhood of the holy Creator. In the same way, you sum up the whole of New Testament religion if you describe it as the knowledge of God as one's holy Father.

"If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God's child, and having God as his Father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all."

1 John 3:4–10 ESV

4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. 8 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. 9 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. 10 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.

John now makes it clear that we are not to continue to sin but practice righteousness. What are the marks of someone who is seeking to live a righteous life.

WHAT IS RIGHTEOUSNESS: It’s the quality of being or behavior that is morally right or justifiable. We are made righteous in the eyes of God; that is, that we are accepted as righteous and treated as righteous by God on account of what the Lord Jesus has done for us on the Cross. He was made sin; we are made righteousness.

Big Idea: God’s grace overwhelms our brokenness when arrested by the truth of His righteousness.

How do we Practice Righteousness?

1. We show that we practice righteousness by what we believe about God and Our Sinfulness.

Two Key Questions in Interpreting Scripture

What does the text teach me about God?

What does the text teach me about fallen Humanity?

Little children can be easily led astray. Their trusting nature and comparative inexperience of life make them vulnerable targets for those who want to exploit them.

John can see this danger among the new generation of Christians in the churches he knows. The problem is that we tend to use the wrong standards by which to assess false teaching. We look at the personality of the teacher rather than his Godly character. Jesus warns us that they come to you in sheep’s clothing (Mt. 7:15).

*Christ came to deliver us from sin

Seeing Sin for What It Is

According to a radio report, a middle school in Oregon faced a unique problem. A number of girls began to use lipstick and put it on in the bathroom. After they put on their lipstick, they pressed their lips to the mirrors leaving dozens of little lip prints. Finally the principal decided something had to be done. She called the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the custodian. She explained lip prints caused a major problem for the custodian, who had to clean the mirrors every day. To demonstrate how difficult it was, she asked the custodian to clean one of the mirrors. He took out a long-handled brush, dipped it into the toilet, and scrubbed the mirror. Since then there have been no lip prints on the mirrors.

When tempted to sin, if we could only see the real filth we'd be kissing, we wouldn't be attracted to it.

WHAT IS SIN?

Sin is today what Sangster would call a “blurred word.” It has lost its sharp edges. It has, in fact, almost disappeared from popular speech. We hear much of vice, a great deal about crime, but sin has practically been dropped from the popular vocabulary.The term needs exact definition. Here are four views of its nature and effects.

Note: I had someone not long ago who told me that his wife did not like how much I talked about sin in my sermon. The topic of sin is not a very popular topic in our society today. Why? I think it is because we have built a culture around self-worship, self-sufficiency, self- indulgence.

1). It is a delight that deceives us.

“Whoever sins against light kisses the lips of a blazing cannon” (Jeremy Taylor)

Sin is a kiss that kills. Sin is a hooded harlot that men beautiful harlot whom we think is beautiful and long to embrace, but when we take her to her to ourselves she is a loathsome hag.

2) It is a drug that dopes us.

“Every sin works like a drug, and continued use of sin tends to numb us to it’s destructive effects.” “The more we become aware of our sin the less sin we incorporate into our lives.

3) It is a disease that destroys us.

“Cancer is a disease that you can have and not even realize that you are slowly dying from within. This is much the way sin operates, it works its way into our life and slowly kills off anything good.”

Though we cannot fully know the mysteries of God’s purposes, we cannot believe for one moment that this chain of events that led to sin entering the world took Him by surprise, or produced an emergency in heaven. Otherwise, what would we make of Peter’s assertion that Christ, the lamb, was chosen before the creation of the world (1 Peter 1:20), or Paul’s affirmation that Christians are chosen in Christ “before the creation of the world’ (Eph. 1:4)?

If Jesus defeated sin and death on the cross then why do we still see the devil at work today? We have the rest of the New Testament to help us with this question. The victory has been won, but its full implementation or affects awaits the completion of God’s purposes in bringing every son and daughter home to glory, and of building his church in every place. Until that time, God extends his grace and mercy to all mankind, and today remains a ‘day of salvation.

1 Corinthians 15:24–26 ESV

24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

“Everyone who commits sin also breaks the law.”

In your practice of sinning you also rebel against the rightful king whom you allegiance and loyalty are found. Sin is personal treason against the Sovereign God of the universe.

PROBLEM: The consistent message echoed throughout all of scripture is our sin problem. Our need for an atoning sacrifice to bring about the solution. The rescue plan was started from the very beginning. The problem is that man loved sin more. When someone is practicing sin it is a regular habit in their life.

Why do people practice anything? They practice to get better at it. When someone practices sin they are working to perfect the art of sinning. The world is practicing their sinfulness to see how good they can get at sinning.

HOW DO PEOPLE WHO HAVE EXPERIENCED THE MIRACLE OF SALVATION DEAL WITH SINFULNESS?

How do we rest in the full assurance of our salvation and our ongoing battle with sin?

3 Things we must remember.

(1) There is no such thing as a sinless Christian.

1 John 1:8 reminds us that, “If we say we have no sin we make God out to be a liar and the truth is not in us. In other words do not let the deception of these false teachers work their way into your own self-deception. There are no sinless Christians.

There is also, no habitual sinner either. While we are not to expect perfection, on the one hand, neither are we to settle for a mediocre level of Christian experience either.

(2) The born again have an advocate.

1 John 2:1 “John writes so that we may not sin, but if we do sin we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” John does not assume that if you sin, you are not born again. He assumes that if you sin, you have an advocate, who is Jesus Christ. And only those who are truly born again have this advocate before the Father.

(3) There is sin that does not lead to Death.

1 John 5:16-17; “If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life-to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.”

This is why we see Christians sinning even though they have been born again. Because there is sin that does not lead to death.

NOTE: I do not think John is specifying a particular sin or kinds of sins, rather degrees of rootedness and habitual persistence. There is a point of confirmed sinning which may take you over the line of no return and you will be like Esau who sought repentance and could not find it.

How do Born Again Christians Deal with sin?

This leads us to the two questions that are asked.

1) How do you use the warning that you might deceive yourself?

2) How do you use the promise, “If we do sin, we have an Advocate”?

The evidence of your new birth lies in how these truths function in your life.

*Christ came to destroy the work of the Devil.

THE DEVIL IS ENEMY #1

The Warrior Lamb (Rev. 5) who defeated sin and death is our champion. Never forget that Christ has already won the battle against Satan.

False teachers would want you to believe that you can be born again and still live in a life of sin. That you can still daily practice a life of sin. This is the ultimate lie straight from the pits of Hell.

If you are currently caught up this lie that you can make a daily practice of sinning and still call yourself a child of the king you are deceived. You need to get on your knees right now and repent, and turn to the only one who can save your soul from eternal death.

(1) We Pursue Righteousness.

vrs.7

Christians abide in Christ and do not Live in Sin

Your goal from the moment you breathed air into your lungs this morning is not to sin. We should do everything we can to avoid sin and not feed the sinful desires of our flesh.

We Practice Righteousness: Those who know Christ personally will live a righteous life, as Christ lived. Matthew 5:48

Matthew 5:48 ESV

48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

This means that sin no longer dominates or enslaves us. This does not mean that we do not sin, however, I will not walk in sin, sin will not be the habit of my life; It will not be my normal practice. I no longer love sin; I hate sin.

Deception is Defeated: by a righteous life that gives tangible, visible, evidence that we have been born again through faith in Christ. We will live out who we are, it is inevitable.

Note: If you have to dig to deep and look to hard to find tangible, visible, evidence of the new life then you have not been born again. You are lost, and still dead in your sins.

CHRIST IS MY RIGHTEOUSNESS

This determines what I am in Christ positionally in the eyes of God (1 Peter 2: 9-10).

This determines how I act while here on earth and governs the pattern of my life. Galatians 2:19-20

Galatians 2:19–20 ESV

19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

God's Ultimate Weapon

When God wanted to defeat sin, his ultimate weapon was the sacrifice of his own Son. On Christmas Day two thousand years ago, the birth of a tiny baby in an obscure village in the Middle East was God's supreme triumph of good over evil.

(2) The Devil is a Defeated Foe

vrs. 8 is one of the clearest reminders to us of why Jesus Christ came to the earth.

This is the first time that John makes a direct reference to the Devil (diabolos). Jesus came on the scene to take away sin and also to destroy the Devil.

God invaded enemy territory and took the Devil our enemy to school. He came, searched out, and destroyed the works of Satan. He Blew Him up. Sin’s presence will soon pass away forever. Jesus delivered a knock out punch to the Devil on the cross. The empty tomb is an eternal reminder to His victory and to ours.

The Son of God came to undo the work of the devil. The crucifixion of Christ, which looked like a mighty victory for Satan, turned out to be a great triumph for God, because it was on the cross that Jesus took your sins and my sins.

Note: Are you currently struggling with temptation?

James 4:7-8 tells us to submit ourselves to God. Resist the Devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you......

Christ's Undisputed Control

Suppose you are alone in your house with your preschool children, and an intruder enters. If you doubt your power over the intruder, your house becomes a place of terror. But if you have undisputed control, you don't (fear) someone coming into your house.

The universe is God's house, and an Intruder has entered and is even now desecrating the house. Many times when we see him walking around, we are on the brink of terror. We need not fear, however, since he and our Father met head-on in combat in the tomb, and God emerged the undisputed Victor! We are safe from the Intruder. This is the message of Easter: the most fearsome enemies we can face have been overpowered by the One who loves us

*Christ came to Demarcate the Children of God

vrs. 9-10

DEMARCATE: To separate or distinguish one from the other. To set apart clearly or distinctly as if by definite limits or boundaries. To set apart by it’s unique history.

Christ came to set boundaries for His children. “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning.”

Philippians 4:8 Paul give some of these boundaries: “Finally, brothers, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Ephesians 5:1-4 “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, And walk in love, as Christ love us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.

Paul also states in Romans 6 “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace should abound? By no means! How we who died to sin live in it!

Notice that this is one of the few times in scripture where the writer is so emphatic about an instruction that it is punctuated with an exclamation point. He is saying READ THIS! IT IS of VITAL IMPORTANCE!

(1) God’s Children have experienced a New Birth (1 John 3:9)

We have been converted, born again, regenerated.

Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God’s grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart brought about by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace. Repentance is a genuine turning from sin and toward God.

New Bible Dictionary:

“Regeneration is a drastic act on fallen human nature by the Holy Spirit, leading to a change in the persons whole outlook.”

Christ is my righteousness positionally and experientially - determining what I am in the eyes of God and directing how I act here on earth. Christ is my pattern for righteous living.

2. We show that we practice righteousness by how we Live and Love like Jesus.

1 John 3:11–18 ESV

11 For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 12 We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. 16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17 But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

Note: Notice the close relationship between John 3:16 and 1 John 3:16; the first tells us that God so loved the world that He gave his one and only son, the second tells us that this is how we know love that he laid down his life for us. However, whoever has all that the world has to offer yet see’s his brother in need, yet turns a blind eye to him cannot claim that he is a true follower of Christ.

HOW IS YOUR LOVE LIFE?

Those who truly belong to God in Christ will live and love after the pattern of Jesus rather than the pattern of this world. Remember at the beginning of chapter 3 John say’s that the world does not understand this kind of love.

The Height of our love for God will never exceed the depth of our love for one another...

Two Attitudes Toward Love

If you are carrying a cup which is filled toe the brim and someone jogs by and bumps your arm, whatever is in the cup spills out. The unexpected knocks and irritations of life are similarly a very good indicator of the quality of the life within.

(1) The Habitual love towards people shows what we believe about love.

Are we like the shirt I read the other day that said

“I love mankind; it’s people I can’t stand”?

More importantly as Christians how do I react to my brothers and sisters in Christ. The foundation to the Christian walk is all about genuine love for one another.

Notice what Deuteronomy 15:7-9 says, If one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord has given you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. Take care lest here be an unworthy thought in your heart.....

(2) The Habitual love towards people shows that we have been transformed

'One Another's' You Can't Find in the New Testament

Pastor Ray Ortlund writes, "The kind of God we really believe in is revealed in how we treat one another. The lovely gospel of Jesus positions us to treat one another like royalty, and every non-gospel positions us to treat one another like dirt. But we will follow through horizontally on whatever we believe vertically."

Ray then goes on to identify the "One Another's" he could not find in the N.T.:

Sanctify one another, humble one another, scrutinize one another, pressure one another, embarrass one another, corner one another, interrupt one another, defeat one another, sacrifice one another, shame one another, judge one another, run one another's lives, confess one another's sins, intensify one another's sufferings, point out one another's failings …

If God even loved his enemies how much more must we love our brothers and sisters in Christ, who have the same Father and share in the divine life with us. (How often do we neglect the body)

Note: Love is at the heart of the gospel. The language that John uses is similar to 1 John 1:5 “This is the message that we have from the beginning.” The gospel message that all of us heard at the very beginning of our conversion was a message of love.

Cain and Abel’s Sacrifice

Surely growing up they had heard from Adam and Eve about the garden. They had heard about the great sin and expulsion from the garden. They would have known about the reality of the fall and the consequences of their actions. They would have known that they could only approach the throne of grace. This was the provision by which they could draw near to God.

Cain offered some of the fruits of the soil. It was an offering that did cost him much to offer and did not represent the seriousness of sin or a spirit of ultimate submission to God.

The battle that continues to rage in every human life is it going to be my will or God’s will. Why did Cain murder his brother, because his own actions were evil and his brothers were righteousness.

Christians should not be surprised when their love is met with hatred. Hatred is the worlds Currency.

Note: John say’s that following Jesus means that e are to love consistently and comprehensively, continually and individually. Play no favorites, we do not get to pick and choose who we love.

Abiding in Life

Passing from Death to Life (the great transfer)

The Love that we show to our brothers and sisters is out of a deep gratitude for the eternal everlasting love that we have in Jesus Christ. We have been loved much, therefore, what else can we do but show this kind of eternal love in our gratitude to the Father/

The alternative is not just physical death - the real death is eternal separation from God, who is the only source of life and light.

YOU MUST LIVE FOR CHRIST - BUT IT WILL COST YOU YOUR LIFE

DEATH IS NOT THE END: Some believe once you die that is the end of the road, you merely stop existing. Scripture teaches that while our present physical bodies will decompose, our souls will live forever, either in God’s presence or eternally separated from Him.

3. We show that we practice Righteousness when we make pleasing God our Priority.

1 John 3:19–24 ESV

19 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; 20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.

*The Challenge of a Condemning Heart

We live in a society and culture where nothing goes unquestioned. The surest convictions of the past are bound to be challenged tomorrow, if not today. Doubting and speculation many times are born out of academic inbreeding, where research degrees are built and reputations made by theories about theories about theories, at two or three removes from reality.

We can be certain that questions and speculation are here to stay. Christians are not immune from such pressures, especially in an age like our own. Most of us find that we have problems with assurance at some stage of our spiritual development. Our hearts continually condemn us and remind us of our unworthiness.

verses 19-22a

No matter how close we may feel we are to God it brings us back to see how little like our Lord we really are and how much further we have to go. As Christians, we find that our hearts do often condemn us. Like a judge who discerns something in the prisoner which he must expose and sentence, our hearts judge us.

We alone know our own internal motives and how often our love for our brothers, especially particular people, falls far short of what it ought to be. Our hearts know things about ourselves that are unknown to others, and their condemnation, unlike the accusation of Satan, is not false.

God is Greater than our Hearts

“Our comfort is in the fact that God knows that the measure of love we do have is irrefutable evidence of the activity of the Holy Spirit in our lives, that we have been born of God, that we have crossed over from death to life. And he wants us to know it too.”

Yes, we are all imperfect creatures. Our own hearts cry out fro a more consistent Christ-like love, but that does not destroy our assurance; it confirms it.

“When we get to this point it would be wise to ask ourselves 3 simple questions that John has already lined out.”

Belief: Do I really believe the right things about Jesus?

Obedience: Am I really obeying God as i ought?

Love: Is my love for other People what it should be?

Note: We can draw confidence from the fact that we still have a deep desire to please God. Such confidence is vital if we are to pray effectively. It is easy for us to become so worked up over our failures, to be so hard on ourselves for not being better, and so miserable about our state, that we lose the radiance of God’s love in our lives.

*The Challenge of an imperfect Obedience

We should all sit up and Listen

Notice that in verse 22 indicates that answered prayer is dependent on our obedience and doing what pleases God, how can we ever have confidence to pray? Our obedience is always imperfect, and there are many remnants of the old way of life even in the most holy of Christians.

The greatest saints have always been the most conscious of their depravity of sin.

How we receive God’s good gifts in answer to prayer, if we do not ask in accordance with his will? And how can we ask like that, unless we are obeying God’s will already revealed in Scripture?

We must go to the preceeding verses to discern what verse 22 is trying to tell us. John’s purpose is to fashion our asking on this pattern of obedience. The greatest promises about prayer is that they do not give us carte blanche to get anything we want from God.

This would make God an indulgent Father, but hardly a loving. On a merely human level, no father gives his child everything that he or she wants, because he realizes what a spoiled, self-centered individual child would become. The Child may demand things that would actually harm them. If God were simply a supplier of every wish or whim, which of us would dare ever to pray again?

Like Children we often do not know what is best for us.

Prayer is the expression of our requests to a loving, heavenly Father who loves both to hear and to answer his children, according to His wisdom and what is best.

John affirms this in 1 John 5:14

1 John 5:14 ESV

14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.

verse 23 rolls this all up into one big enchilada when he takes those many commands we need to obey and combines all that pleases God into this one great statement.

2 Commands Given

(1) That we believe in the name of Jesus

The response that God requires is belief. The Greek verb for to believe is in an aorist tense indicating a definite action at a specific point in time. We believed.

(2) That we love one another

The God of the universe who is love calls us to allows his love to flow into and through our lives, so that we become channels of that love to others.

So the verb for to love is in a continuous present tense; love is the constantly expressed evidence of the commitment of faith. Faith and love must go together.

Note: It all comes back to the greatest commandment in the book of the law.

John even defines further what true believing is, perhaps wit an eye particularly towards the gnostic teachers.

In John’s writing, the verb pisteuo (belief), usually means believing that something is true, and so credible, rather than ‘making a personal commitment to someone’ (for which he usually uses pisteuo eis, believing into).

The certain stress that John is making here is on “Right Belief.” The believers are to believe in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, a stress that is demanded by the situation in which false beliefs about Jesus were prevalent.

So, a true Christian is one who obeys both the commands, to believe and to love, In this world, such responses will always be less than perfect and tainted with sin, but the continuance in them is the all-important mark of genuineness.

This brings us to the final verse of this chapter.

Spiritual Life (Abiding in Christ)

Abiding in Christ and obedience feed and reinforce one another. John is now gathering together all of the themes we have explored thus far into one Fellowship with God.

The ultimate source of the knowledge that we have been given is found in the Spirit of God. Knowledge of that sort will not be shaken by the imaginative fantasies of the antichrists. It’s source is the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us by the Father. Our knowledge and assurance in the end come from God himself.

We have the objective evidence and the subjective experience by which we may know that we really do belong to God. The Holy Spirit takes the evidence of the historical life, death and resurrection of the Word made flesh, in the pages of the written word of God and awakens our minds to its truth and our wills to its imperatives that we are brought to repent and to believe the good news.

THE OBJECTIVE EVIDENCE OF A CHANGED LIFE

The objective evidence of a changed life, with a new concern to live righteously in obedience to Christ’s commands, and to reflect his character not only by holiness but by a sincere love for God and for all people.

The spirit himself assures us of the genuineness of our Christianity, by his inner witness. ‘The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

Romans 8:16 ESV

16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

CLOSING

Still a Sinner

There is something terribly right about ... realizing that our struggle with sin is in many ways similar to an alcoholic's struggle with drinking. It's never over. How often I find myself talking about sin in the past tense as if being a sinner is something I'm beyond--a page turned in the book

of my life. But sin is like alcoholism. Sinners are never cured; they simply decide to stop sinning ... and it's a daily decision

How great is it to know that the Spirit himself assures us of the genuineness of our Christianity, by his inner witness. “The spirit Himself testifies that we are a Child of God. From the moment that your spirit has been awakened to spiritual realities until the moment we see him and are like him. With these resources we can live our life to please him.

In the words of John Newton,

“Tis grace that brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.”