The Evidence of Salvation

What distinguishes a child of God from everyone else?
They can't be happy with sin.

Oh, they will sin.  John established that fact in 1 John 1. 

They will stray.  In chapter 2 he warns against losing faith and loving the world.

They will not be perfect...

But they cannot be comfortable with regular habits and attitudes of sin.

1 John 3:6 (ESV) No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.

The English does the Greek perfect justice here.  John is not talking about random sin, but a habitual practice of a certain sin.  

Why can we not continue in sin?

1 John 3:9 (ESV) 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.

God's seed abides in him.  It is a work of God.  He sheds sin because sin is incompatible with the life he/she is meant to live.  It is not comfortable for him/her.  It is not natural.  It bothers them and sorrows them and leads them to repentance and salvation.

I was in sin a few years ago.  It was habitual and hell at the same time.  The temporary pleasure it provided paled to the torture of regret, distance from God and the weight of guilt I carried because of it.

I could not be comfortable with it.  Thanks to the seed of God REMAINING in me.  That means there is a divine power at work in you.  It's not up to you alone!  Praise God, He WON'T LET YOU GO!

On the flip side, to be comfortable with sin bears evidence of the exact opposite:

1 John 3:8 (ESV) 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.

Can they be good people by appearance? Yes.  Can they outdo some Christians in good works?  Yes.  But down inside, and behind closed doors, there is a practice of sin.  Either in clear terms or more subtle  realities like pride and self-sufficiency.  

When you are born of God spiritual growth will naturally occur the way physical growth happened in your natural life.  You will out grow sin.  You will leave behind the things that used to fit.  You will be changed...

Because God's seed works in you.