"The false teachers John was confronting (1 John) were no doubt minimizing the serious nature of sin. Satan's strategy has always been to get rebellious man to think more highly of himself than he ought to think: I may not be perfect, but I'm not a wretched sinner!
At the same time, Satan (and his team of demons) gets us to pull God down from His absolute holiness: Surely, a loving God understands that I'm only human. He wouldn't send someone as good as me to hell!
The conclusion is, if God is not so holy and I'm not so sinful, then I don't need anything as radical as the shed blood of a sinless substitute to atone for my "faults." Thus, that is how Satan works to undermine the cross. J.C. Ryle
Coach's Tip - Sin is a killer. Troy Dobbs
1 John 3:4-10
Wits End - What's Going Into Your Head?