Who IS NOT A Christian - 1st John

"We are telling you about what we ourselves have actually seen and heard, so that you may have fellowship with us." - 1 John 1:3

"I write this to you who believe in the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life." - 1 John 5:13

1st John provides a list of characteristics that define someone who is not a true Christians. This series of posts looks at these characteristics as described in 1st John.

There is no scoring used for these characteristics. There is nothing in the Bible that says that if you met any of these criteria, you are not a Christian. John only says that he provides this list so that believers will know they are truly saved.

Here is the first one:

#1 - "If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the true." 1 John 1:6

What does it mean to walk in darkness? Most of us believe we are walking in light... we think we are good people. Would you consider yourself to be a good person?

Have you been living with someone or having sex outside of marriage? Then you are living in darkness.

Do you regularly go out to get drunk or use drugs? Then you are living in darkness.

Are you looking at pornography, or spending a lot of your time reading romance novels? You are living in darkness.

Do you regularly use the name of God as a cuss word? Do you download copyrighted music from the internet? Do you regularly tell lies? Then you are living in darkness.

These are just a few of the clearer, easy to see examples.

In general...

If you are not actively trying to live a life in obedience to God, and struggling with sin, then you are living in darkness.

If you are not putting effort into knowing God, reading your Bible regularly, then you are living in darkness.

You can not claim to have fellowship with God and be willingly involved in sinful behavior. Sin separates us from God. You can not have fellowship with God when you are separated from God.

Do you know what it means to live in obedience to God? Do you know what sin is?

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Definition of Sin

To sin is to disobey God, meaning to break God's laws.

"Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact sin is lawlessness." -1 John 3:4

We are all sinners. We all break God's laws.

"If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." - 1 John 1:8

The difference between a Christian and a non-believer is that a Christian falls into sin and struggles with sin. A non-believer dives willingly into sin.

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