The Proof is in the Small Voice

1 John 3:4-10

Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.

This passage has been a great deal of struggle and confusion for me ever since I first read it. I've even blogged about it before, but now I feel it was done wrongly the first time. At first I took it for what it said, if you sin you are of the devil and you are not part of God. So I thought, if I don't do everything right then I have no salvation. But I went through the law in the Old Testament and found that living without sin is impossible. I went through a time of doubt and depression and my speech was similar to that of Solomon in Ecclesiastes. But then I read Romans 4:1-11.

What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about-but not before God. What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."
Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

"Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD will never count against him."

Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness. Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.

Paul says here that Abraham was declared righteous in his faith in God. He says that it is not works that saves a man but his faith in Jesus Christ's sacrifice that brings him salvation. And this is absolutely correct. But what was John saying in 1John 3:4-10? Further down the page in 1John 3:16-24 it says,

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jess Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us!

When Jesus died on the cross, He knew us. He knew every sin we would ever commit from our birth to our death. And He forgave us for them all. He took them all away forever. When we have faith in that, we are saved and receive His gift of Salvation. We come to Him with repentance for all the sins we have committed according to His Law. And when we repent for all of them, He takes them all away from the beginning of our life to the end of it. Therefore, we no longer sin in this life because they were all taken away before they were committed. The Israelites written of in the books of the Prophets were sinners because even though they brought the sacrifices, they committed more and more sins and repented for none of them. They sinned because they did not break or acknowledge their sin. So they were declared sinful. But those who had done the same actions and who repented for them were declared righteous. So through our repentance and faith in Jesus Christ we are no longer sinful, we are saved.

So where then is the room for works? They are the evidence that we are saved. When we are saved by Jesus and forgiven, the Holy Spirit comes into our hearts and fills us. The Holy Spirit's coming into us is the evidence of our forgiveness. Then the evidence of the Holy Spirit being in us is the condemnation we receive when we do something wrong. This condemnation brings us to repent and come to Jesus. It also leads us to stop committing the wrongs. When we do these two things, we are brought closer to Jesus. And as we grow closer, we hear the Holy Spirit more and more. He teaches us more and shows us more of what we do wrong, which He condemns us for. And this brings us full circle to Jesus in repentance with a desire to change and to live for Him. So our works are the product of Holy Spirit changing and condemning us, which is evidence of our Salvation in Jesus Christ. It's a cycle that never ends, because there is always something to change until the end of our days. Therefore it is truly not our actions that save us, but our faith. And our actions prove our faith.

There is one last part to go over in 1John 3:21. There are 2 times when we are not condemned by the Holy Spirit. There is an immeasurable difference between the two, but it can be easy to misjudge between them. The first is when we ignore the Holy Spirit's condemnation. As we ignore Him His voice grows quiet. If it's continued, eventually the voice is gone. We stop being repentant for our sins and we are given over to our sin. For forgiveness cannot be accepted unless the one who accepts that forgiveness acknowledges that there is something to be forgiven for. If we don't repent, then we sin. This is the case for a believer who turns away and thinks there is nothing wrong with the things they do.
The second time there is no condemnation is when we no longer do anything wrong in our lives and are able to see God's Will. That is why the passage says that when this is done, we can ask for anything and receive it. For we will be able to ask for God's Will to be done and truly have that be what we want.

This entire post can be summed up in Luke 6:43-45,

"No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn bushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.

The Holy Spirit comes into our hearts through faith and changes us to allow us to bear good fruit: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-control. And against such things there is no law. So listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit within you as He overpowers the sinful nature of your hearts. And you will begin to feel the true power of the Salvation of Jesus Christ. Do not ignore Him for one second, for it could send you down a spiral of sin as I have experienced before. And it is not something that any of us should waste part of what little time we have on earth doing. So instead, listen to the small voice within. And as you do, it will grow louder and louder, and you'll find your voice saying the same things within your heart. Let us share our salvation with the evidence of our works through His Love.

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen