Do Christians Commit Sin   

"Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin" (1 John 3:9). 

The sin question seems quite a problem to-day to the preachers and church members everywhere, but I am glad that we have the unerring Word for our guide.

The preachers and leaders are teaching the people nearly everywhere that it is impossible to live without sin. But it is to be remembered we are not to be judged at that "great day" by what the preachers or class-leaders say, but by the Word of God (John 12:48).

Jesus says in John 5: 39: "Search the scriptures [Bible], for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and these are they that testify of me." Just as if He had said: "Search the Bible, for in it you will find the conditions of getting to heaven."

Now, we will notice the character spoken of in the text: "He that is born of God doth not commit sin." How dare any man or woman contradict the great God This means all Christians, for it says, "whosoever is born of God." He who has not been born of God is no Christian at all, but right here is where the majority of the opposers of "living without sin" are found. They have only reformed and joined the church (including preachers), but know nothing of the "new birth." The other class of opposers are usually people who once enjoyed grace, but have backslidden; therefore, they fight living clean and living without sin. If you ask them if they had to stop sinning to get saved, they will say "Yes." Well, if they had to stop sinning to get God's grace; after they get it, it would be absurd to think they could keep it at a less cost than they bad to pay to get it. Col. 2: 6. 0, how sad for intelligent men and women to be so blinded by the devil!

It was Jesus' only purpose in coming to the world, to save His people from their sins (not in them). Matt. 1: 21. If God told you to "go in peace and sin no more," what did He mean by giving you this command Would He play with His creatures You may say, "Well, the Bible says 'we are all born in sin.'" So it does, but you will find in John 3: 7: "Ye must be born again." "He that is born of God doth not commit sin." Of course the natural man will commit sin, without grace, but when he is born of water and of the Spirit he doth not commit sin. He has the power to sin if he wants to, but if he sins he loses his grace and in that moment becomes a sinner, just as Adam did. He becomes "of the devil" (a child of the devil). 1 John 3:8.

You say the Bible says, "Man is as liable to sin as the sparks fly upward," but it doesn't say any such thing. It says, "Man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward" (Job. 5: 7).

You may say, "Well, Jesus told the Pharisees, when they were condemning the woman that was found in adultery, that he who was without sin should cast the first stone, so all of them went out and left her and Jesus alone, as none of them were without sin." So they did; but what did Jesus say to the woman He said to her: "Neither do 1 condemn thee; go, and SIN NO MORE." Now, whether the Pharisees were without sin or not, Jesus told her to sin no more.

You may say, the Bible says, "There is none good, no, not one; they are all gone out of the way." So it does, but let us notice the class of people that are spoken of in this text. God is speaking of the natural man without grace. Notice the passage, Born. 3: 12-18. Here is the class of people spoken of: "Their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace have they not known; there is no fear of God before their eyes." Now, this is the class of people that are "none of them good." This does not mean God's true children. John 17: 15; Acts 26: 18; 1 John 2:26.

You may say, "Paul said, when he would do good evil was present with him, and the good he would, he did not, but the evil he would not, that he did. Well, Paul was not speaking of himself in his Christian experience, but of himself and others when under the law. Paul begins the seventh chapter of Romans thus: "Know ye not, brethren (for I speak to them that know the law) "-just as if he had said: "I speak to you who know how it was with us when we were under the law." What kind of a Christian would we be, if we went along the street and saw a suit of clothes in front of a store, and the devil (the evil one) would say, "Take that suit," and we would take it, and our excuse would be, "Well, I did not want to steal the clothes, but evil was present and I could not do the good I would." Or suppose you come home from your daily work and your wife displease you, and the tempter would say, "Give her a good thrashing," and you would obey him, then your excuse would be, "Well, I would have done good but evil was present and I could not do the good I would." Is this walking like Christ walked, as we are commanded to do 1 John 2: 6. Is this being "blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom we shine as lights in the world" (Phil. 2: 15).

You may say: "Well, the Bible says, 'If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us'" (1 John 1:8). Well, so it does; but you did not quote all of the text. You should have begun at the seventh verse, which reads like this: "If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from ALL SIN." But if one would say, "I am good enough, I don't need the blood of Jesus to cleanse me, I have been brought up moral and good," this is the man that is spoken of in the eighth verse. But if a man will be honest and acknowledge that he is lost without Jesus, and will say: "Yes, I need the blood of Jesus," and will confess his sins, as the ninth verse reads, why, he inherits the promise, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness." Now, I would like to ask, If you were forgiven all of your sins and cleansed from all unrighteousness, would you not be WITHOUT SIN Why do you fight living without sin, since you see it is the will of God that you be without it You pray in the Lord's prayer: "Deliver us from evil." If this would take place you would be without sin, for evil is Sin. So if you don't believe you can be saved from your sins, don't pray the Lord's prayer any more.

So, friend, he that is a Christian does not commit sin. A man that is a Christian lives just as clean and upright as Jesus lived. You may say, "I know the time and place where I was converted and born again, and yet I sin." I don't doubt that you were converted, but this one thing I say, no matter how clear your conversion was, or how long you have been converted, or how much you have preached; the moment you commit one sin you are as much a sinner in the sight of God as the worst man in town. God says, "Sin is the transgression of the law" (1 John 3:4). He does not say how much sin, whether an ounce or a ton, but "sin." How large was the spot of leprosy to be on a man, in ancient days, before he was pronounced a leper He was as much a leper with a spot the size of a 25-cent piece as he who was covered with it.

So all of God's children live without sinning. They live clean, pay their debts, live peaceably at home and abroad. In short, they live, walk, talk and act like Jesus. 1 John 4: 17. So, friend, if you are sinning, stop professing to be a Christian. "He that committeth sin is of the devil" (1 John 3:8).