So look, we know that sinners, sinful people, cannot inherit the kingdom of God, but the
Bible also says flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.
So to sit there and say, "Well, if you've done any of the sins on this list, or if you
do any of the sins on this list, you're not saved," that's a false doctrine.
Because here's the thing.
Just because you've lied doesn't mean that you're not saved, or just because you do any
of the things on the list in Galatians 5.
Because the whole point of being saved is that our sins are forgiven, that we're a new
creature in Christ, but the flesh is still there.
See, the flesh is what's responsible for doing those sinful things, whether it be lying or
drunkenness or adultery.
That's the flesh.
That's the works of the flesh.
That is the old man committing those sins.
That is the old Stephen Anderson when those things take place, okay?
But the new Stephen Anderson is a new creature in Christ without sin.
That's why when I die, when I breathe physically, when I breathe my last breath and I go to
heaven, I'm never going to sin again because the flesh will be gone forever.
But until then, I have both the flesh and the spirit.
And if I walk in the flesh, if I sow to the flesh, I'm going to reap the flesh corruption.
If I walk in the flesh, I'm going to fulfill the lust of flesh.
So a lot of times people will look at somebody who's living a sinful life and say, "There's
no way that person's saved because look at the sins they're doing."
You know what?
Maybe they're just walking in the flesh.
You know, it's not that they're not saved, it's just that they're walking in the flesh.
They're not walking in the spirit.
If you're not walking in the spirit, you're going to be like you were before you were saved.
Because it's the same old sinful flesh as before you got saved.
And you know, there are many people you could talk to who when they first got saved, they
never really got in church right away.
They never really got discipled right away.
They never got baptized right away.
They didn't start reading their Bible.
They didn't start to sing the hymns.
And so therefore, they were walking in the flesh.
And you didn't see a big change in their life.
But then later when they got in church, later when they started reading the Bible, later
when they sang songs and hymns and spiritual songs, later when they began to pray, later
when they began to get the sin out of their life and walk in the Spirit, now all of a
sudden there's a dramatic change.
There's a huge change because the Spirit is at war with the flesh.
And these two natures both exist within us.
There is a battle going on within the believer between the flesh and the Spirit.
And people who don't understand this just declare anyone unsaved who's living a sinful
life.
In reality, what that is is a carnal Christian, meaning a Christian who walks in the flesh.
It's funny, there's this false prophet out there called Paul Washer.
You know, everybody's always emailing me and sending me his video, "Oh, you need to listen
to Paul Washer."
And this guy Paul Washer has a famous quote, this preacher.
He said, "There's no such thing as a carnal Christian."
But you know what's funny about that?
In Romans 7, Paul said, "I am carnal."
So explain that.
I guess he wasn't a Christian?
I mean, the Apostle Paul in Romans 7 said, "I am carnal."
And people say, "Well, you know, that's talking about before Paul was saved."
Oh, I thought "I am carnal" is present tense.
Maybe I need an English lesson.
I thought past tense was "I was carnal."
Turn there.
Romans 7.
Turn there if you would.
Romans chapter 7.
"While you're turning there, I'll read for you verse 13.
Was then that which is good made death unto me?
Not forbid, but sin that it might appear, sin working death in me by that which is good,
that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
For we know," look at verse 14 of Romans 7, "For we know that the law is spiritual, but
I am carnal, sold under sin.
For that which I do, I allow not.
For what I would, that do I not.
But what I hate, that do I."
He's saying, "Look, I don't do what I want to do.
I end up doing stuff I hate."
And he says in verse 20, "Now if I do that, I would not.
It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me."
Look at verse 22.
He says, "For I delight in the law of God after the inward man."
That's the spirit.
"But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and bringing me
into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members."
Do you notice the word "warring"?
He said, "Man, after the inward man, I want to do what's right, but it's like there's
this other force warring against it.
There's the flesh warring against the spirit, just like we saw in Galatians 5.
He said, "Look, I'm carnal.
I do a lot of things that I shouldn't be doing."
And yet Paul Washer gets up and says, "There's no such thing as a carnal Christian."
He says, "If you're carnal, you're not saved."
You're a liar, Paul Washer, because Paul was carnal.
And then even in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, he said he wrote unto them, "As unto carnal,
even as unto babes in Christ."
He said, "Look, babes in Christ are carnal."
When you're a babe in Christ, are you filled with the Word of God as a babe in Christ?
Are you filled?
No, you're not filled with the Spirit.
You're not filled with the Word of God.
You know, in most cases, you're carnal, because you're a new believer, you still have a lot
of sin in your life, you still need to learn the Word of God, you still need to learn the
fullness of the Holy Ghost, and so forth.
So yes, there is such thing as a carnal Christian, but people who don't understand that doctrine,
they just declare anybody who commits any of the sins on that list as not saved.
When in reality it just tells us that they are walking in the flesh and not walking in
the Spirit.