This is something that God has just been showing me lately. I have been doing a lot of reading in first John lately, and I am seeing so many things that I didn’t see when we were studying it. And they are out in the open, blaringly obvious things, but I just didn’t make note of them before.

1 John 3:4-7

4 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. 5 And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. 6 Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.
7 Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. 8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.

In the previous chapter John talked about the Antichrist coming, and how many have already come. He says that anyone who denies the Father and the Son is antichrist. Saying for no one to be deceived by anyone who is not righteous, for you know that anyone who practices righteousness(equitable (in character or act); by implication innocent, holy (absolutely or relatively): - just, meet, right (-eous)) is of the Father.

It says in Ch. 3 vs. 8 that through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ we are made able to be righteous, not sinning.

Romans 6:1-14 says:

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

This completely blows the theory of “well, I am only human, and there has to be grace.” Bite me. I am so sick of this cop-out. Yes, you are human (the day that you are not anymore let me know), but that does not give you an excuse to sin. In fact it specifically says that sin does not have dominion over us because we are under grace. Now does this mean we are not going to sin, maybe not, but it does mean that we have the choice not to. Are we walking in NEWNESS OF LIFE, like Lauren said?

1 John 3:10-15
10 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. 11 For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, 12 not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother's righteous.
13 Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. 15 Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

I went back and read the story of Cain and Abel, and God showed me that Cain was religious. He made an offering, as did Abel. However, he did not offer of his first fruits, he waited, and at the end of the harvest he offered his sacrifice. Abel however offered his first fruits, the best of what he had, and he gave it right from the start. Cain is like so many religious today, he sought to please himself first, and then God, and it says that he was of the wicked one. However, Abel sought first the kingdom of God, and for that he was hated. His righteousness exposed the unrighteousness of others.

1 John 3:16-22
16 By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17 But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?
18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. 19 And by this we [fn3] know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. 20 For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. 22 And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. 23 And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.

We are to daily lay down our life to show our love for our brother. Not a five minute prayer in the morning,, but in the same manner that Christ died for us. We are not dying to serve one another, but the Jesus in one another. I mean, you hear people say” Oh, I would jump in front of a Mack truck for you,” so do it every day. John 15:12-13 says:
12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. Go show that you are a Christian. Feed the hungry. Clothe the naked. Give water to the thirsty. Love in deed and in truth. Anyone can say that they love, but prove by showing your faith by your works. Maybe if we walked iin this love, and newness of life we might see our prayers answered.