Period.
Sinless perfection is a lie, it's a false doctrine.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
And this is why we, and I'm gonna go off on a little rabbit trail right now, but this
is why we need to beware of the so-called deliverance doctrine.
Who knows what I'm talking about, the deliverance doctrine.
You know, oh, God delivered me from this sin and God delivered me from that sin.
Now I know that some people when they say that it's an innocent thing that they're saying
and they just mean that they've been able to get the victory over that sin and God helped
them quit doing that sin.
And you know what, that's correct, that's biblical, that through the power of the Holy
Spirit we can conquer the sin in our lives.
We can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth us and whatever the addiction,
whatever the sin, whatever the hang up, you can quit doing it.
God can give you strength and power to get over that, okay?
No question about that.
But what we have to understand is that the only way to overcome sin in our lives is to
walk in the Spirit.
Put on the new man.
Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, read our Bibles, pray, walk in the new man
and we have to die daily, the Bible says.
We have to deny self and take up the cross daily and follow Christ.
So this isn't a one time thing.
Every single day we have to choose to deny the lust of the flesh, deny self, take up
the cross and follow Christ.
Okay, here's what you have to understand about the old man because when we get saved we're
created in Christ a new creature.
But the old man is still there, right?
We still have the old Steven Anderson, same as he was before he was saved.
But now there's the new man, the new creature because our flesh didn't get saved when we
got saved.
When we get saved, our soul and spirit is regenerated but our flesh remains the same.
That's why when someone gets saved they look the same.
It's not like all their physical flaws just go away.
You know, just scars and acne are disappearing, just, you know, they used to limp and ohhhh.
The body stays the same because the flesh will not be saved until the trumpet sounds.
That's the redemption of our body.
When that trumpet sounds and the dead in Christ rise first and we which are alive and remain,
hopefully that's we, amen, are caught up together to be with them in the air.
That's when the body is saved.
But right now our body, our flesh is unregenerate.
It's carnal.
So now there's a battle, right, between the flesh and the spirit that goes on in our lives.
And if we walk in the flesh, what are we going to do?
We're going to fulfill the lust of the flesh.
If we walk in the spirit, what are we going to do?
We're not going to fulfill the lust of the flesh because we're walking in the spirit.
But this is a daily thing of constantly putting on the new man, constantly dying to self,
denying self, mortifying the members of our uncleanness that are on this earth.
Here's the problem with the deliverance doctrine and why it's not biblical.
And what I mean by that is they say, oh, God delivered me from such and such a sin, it's
not even a temptation.
You know, you got to get deliverance, brother, where you'll just never want to smoke, you'll
never ever want to drink.
You know, it's funny how some of these deliverance preachers can't get delivered from McDonald's.
Somehow that, you know, they can't get that one exercised, that demon, because the gluttony
is still there.
Their pride and arrogance is still there.
You know, it's amazing how they can get delivered from cigarettes, whiskey, and wild, wild women.
You know, that's what they got delivered from just a couple things, but, you know, but then
other things they're not delivered from, okay, so it doesn't make any sense.
But here's the problem with this deliverance doctrine that says, oh, yeah, God delivered
me from this, delivered me from that, I'm not even tempted anymore.
I say you're a liar.
Now are there going to be certain sins that we get to a point where, okay, you know, we're
not tempted by that anymore because we realized how stupid it was, or we haven't done it in
so long, we don't even think about it, or whatever?
Sure.
But this deliverance doctrine where it's some gift from God where all of a sudden you just
don't crave sin anymore, here's the problem with that doctrine.
Stop and think about it.
One of two things would have to be true if you're just totally delivered from sin.
In chapter number one, you're saying you're walking in the Spirit 100% of the time.
Because that's the only way you'd be totally delivered of sin where you would mean, okay,
you must just be in the Spirit 100% of the time.
Is that biblical?
No, because he said what?
Daily.
Deny self.
Daily take up the cross.
He said I die daily, okay, so that's not something where you're just, oh, all the time.
No, he said if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not
in us.
If the Apostle Paul talked in Romans 7 about a struggle where he was constantly doing things
that he didn't want to do and not doing the things that he should do, if the Apostle Paul
is having that struggle, why didn't he just go to one of these Pentecostal deliverance
churches and they could have delivered him of whatever it was that he kept doing?
It's not biblical to say that you're walking in the Spirit all the time.
Okay, well then the only other option then for this so-called deliverance doctrine to
work would be that the flesh could somehow be reformed.
Does everybody understand what I'm saying?
Basically they're saying one of two things.
They're either saying that that person's walking in the Spirit all the time, which is not possible,
or they're basically saying that somehow that person's flesh has been altered where now
their flesh wants to do the right thing or doesn't want to do that.
You know what?
It's impossible because the Bible says that the carnal mind is at enmity with God.
And it says that it cannot be brought into subjection of the laws of God.
It is impossible to bring the carnal mind into the subjection of the laws of God.
You cannot reform the old man.
You cannot eradicate sinfulness from the old man.
The only thing to do to the old man is to kill him.
That's it.
If we want to do right in our lives, what we have to do is put off the old man and put
on the new man.
We've got to mortify the flesh.
We've got to put it to death daily.
We've got to die daily.
And then ultimately when we actually physically die, it'll be dead for good.
But we have to render it dead, die to self daily.
Okay.
Why?
Because the old man can't be fixed.
The old man cannot be reformed to the point where now he loves God and doesn't want to
sin anymore and wants to do all the right things.
Nobody's old man is like that.
They got to get in the new man to experience that.
Okay.
Does everybody understand what I'm saying?
So for this deliverance doctrine to be true, you'd either have to be in the spirit all
the time or you'd have to fix the flesh, which is broken and cannot be fixed and has to be
discarded someday because it's irreparable.
Okay.
That's why I don't buy into this doctrine.
And a lot of people get sucked into this.
Even independent fundamental Baptists get sucked into this.
And you know, I know that Alcoholics Anonymous is a bad organization and, you know, they
teach a false doctrine that, hey, just worship anything.
I've even had people from Alcoholics Anonymous tell me you worship a chair as God.
You just have to have something that you worship, a supreme being.
Obviously we know that there's only one that's legitimate and that's the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Ghost.
It's not just some supreme being out there.
It's Jesus.
You know, it's a name that's associated with salvation, not just a God.
Okay.
But there's one thing that Alcoholics Anonymous says that's correct.
And this is the thing that Alcoholics Anonymous gets the most flack for saying, but it is
as true as the day is long.
Here's what they say.
They say once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic.
And I've heard Christian churches all the time say, oh, that's so wrong because you
could just be delivered of that.
And they teach this deliverance doctrine.
But you know what?
The deliverance doctrine is a stupid doctrine.
And you know what?
The Bible actually says is let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
And that's what they're saying.
When they say once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic, they're not saying that that person
is practicing that now.
What they're saying is that's the kind of person that they are and always will be.
And you know why they tell them that is because what they're telling that person is that you
have already proven that you are the type of person that abuses alcohol.
Now look, does everybody abuse alcohol?
No.
I've never abused alcohol in my entire life.
I've never even tasted beer.
I don't even know what it tastes.
I know what it smells like.
I've never tasted it.
But there are people who drink alcohol in moderation.
Now I'm against it.
I'm against any drink of alcohol.
The Bible says just stay away from it.
Don't look at it.
Don't touch it.
That's what the Bible says.
But there are people who do drink alcohol in moderation, right?
Where they'll just occasionally have one beer.
They'll just occasionally have one small drink or one glass of wine.
And I'm against it.
But they're not going out and puking their guts out and driving drunk and going crazy
with it and drinking every single day and Bloody Marys for breakfast.
But then there are other people who are and that's called an alcoholic or a drunkard.
Somebody who goes overboard with it like that, right?
The person who goes overboard, what they're showing is that they're that type of person
who does that.
And what Alcoholics Anonymous is telling that person is that they should never take a drink
again.
They should never even have a sip of it again because they've already proven that they cannot
be a social drinker and that they are an alcoholic by nature.
And you know what?
That person needs to stay as far away from the bar as they possibly can.
Don't even touch it with a 10-foot pole.
Stay away from old drinking buddies.
Stay away.
Why?
Because they have the potential to fall back into that lifestyle of drunkenness.
Any sin that you have done, whether it's drinking or drugs or fornication, adultery, whatever,
gambling, pornography, whatever it is, you have the potential to go back and do that
again.
And you're more likely to go back and do that again than the person that's never done that.
You've already opened that door and that's why you need to be extra careful, extra careful.
If you had some sin that was ruining your life in the past and you've gotten rid of
that sin, you've repented of that sin, you've turned away from that sin, you've confessed
it and forsaken it, then you know what?
You need to take heed that you never go back to that because you have the potential to
go back to that.
You wouldn't be the first or the last person to think, oh, I'll never do drugs again that
went back and did drugs.
Oh, I'll never go out and do that.
You know what?
You better take heed lest you fall.
And you better safeguard yourself against that because that is a danger in your life.
But the deliverance doctrine just tells you, oh yeah, never worry about that again.
Oh, I've been delivered from alcohol.
So it gives a false sense of security that they don't have to die every day, that they
don't have to deny self every single day, that they don't have to put on the new man
every single day.
Because it's just like, oh, done, that battle's over, won that battle.
Really?
Wrong.
And you know, I've talked to one of these deliverance people that, oh yeah, I was delivered
from that and I'll never touch that again.
A couple months later, back to the life of sin.
After they talked a big talk about how they're never going to do this and never going to
do it.
You know, when people tell you what they're never going to do, they're probably likely
to do that.
Like Peter, oh, I'll never deny you.
Less than 24 hours later, what's he doing?
Denying him.
Why?
Because people who are super confident like that, their guard is down.
That's what's wrong with this deliverance doctrine.
And even a worldly, sinful organization like Alcoholics Anonymous recognize the fact, look,
somebody who's been a drunk before is very likely to be a drunk again.
Don't touch it.
That's why even if they've been sober for five years, they get up and say, hey, my name's
Steven Anderson and I'm an alcoholic.
Right?
You know, even though they haven't touched it in five years, what are they saying?
That's my nature.
You know?
And when I drink, that's how I drink.
You know, I go big or I go home.
And they go all the way with it.
And some people are addictive personalities and some people can drink in moderation, not
saying it's right because it's wrong and that's a whole other sermon in and of itself.
But they can drink in moderation.
Other people just go and just go crazy with it.
So don't get sucked into this deliverance doctrine and sinless perfection.
You know what it is?
It's just a bunch of liars trying to puff themselves up that they're better than you.
And you know, when you hear these liars get up and teach this stuff, you know what you're
thinking in the pew?
You're like, oh man, that's not how my life is because I struggle every day.
I struggle every week.
You know what I mean?
I have a hard time.
And then they get you thinking that there's something wrong with you or that maybe I'm
not saved or I don't, you know, what am I doing wrong?
And they confuse people.
It's like, you know, it's like people who just act like their marriage is always perfect
all the time.
Their kids are always perfect all the time.
Everything's perfect all the time.
You know, if you looked at their Facebook, you think they have the ideal life and that
everything is perfect in their life.
Guess what?
Those people with that perfect Facebook page, I guarantee they have all kinds of junk going
on in their life that you don't even know about.
That's an illusion.
Why?
Because there's no temptation taking you but such as is common to man.
So the struggles that you struggle with every day or every week or every month, you know
what?
That's the same struggles that the people around you are struggling with or something
similar.
There's nobody who's just living an easy Christian life.
They just roll out of bed every morning just ready to serve God and they just, this is
my story.
This is my song, praising my savior all the day long.
Their life is just this musical about serving God.
You know, they're just, they get ready for work, they're on their way to, oh it is wonderful
to be a Christian, oh it is wonderful to be God's child, oh it is wonderful to have your
sins forgiven, oh it is wonderful to be redeemed, justified, forever reconciled.
But there's some people who they have you to believe that that's what their life is
like.
No, guess what?
You get up every morning and you say, all right, it's time to read the Bible and your
hand starts reaching for the remote control and you're, you know, and you have to bring
it into subjection.
You know, and you have to force, you know, read the Bible, you know, you know, and I'm
joking obviously, but the point is, you know, nobody just naturally wants to go to church
all the time, wants to go soul winning all the time, wants to read their Bible all the
time, wants to pray all the time, but people act like, oh yeah, well if you're saved, yeah,
you'll want that all the time and then everybody's like, oh man, you know.
But then you know what, those preachers want you to think like, oh he's on such a higher
level than me spiritually, oh man, he doesn't even, for him it just comes so easy.
I mean he just prays for hours a day, he just reads the Bible hours a day.
Look, hey, your preacher ought to read the Bible for hours a day, but you know what,
it's not because it's just easy, it's because he's doing what?
He's trying, he's struggling, he's fighting, you know, that's the real Christian life.
That's what Paul said.
Are you better than the apostle Paul?
I mean it just doesn't make any sense.
Like you just think it's gonna be easy, hey, if it were easy, everybody'd be doing it.
Getting saved is easy, believing in Christ is easy, but living the Christian life is
difficult.
And look, I'm not excusing sin because you know what, if you sin, you're gonna get a
whooping, the Bible says, you're gonna get chastened, you're gonna get scourged, but
newsflash, everybody's gonna sin at some point and everybody's gonna get scourged at some
point.
That's what the Bible says.
So there is no sinless perfection, being totally delivered from all your sins, no, it's a daily
fight.
And I hear all this garbage now, even in independent Baptist churches where they say like, oh well,
if your life's a struggle, that's not salvation.
I heard that from an independent fundamental Baptist church, you know, it was Jack Treiber.
You know, if you're struggling, if your life's a struggle, if you're constantly struggling
with sin, that's not salvation.
Yeah, actually that is salvation.
That is salvation.
It's getting saved, the new man moves in, the Holy Spirit moves in, you got a new creature,
you got the Holy Spirit, and you know what, it's the start of a fight, it's the start
of a battle, and that battle lasts the rest of your life.
And if you're waiting to get on easy street where it all comes easy and it's all easy,
you know what, you're gonna be waiting a long time.
And don't listen to these liars, these puffed up arrogant braggarts who just act like, oh
yeah, it's just, you know, I don't even have ages I don't even do any of those sins anymore.
Liar.
Funny, the apostle Paul didn't get to that level of holiness that you've reached.
You know, he wrote half the New Testament.
So you know, I know I was a little bit of a rabbit trail, but it's important to lay
down that doctrine of salvation all the time.
Because people are teaching a workspace salvation, or they're teaching a thing of, well, you're
not really saved if you're struggling with sin, if you are, you know, not delivered from
this or delivered from that, and sometimes they'll say, you know, if there's just this
one sin in your life that you just can't get over, you know, that just shows that you're
not saved.
I've heard that.
It's like, what in the world?
And look, I've known wonderful godly Christians who are soul winning and serving God and love
God and they smoke cigarettes every day and they're just like, I can't quit smoking.
Now obviously that's a dumb habit.
It's unhealthy.
It's bad for you.
But does that mean they're not saved because they're just stuck on this one thing?
And you know, it could be a lot of other things too, just the thing.
And look, I'm not condoning it and I'm not saying you're going to get away with it because,
you know, you will be disciplined.
We should all die daily.
We should all strive to do right.
But don't just think it's going to happen on its own and that if it's not happening
for you on its own, then there's something wrong with you.
And guess what?
Other parts of your life take work too.
If you want to succeed at your job, you've got to work hard at it.
It's not just going to come easy.
If you want to have a great marriage, it's not just going to automatically happen.
And then when it doesn't automatically happen, what do people say?
Oh, I married the wrong person.
No, you just maybe need to put more work into that thing, okay?
And obviously there are some situations that are fatally flawed, don't get me wrong.
So, you know, don't marry a reprobate or anything like that.
But the point is that you have to work at any area of life, you're not going to get
– I mean, I'm sure there's some diet book that's going to tell you, oh, with
this diet book, you'll never even crave the junk food ever again.
Who's heard that one before?
Oh, yeah, you just get on this diet, you'll never be hungry, you're going to lose all
this weight.
No, guess what?
If you want to lose weight, you're going to end up being hungry.
And these preachers of diets that cause you to just not crave any sweets, they're like
these same lying preachers who are telling you, oh, you're never going to crave sin.
It's a fraud, folks.
If you're on a diet, you're going to be hungry.
If you're on a diet – or these diets, oh, you can eat whatever you want and you're
going to lose weight.
Right.
Now, if you want to lose weight, you've got to suffer.
But being overweight makes you suffer, too.
So choose your suffering.
But losing weight is work.
Well, guess what?
If losing weight is work, if being on a diet is work, and if you have to look at something
and say, hey, that looks good, that ice cream looks good, that dessert looks good, but you
know what?
I'm going to skip it because I'm trying to lose weight, that's what the Christian
life is like.
You look at that sin and say, hey, that sin looks appealing to me, but I'm going to
skip it because I love Christ, because I love Jesus Christ, I'm going to deny self.
It's just like denying a piece of cake.
Denying yourself whatever the sin.
Denying yourself lying or stealing or gambling or drinking or drugs or whatever it is.
Whatever the sin, you name it.
It's the same principle.
There's no easy way.
It's work.
It's hard, and you've got to do it.