(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Romans chapter 7, the part that I want to preach on tonight is beginning in verse number 14. And this is the classic passage where the apostle Paul talks about the struggle that it is to do what's right, even for a person that's saved, even for himself, a great man of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ, that there is a struggle to do that which is right in our Christian lives. It isn't easy, it isn't automatic just because we're saved that we're going to live a righteous and godly and clean life because we still have the flesh present with us. Yes there's the new man, yes there's a new creature, but we still also have the old man. When I got saved, God created a new Steven Anderson, but the old Steven Anderson is still there and always will be with me until I physically die. Now the Bible says here in Romans chapter 7 beginning in verse 14, for we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. Now Paul here, who is a godly man, is still admitting the fact that he is carnal, that there are areas in his life that he struggles with. Now there are false teachers out there that teach this doctrine that says, oh there's no such thing as a carnal Christian. Or they say, oh are you still a Romans 7 Christian? And they say, if you're a Romans 7 Christian, you're not even saved, they say. They say Romans 7 is about unsaved people. And I'm going to get to that later in the message. But the Bible is crystal clear that it is possible for a Christian to be carnal, meaning that they are walking in the flesh as opposed to walking in the spirit. The word carnal simply means fleshly. Those who speak Spanish are familiar with this word because they know carne. And even people who don't speak Spanish have ordered carne asada, right, and they know what that is. It's flesh, it's meat. And so if you would flip over to 1 Corinthians chapter number 3, let me just dispel first of all this ludicrous notion that there's no such thing as a carnal Christian. There's a false teacher out there by the name of Paul Washer who teaches this. Look what it says in chapter 3 of 1 Corinthians, it says, and I brethren could not speak unto you as unto spiritual. So we see that spiritual is the opposite of carnal, the opposite of fleshly. And I brethren could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. So those who are carnal are babes in Christ. It's not saying that they're not in Christ, it's not saying that they're not saved. Yes, they are saved, they are carnal, but they're still saved. Why? Because they're a babe in Christ. They are not mature. The more mature they are, the more spiritual they're going to be. The less mature they are, the more carnal they're going to be. But all of us are both carnal and spiritual. All of us have both the old man and the new man. We both have the flesh and we have the spirit. That's why we have to deny self and take up the cross daily, because the flesh is there every day warring against the spirit in our lives. Now look at Romans chapter 7 again. It says in verse 14, 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. Now let me just break down this language here. When he says what I would, I would means that's what I want to. This is just an older language here. So when he says for what I would, that do I not, he's basically saying I'm not doing what I want to do. I want to do one thing, but I end up not doing it. And then it says, but what I hate, at the end of verse 15, that do I. So I'm not doing the things I want to do, but instead I end up doing things that I hate. Verse number 16, if then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. He's saying, you know, I'm not blaming the law here, but in verse 17 he says, now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not. Now don't let this lose you because it's a little bit of a tongue twister in some of these verses. The Bible tells us that some of the writings of the apostle Paul are hard to be understood, it says in 2 Peter chapter 3. Some of this is written at a little bit higher of a level, but if we just slow down and read it, it's pretty easy to understand what he's saying here. In me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, for to will is present with me. The will to do what's right is present with him. He wants to do what's right, but how to perform that which is good, I find not. So what he's saying is, I want to do what's right, but I struggle to do what's right. And sometimes I can't figure out a way to do what's right. Even though I want to, even though the will is present, I'm not able to do it. This is very similar to what Jesus said in Matthew 26 41 when he said, watch and pray that ye enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. See the spirit is there, the spirit's willing, but the flesh is weak. The context of that statement was when the apostles are in the garden of Gethsemane with Jesus, and Jesus is rebuking them for falling asleep. They're supposed to be praying. He wants them to watch and pray for one hour, and they're unable to stay awake. They keep falling asleep. He keeps catching them asleep. He wakes them up. Finally, he just says, just sleep on. But he tells them, watch and pray, he says, couldn't you watch me for one hour? The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. What's he say? They wanted to stay awake. They weren't just sitting there saying, I don't care what Jesus said, I'm going to sleep because I want to because I'm tired. They tried to stay awake and they failed. The spirit was willing, the flesh is weak. That's what Romans 7 is talking about. Look at verse 19. For the good that I would, the good that I would, meaning the good that I want to do, the good that I would, I do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man, but I see another law in my members, members means body parts, warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. So when he says, if I do that I would not, if I do these bad things that I don't want to do, it's no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells with me. What he's saying is that's not the real me. That's not the inward man. That's not the new creature. That's not the saved, born again, regenerated Stephen Anderson. That's just this sinful flesh, this body of death that I'm going to carry around for the rest of my life. It's not the inward man. It's this other law of sin that's in my body. It's in my members. It's in my flesh. What does it mean the law of sin in his members? Well this is using the word law similar to how we would use the word in the sense of like the law of gravity, right? What we mean by that is not that there's a law that says that that which goes up must come down and so objects are just obeying that law out of some kind of a moral responsibility. Like we would think of things being, hey, you're not allowed to be floating there. You better drop, buddy. When we say the law of gravity, that's not what we mean. When we say the law of gravity, when we say the law, we're saying, look, this is the way that things are. It's a state of affairs in the universe that what goes up must come down and that there's a pole toward the earth, et cetera. So when he says here that there's this other law in his members, in his body parts, warring against the law of his mind, he's saying the way my body is is different than the way my mind is. You know, because my mind wants to do what's right. Deep down I want to do what's right. I desire to follow the law of God off the inward man. But then there's this, that's the law of my mind. But then there's this other law in my members that basically is warring against the law of my mind, and he ends up, you know, going into sin and doing things that he doesn't want to do. Look at verse 24. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? So it's the flesh that's the problem. It's the body that's the problem, not the spirit. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord, so then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. Now over and over again in Paul's epistles, he tells us, walk in the spirit so that you'll not fulfill the lust of the flesh. You can walk in the flesh, you can walk in the spirit. If you walk in the flesh, Paul said, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. So if you walk in the flesh, you will commit sin. You will fulfill the lust of the flesh. You will commit the same types of sins that you committed before you were saved. Why? Because the flesh is unchanged. When you got saved, there was no physiological change in your flesh. When you got saved, the spirit was quickened. The spirit was regenerated. The spirit was saved. Your body is unsaved. Your body is unregenerate. Your body is unchanged. Your flesh, it doesn't have anything good in it. That's why eventually it has to die. Eventually it has to be replaced. It has to be changed. You see, when you die physically, then you will be free from sin. You will never sin again because the only reason that you sin right now is because of your flesh. When you die, physically I mean, obviously we will never die spiritually. We'll always live. We'll just live from being on this earth. We'll be living in heaven. But once you are out of this body, you're not going to sin anywhere. So when you go to heaven, you're not going to have this struggle anymore. You're not going to commit sin anymore. You're going to do all the right things. Now, if you are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord in the clouds, then in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, we're going to be changed. The Bible says that God will change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. So our body will not be regenerated, redeemed, saved until that first resurrection when Christ comes in the clouds. Until then, we have this unregenerate, sinful flesh that we live in. Look at Romans chapter 8, just right over the page here. In Romans chapter 8, it says, in verse number 19, for the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God, for the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who had subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption and to the glorious liberty of the children of God, for we know that the whole creature groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now, and not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves, groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our body. Now look, we talk about how we've been redeemed. Redeemed how I love to proclaim it, redeemed by the blood of the lamb, it says, you know, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. You see, redemption is synonymous with salvation, being saved, being redeemed, right? But here's the thing, our spirit is redeemed, the body is not yet redeemed, the body is not yet saved, the body has not been regenerated. That's why if you were sick and then you got saved, you're not suddenly just miraculously healed and you're never sick again, despite what Benny Hinn might tell you. People that are saved still experience sickness, they still experience physical pain and physical ailments and physical problems. Look at Job, a saved man, covenant boils from head to toe. You see, we as Christians groan within ourselves, the Bible says. Why? There's a frustration there, there's a groaning, longing to be delivered from sin, longing to have that glorious liberty of the children of God, to be manifested as the sons of God, to have that spirit of adoption, not just for our spirit but for our whole body. We are waiting for the adoption at the end of verse 23 to wit the redemption of our body. Our spirit is already a child of God, our spirit is already adopted, but the body is the same old sinful flesh from before we were saved. It says in verse number 19, for the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God, for the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who has subjected the same in hope, verse 21, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Look, we're not there yet, folks. It says right here that the creature itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption. The bondage of corruption still exists in our body, in our sinful flesh right now. We're not there yet. He says we're groaning. We're waiting. We're travailing in pain together and not only they, but ourselves also, just in case there's any doubt. Oh, I don't think he's talking about Christians. No, he said ourselves also. We're groaning. We're waiting. We want to be delivered from the bondage of corruption. God is coming at a future date, the redemption of our body, the glorious liberty of the children of God. This will take place at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in the clouds when he will change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body. This is a wonderful truth in the Bible because of the fact that we know, and if anyone here is honest, we know that we all struggle with sin in our lives. Now there are a bunch of lying, hypocrite, false prophets, false teachers out there that claim, oh, I don't struggle. I'm living the sanctification life and I don't struggle with sin. You know, you lying devil, you're probably more wicked and sinful than anybody in this room because you're a hypocrite. And people put out this façade and this front where they pretend that they have no sin and they pretend that they live a life of just the glorious liberty of the children of God and I don't struggle with sin. I mean, I just roll out of bed just ready to serve God every day and I don't have a sinful nature anymore. No way. I just wait. I just walk. This is my story, you know, and just live a victorious Christian life the whole day long. Look, people who talk like that are lying hypocrites. They're false teachers to be avoided like the plague. I'm telling you, when people go around putting up a fake façade, glorifying themselves before men, seeking to appear righteous before men, not admitting the fact that they have any sin, that is a huge red flag of a false teacher and a false prophet. Oh, I don't sin. Oh, you poor Roman seven Christians. I'm just cruising through life. Look, who here struggles with sin? Everybody in here. And if you don't, you're a liar. The Bible says if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. You know why it says we deceive ourselves? Because you're not deceiving anyone else because everybody around you knows that you're lying. Anybody were to stand up in here and say, well, I have no sin. You know, you'd be deceiving one person in this room yourself because there are some fools that follow this false teaching, but the vast majority of people know that everybody struggles with sin, that there's none good but one and that's God and that we all are groaning within ourselves. We all feel wretched at times like the apostle Paul did. We've all been there. And that's why whenever I preach on Romans seven, it always resonates with people why because they know that it's the truth and they've experienced it for themselves. But these lying false prophets, they basically make people feel like there's something wrong with you. You must not be really saved or there's something wrong with you if you're still struggling with sin. And this is just a thinly veiled works based salvation. And that's really what it comes down to because what we believe is that salvation by grace through faith plus nothing minus nothing. And what you say, why do you say plus nothing minus nothing? Plus nothing means you don't have to do any works to be saved. Minus nothing means you don't have to get rid of anything out of your life to be saved. You don't have to stop sinning or start doing anything. Plus nothing minus nothing. It's the faith of Christ. We believe that salvation is totally by faith. The false gospel that the Bible constantly warns us about is a gospel that includes works. Justification by the law. Faith plus the law. Faith plus works. Faith plus circumcision, whatever. Now this justification by works, this faith plus works gospel usually tries to occur. Sorry, there's a fly there and I didn't kill it. But anyway, this works based gospel doesn't always come through the front door. Now sometimes it will come through the front door and just say, hey, you're saved by works. But look, my friend, how many people are really going to fall for that when there's just so many verses that just say for by grace are you saved through faith? And then not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast. That's why this usually tries to come through the back door saying, well, you don't have to do any works to be saved, but you do have to stop sinning or you do have to repent of your sins or at least want to stop sinning or be really, really, really, really sorry for sinning or just all these different ways of just trying to say, well, it's not works that save you, but if you don't do works, you're not saved. You know, I mean, I've heard that more times than I, if I had a nickel for every time I heard that, I'd be a wealthy man. You know, I mean, just, well, it's not works, but you have to do the works or you're not saved. It's like, what? What are you talking about? See, we believe Romans 4-5 when it says, but to him that worketh not, that means he's not doing any works. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness, even as David also described at the blessedness of the man unto him God impudeth righteousness without works, without works, without works, saying blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. It doesn't say blessed is the man who stops sinning. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord will not impute sin. Our transgressions are not imputed unto us. Psalm 130 says, if thou Lord shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. So you look at Romans 7. It's crystal clear. It's a great teaching. It resonates with people. People relate to it because it describes their life. And they know that the apostle Paul was a great man of God, and so it's comforting to realize that he wasn't some kind of a superman that never made a mistake, that never struggled with sin, that he's not human. We can see that he was a man subject to like passions as we are. And if God used him greatly, if he could do great things for God. If he could be a great man of God, then that tells us that even though we are imperfect, even though we struggle with sin, we can keep on going and live a victorious Christian life and keep on trying and keep on dusting ourselves off. And a just man falleth seven times and riseth up again. And we can be like the apostle Paul. We can evangelize areas and preach the gospel and start churches or preach sermons or win souls even though we are not everything that we're supposed to be all the time. Praise God for that. But these wicked false teachers will twist Romans 7. It's really unbelievable how they could twist this because I've read this passage my whole life. I grew up in church. This is a popular passage. You hear it preached a lot. I grew up reading the book of Romans. It's one of the most popular books in the New Testament. And I never even realized that there was anyone who disputed the clear teaching of Romans 7 here that would even call themselves a Baptist or anything like that. The first time I ever heard of this was from a guy down in a small town in Arizona. Brother Scott, Brooke, weren't you there with me when we went with Victor and we went down into Aramosio and everything? I think it was me, you, and Brother Victor Tay. And the three of us went down there. Brother Victor Tay had to move to Mexico. And so I told him, you know, before you move to Mexico, maybe you should see what Mexico is like just to know what you're getting into. So I took him down there and Brother Scott, Brooke, came with us. And we just wanted to show him Mexico. And we wanted to also find some churches, talk to some pastors, and see if we could find a place to get him plugged into a church because he didn't really know where he was going to move to Mexico. But it had to do with his wife's immigration status and so on and so forth. So we drive down there. We did some door-to-door soul winning down in Aramosio. And we checked out Aramosio. We drove around, kind of just showed him, hey, this is what Mexico is like and everything. And we found a pastor that was right on the border of the United States and Mexico. So we thought, oh, let's check in with this guy and see if it's a good church. It's an independent, fundamental Baptist church. The name of the church was called Bible Baptist Church. Let me just check my notes here. Bible Baptist Church was in a town called Douglas, Arizona, right on the border from Agua Prieta, Mexico. And the pastor's name was Pastor James Pitts. And this guy was the Pitts, let me tell you. OK. This guy, I mean, I couldn't even believe what I was hearing. Scott and Brother Tay and myself were all just in disbelief at what we were hearing out of the mouth of this guy. Because we're just asking him some standard questions, just trying to make sure that his beliefs are legit on the gospel, which might seem silly, like, well, of course all independent Baptists believe the gospel. No. You'll run into independent fundamental Baptists sometimes that are just full out preaching another gospel, a false gospel. So we start asking this guy about the gospel. And he starts coming at us with all this crazy doctrine, OK, this James Pitts. And when we talk to the guy, he tells us, and of course the conversation, he says that he has four or five kids. He said, none of my kids are saved. I'm like, well, were they raised? Oh, yeah, they're all raised in the church and everything. They're raised in his church. He's been pastoring for 30-some years or whatever. He's like, none of my kids are saved, none of them. And he said, all of them, and this is exact wording, are living a very wicked life, very wicked, all of them. I'm like, what? I'm like, do you think that there's something to be concerned with there that, you know, all of your kids are unsaved and they're all living a very wicked life that bother you? You know, do you think maybe you shouldn't be a pastor, you know, in that case, maybe we shouldn't do things the way that you do them or believe the stuff that you preach. That's what he told us. He tells that Scott. You remember the story, right? Were you there? Yeah. All right. He was there. He was there, but he was there. And so this guy is the first person I'd ever heard in my life come at me with this goofball Roman 7, this goofball twisting of Roman 7, and since then I found out that this is what Paul Washer teaches. Since then I found out there's some other guy that preaches named Charles Leiter. I've never heard of the guy. He teaches this garbage. And also Michael Pearl, and I'm going to go after him a little bit later in this sermon because he is a major false teacher, is Michael Pearl. Who knows who I'm talking about? He looks like a homeless person, right? He's got like white, real long beard, like a Santa Claus. But this guy Michael Pearl, he teaches the same garbage about Roman 7. The first time I heard it was from this guy down in Arizona, and I sat there in disbelief that anybody could actually believe and teach this bizarre interpretation, just turning the scripture on its head. Here's what he said. He said, well, Roman 7 is not about the apostle Paul. This is what Paul Washer will tell you, Michael Pearl, lots of other people. Oh, Roman 7 is not about the apostle Paul. You know, even though he says, I, I'm carnal, I want to, I do, I, oh, it's not him though. It's about unsaved people. And they say, this is the description of what life is like before you're saved. Because of course, once you're saved, you're not going to struggle with sin once you're saved. And this James Pitts, Paul Washer, Michael Pearl, they all say the same thing. They say, we as Christians don't have a sin nature. We don't have a sin. Our nature is to do the right thing. And this guy James Pitts said, well, if you do the wrong thing, it's a rare exception. Because our nature is to do that, which is right, because we're the new man, you know. And he basically said that Roman 7 is about before you're saved. And he says, I, but he's really just referring to unsaved people. Or he's referring to himself, even though he's using the present tense, he really means the past. Before he was saved, he struggled with sin. But now that he's saved, there's no struggle with sin. We're not in the flesh anymore, they say. Okay, well, let's see what the Bible says here. How about this part right here in verse 25? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. He's saying I'm serving the law of sin with my flesh, even though in my mind I'm serving the law of God. Let me ask you this. Did the apostle Paul thank God through Jesus Christ his Lord before he was saved? Because, oh, this is back before Paul. This is Paul thinking back to before he was saved. So Paul was thanking Jesus Christ before he was saved. Because he says right here, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord, so then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. How could that be before he was saved? Can somebody explain that to me? How that's before you're saved? Because before Paul was saved, he didn't have any regard for Jesus Christ. Or people say, well, this is about the Jews before they're saved. I don't think the Jews are thanking Jesus either. And not only that, but the unsaved, unregenerate man is not delighting in the law of God after the inward man. Because his heart, his inward man is nothing but, you know, full of deceitful, the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, who can know it? I mean, unsaved people don't just have this heart that just loves the law of God, loves the word of God, loves Jesus Christ, but ends up doing the wrong thing. So what these false prophets are teaching is basically that unsaved people want to do what's right, but they can't do what's right. They want to serve Jesus Christ, but they can't. And then when they get saved, now they're suddenly able to be sinless. No more struggle with sin. That's what they teach. And think about what a turning of scripture on its head that is. Look, you were all here. We read the whole chapter. And then, you know, in the sermon itself, we read verses 14 through the end of the chapter. Is that what this was teaching? Was this talking about, hey, before we were saved, or was he saying, hey, right now, my spirit, my inward man, I'm willing to do what's right, but the flesh is keeping me back. The flesh is holding me back. Now here's where we need to go, Galatians chapter 5. Go to Galatians chapter number 5. Let's compare scripture with scripture here, Galatians chapter 5. Now let me just say this right now. I believe that anybody who teaches this twisted version of Romans 7 is not saved. Not saved. Why? Because why else would anyone desire to turn this scripture on its head and pretend that they don't struggle with sin? It's nothing more or less than an attack on the gospel is what it is. It's an attack on the gospel. It's a teaching of a false gospel. Why would anyone look at Romans 7 and not say, wow, yeah, that's what I experienced. I find that to be true all the time where I want to do the right thing and I end up doing something wrong or struggle with sin. Why would anyone want to approach this passage and say, you know, I know that's what it's saying, but let me just rack my brain for a way to turn this on its head and just make up some weird thing where the present tense becomes the past tense, where I becomes they, where Christians, people who thank God through Jesus Christ become unsaved atheists or unsaved Jews. Why would anyone want to twist that scripture unless they just hate the gospel that salvation is by faith? Look, there are people that just don't like it when you teach that all you have to do to be saved is believe in Jesus. They don't like that. Hey, just believe. And they say, no, no, no, you don't mean to tell me that you can just believe and live however you want. Only a wicked heart says that. I don't mean to tell me you can just believe and just live any old way. No, because the same person says, oh, the love that drew salvation's plan. Oh, the grace that brought it down to man. Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span at Calvary. Amazing grace. How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. You see, saved people love the grace of God. They love the fact that salvation's free. They say, thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift. They love it. I love the gospel. I love that salvation's free. And I don't sit there looking at people who are backslidden and not following God's word and they believe in Christ but they're not obeyed and just like wish them to hell in my mind. Oh, man, that person better not be going to heaven. Don't mean to tell me that that guy is going, you know, I go to church three times a week. I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess. Don't tell me that this publican is going to heaven. Yes, he is. Yes, he is going to heaven. You know, I'm glad. I'm glad to see him there. I'll see you there, buddy, oh, backslidden one who never darkens the door of a church. If you believe in Jesus Christ, I'm glad you're going to heaven. I'm not trying to wish you to hell. I don't wish that you would go to hell just because you're backslidden. What kind of a, you know, who would wish a person who believes on Christ but struggles with sin but falls into sin, the person who would wish that they were going to hell? A wicked person. It doesn't love their brother. It doesn't love their sister in Christ. It's wicked doctrine. That's why I just can't see how, look, you say, well, I still think that some of these people who teach this are saved. Well, you know, you can think whatever you want, but I'm telling you that anybody who turns Romans 7 on its head, I say I believe that they're not saved because I can't see how a saved person would teach such a bizarre, warped, weird doctrine except just with a motive of just saying that believing is not enough. People who don't do the works just aren't saved. It's just not enough. It is enough. It's sufficient. God's grace is sufficient. His blood is sufficient. Faith is sufficient to get us into heaven. Look at Galatians 5, verse 13. For, brethren, you've been called unto liberty. Only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, but if you bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Now, let me ask you this. Why is he telling them to walk in the Spirit if it's just automatic? Oh, you guys are in the Spirit now. In the Spirit, done. No, no, no. You have to choose to walk in the Spirit. So it's possible to be saved, but to not walk in the Spirit, but to walk in the flesh. He says walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary, the one to the other. Watch this. So that you cannot do the things that ye would. Oh, is this about unsaved people too, Michael Pearl? Is this about unsaved people too, Paul Washer? Look, it's the same thing as Romans 7. What I would, I don't do, and I end up not doing the things that I would, and I end up doing things I would not. What does he say right here? He says that the flesh is lusting against the Spirit, and that's why you can't do the things that you would. So is this about before you were saved? Kind of stupid lies. Look what it says. Brethren, verse 13, for brethren, are we talking to unsaved people? For brethren, you've been called unto liberty. Walk in the Spirit. Is he telling unsaved people to walk in the Spirit? No. It's to the saved, and since Galatians 5 is clearly teaching the exact same thing as Romans 7, only a deluded, unsaved, false prophet would twist Scripture to that magnitude to try to teach this doctrine that you can live your life without sin, and if you're still struggling with sin, you're not saved. That's a lying false doctrine. We all struggle with sin. Look, I asked who struggles with sin. The whole place put their hand up. I guess we're all going to hell. I guess only Michael Pearl is going to hell. I mean, going to heaven. He is going to hell, but I guess they're going to get to heaven. It's going to be like Michael Pearl, Paul Washer, and Charles Leiter, and James Pitts without any of his kids. They're going to be up in heaven, you know, and every normal Christian is going to hell except for these pompous, self-righteous, arrogant Pharisees who pray with themselves. Oh, thank God I'm not like these other men, like this publican who beats on his breast and says, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. But then I'm sure according to their doctrine, he got up and walked away and just never sinned again and everything like that. But look at Galatians 5. He says you cannot do the things that you would. Why? Because the flesh is lusting against the Spirit, and when you walk in the flesh, you can't do the things that you would, right? You got to put on the new man. You got to walk in the Spirit in order to do that. He says in verse 18, but if you be led of the Spirit, you're not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these. Manifest means that they're exposed to outward view, like we can see what they are outwardly, okay? The works of the flesh are manifest, which are these. You know, we see these things, right? Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, and emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envies, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like, of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law, and they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lust. Now verse 25 is the key verse, but before I get to verse 25, let me deal with what we just read here. He lists off a whole bunch of sins, and he basically is just listing off, these are the works of the flesh, and he's trying to list everything. And because, obviously, he's not going to sit here and just list every sin, that's why at the end he just says, and such like. Stuff like this. So he lists a whole bunch of sins that kind of run the gamut of types of sin, and then he says, and other stuff like that. So this is just all the works of the flesh, all the simple things. Now the Bible says here, of the which I tell you in time past, the end of verse 21, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. People say, see if you commit any of those sins you're not saved, they'll say. But wait a minute, wait a minute, who's going to inherit the kingdom of God? Is it going to be this sinful flesh, Stephen Anderson, that's going to inherit the kingdom of God? Or is it going to be the new Stephen Anderson that doesn't sin? I'm not going to, look, yeah, it says that no drunkard will inherit the kingdom of God, but it also says that flesh and blood won't inherit the kingdom of God. Flesh and blood can't inherit the kingdom of God, my friend. And the Bible also says that all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. So if you're going to say that no drunkard is saved, then you might as well say that no liar is saved. And you might as well say that no one who has flesh on their body and blood coursing through their veins is saved, because it says flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. See, sinners don't inherit the kingdom of God. Sinners don't go to heaven. But when we get saved, we're regenerated, not the body, only the spirit at this point. We have the first fruits of the spirit, but guess what? This sinful body is never going to go to heaven. This sinful flesh, this sinful man's never going to, because there's no sin allowed in heaven. But by the time I go to heaven, I'm not going to have any sin because my body will be gone. By the time I inherit the kingdom of God, by the time we go into that millennial reign of Jesus Christ and rule and reign with Christ, our sinful flesh will be gone at that point. So to sit there and just cherry pick certain sins and say, well, you know, there's no drunkards going to heaven. Well, then you'd have to also say that there's no adulterers going to heaven, no fornicators going to heaven, no one who's unclean going to heaven, no one who is an idolater, no one who practices witchcraft, has hatred, variance, emulations. This is like being jealous of other people and wanting to be like them. Wrath, so anybody who gets real mad isn't going to heaven according to them then. Strife, anybody who doesn't get along with everybody, right? Strife, seditions, heresies, envies, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and anything like that. Or liars, or the fearful, or anything. All sin will condemn us to hell and in our flesh we will commit these type of sins. Look, are there people in the Bible who are saved who committed these type of sins? Oh yeah, we see people that were saved in the New Testament. For example, having strife and emulations. Paul is trying to set people at one and try to stop people from fighting in the church and arguing with each other and having division in the church and so forth. Paul is dealing with heresies even amongst the saved, even amongst Christians. People like Noah got drunk. People like David committed adultery and murder. All throughout the Bible people commit sin. People are human beings. The works of the flesh are these. If you're in the flesh you are capable of doing these types of things whereas the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. So he's contrasting the works of the flesh versus the fruit of the spirit. Okay, let's keep going. He says in verse number 24, And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. But here's the key verse, verse 25. If we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit. Now isn't that clearly stating that there's a difference between living in the spirit and walking in the spirit? Look if we live in the spirit, let's also walk in the spirit. So we can be saved, we can be living in the spirit, we can have eternal life by God's spirit. That doesn't necessarily mean we're walking in the spirit. We could also walk in the flesh. I mean just back up a few verses. He flat out says in verse 16, This I say then, walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. What's the implication there? That if you don't walk in the spirit, you will fulfill the lust of the flesh. Why? Because the flesh and the spirit are at war with one another. Go if you would to Romans chapter 8, Romans chapter number 8, which is again the context of Romans 7. It continues in Romans chapter 8, verse number 1, There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. See, there are those who are in Christ Jesus who walk after the flesh. And there are those who are in Christ Jesus who walk after the spirit. He says, For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death, for what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the spirit the things of the spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So what the Bible is saying here, this is a key verse, verse number 7, the fleshly mind, the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So the unsaved person, their carnal mind cannot be brought into subjection of the laws of God. Okay, they can try to reform themselves and so forth, but they can't please God. They that are in the flesh cannot please God. Okay, but when you got saved, you did not have a brain transplant, where your carnal mind was removed and a spiritual mind was replaced. No, what actually happened was the spirit was quickened, but you still have the flesh. So you can still, after you're saved, be carnally minded, or you can be spiritually minded. Now look, if you're saved, if you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior, and you don't go to church, and you don't sing hymns, and you don't read the Bible, and you don't pray, and you don't do any soul-willing, do you think you're carnally minded or spiritually minded? I mean, if you're just filling your mind with all the world's garbage, and you're not reading the word, you're not hearing the word preached, how could you be spiritually minded? You're going to be carnally minded. Now here's what, now I listen to this teaching by Michael Pearl, because this is quoted all over the internet. Oh, Romans 7 taught by Michael Pearl changed my life, and oh, it's so wonderful. This lying false teacher that twists Romans 7 and turns it on its head. And he basically quotes this Romans 8 out of context to try to turn Romans 7 on its head and say, oh, this is about unsaved people. This is not the Apostle Paul talking about himself, and so on. He'll basically quote this part right here in chapter 8, verse number 8. He read this and quoted this in his teaching. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But you're not in the flesh, but in the spirit. If so be that the spirit of God dwell in you, now if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his. So he says right there, look, you're not in the flesh, you're in the spirit, therefore you don't have this Romans 7 struggle with sin, because you're not in the flesh, you're in the spirit. But here's what he's failing to teach, is that Galatians 5 25 says, if we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit. So when Paul says, you're in the spirit, you're not in the flesh, that doesn't mean you're walking after the spirit. That doesn't mean you're walking after the spirit, because Galatians 5 said, if we live in the spirit, let's also walk in the spirit. So he takes this out of context and twists it to make it sound like, if you're walking in the flesh, you're not saved, because we're not in the flesh, we're in the spirit. Yeah, in regard to our salvation, but we still have the choice to walk after the flesh, and fulfill the lust of the flesh, or to walk after the spirit, and fulfill the lust of the spirit. Here's what he says, and I'm going to give some direct quotes from his teaching on Romans 7, this Michael Pearl. He said this, when God saves the soul, he saves the body. Now that's simply not true, you've heard that too in the Charismatic movement, or the Garrett Kirschway's heard that in Charismatic, when God saves the soul, he saves the body, also. Now our body will be saved at the rapture, but not now, no, no, our body is the same body. When God saves the soul, he saves the body, why? Because he crucifies the body at salvation, and he takes the man out of the body and puts him into the spirit. Now this is the kind of garbage that this guy teaches, it doesn't even make sense. I mean, when I got saved, I didn't have this out of body experience. He takes the man out of the body, and he puts him in the spirit, that didn't happen when I got saved. That didn't happen when anybody got saved. This is a weird false teaching. He said you're either in Romans 7 and on your way to hell, or you're in Romans 6 and Romans 8, free from sin. That's the exact quote. You're either in Romans 7 and on your way to hell, or you're in Romans 6 and 8 and you're free from sin, is what he taught. He said, you know, don't tell me that if people come forward at a crusade and basically confess the Lord Jesus Christ and then their life doesn't change, are you mean to tell me that they just weren't followed up on? Yeah, that is what I mean to tell you. Yeah, exactly. Now I'm not saying that every bogus crusade or every bogus evangelical meeting is really preaching the true gospel, but if somebody comes to a meeting where the gospel is being faithfully preached, where somebody does come forward and come down an aisle and somebody takes them down the Romans road and thoroughly presents the gospel, or if somebody goes door to door and presents the gospel and gets that person saved, if their life doesn't change, yeah, it's because there was no following up. They didn't get in church. They didn't get discipleship. They didn't get trained. And look, it's not necessarily anyone's fault but their own that they're not getting their rear end in church and, you know, it's not necessarily a lack of follow up in the sense that we have to just keep begging these people to come to church. They know where to find us three times a week. They want to get follow up. It's right here. We got three follow up services a week, Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. But either, well, you just tell me these people just didn't get followed up, these people are all saved. Don't tell me that these people are saved just because they just confessed the Lord Jesus Christ as their savior. I want to see works. Yeah, because you're a false prophet, that's why. And then he mocks and says, yeah, that's why one preacher said, baptize them quick because they may never come back. Yeah, I think that preacher was Paul that baptized them quick because they might never come back. Baptize them quick because they might not come back. And they mock people who baptize at every service. And listen to me, we don't baptize people at every service here simply because we don't have somebody to baptize at every service. But let me tell you something. We have a tub in there. We have a hose in there. And if there's ever anybody who wants to get baptized, we will baptize after any service, after any service. And we have to know before the service because we have to fill it with water because we don't have one of these fancy schmancy baptisteries because we're meeting in a strip mall meeting in an office complex. So you know, we have to pull out the horse trough and the hose and fill it up. But you know what? Somebody walks up to me and says, hey, I need to be baptized and it's before church and we have time. Great, let's fill it up. Let's fill the tank. I don't say, all right, here, join this six-week class. Oh, will we baptize every three months? There are churches out there that just have every three months a big baptism day. Every six months, oh, you want to get baptized? We'll get you on the next round, six months from now, three months from now. And then they mock and ridicule people who baptize daily or baptize on a weekly basis because they say, oh, you're just trying to baptize those people real quick because they're probably not coming back anyway. Yeah, that's right, I am. Yeah, you're right. Because I know the sinful nature of man, even after he's saved, that there's still the flesh there, that a lot of people will not go to church. And you know, especially if they don't get baptized, they're probably not on the right path of spiritual growth. You've been saved for two months and you're not baptized, yeah, you probably will fall out because you're on a wrong spiritual path right there because the first step of obedience is baptism. In the Bible, Paul baptized a guy in the middle of the night, 2 in the morning, 2 a.m. baptism. What are you, afraid he's not going to join the church and get baptized at the special baptism day? I mean, look, they have a six-week class on baptism at church. Is the water that deep? That you need a class to get dunked in it? I mean, good night, what, are you afraid they're going to drown? Oh, better make sure they go through this class. I mean, where's the baptism class in the Bible? You know what the prerequisite to baptism is, if thou believeth with all thine heart thou mayest. You know, I thank God that yesterday I baptized people at a hotel swimming pool. I mean, we brought in a whole bunch of people and we jam-packed an indoor swimming pool at a quality inn. And we dunked, each person we dunked, and everybody's, yeah! I mean, that hotel rumbled with applause. And I'm just thinking, and you know what, I wasn't trying to baptize them quick because they're not coming back. I was trying to baptize them quick before we got thrown out of the hotel. You know what I mean? So I'm like, all right, who's ready, who's next, you know? And we're dunking people. And, you know, we baptized 11 people, thank God, at a hotel in Boston, Massachusetts over there. Why? Because baptize them on the spot, baptize them in the river, baptize them in the horse trough. Hey, there's water here. What doth hinder me to be baptized? That's what the Bible teaches. Yeah, of course you're going to ridicule a soul-winning church, Michael Pearl, because your butt's probably never been in a real soul-winning church in your life. And you know, let me just go on a little rant here, okay? Let me just go on a rant about this homeschool Michael Pearl, you know, dead as a doornail crowd of fake Christianity. Let me just go off on it right now. Hey, listen, I'm all for homeschooling. I preach homeschooling. I practice homeschooling. I'm against Christian school. I'm against public school. I'm against school, okay? I do homeschooling. All of my children are homeschooled and always will be homeschooled. I don't want them down at the public fool system or the Christian fool system. I want them to be taught at home. But let me tell you something. There's a movement out there of a Christian homeschooling movement. It's like homeschooling has become their religion though. Like instead of just being an aspect of our lives or a part of our lives or something that we do, it's like they're God. Like everything is just about our family and it's just all about child rearing. It's just all about homeschooling and that's all they want to talk about, it's all they care about and they just want to have their little perfect family and their perfect homeschool where they're teaching their kids fencing and chess and Latin and violin and horseback riding lessons. You know, they just have like this perfect little family training going on while they let the world go to hell. You know, I'd rather take my kids out and knock some doors and win some souls and take them through the ghetto and take them out into the real world and get some people saved. That ought to be a subject in homeschooling, soul winning. And you know, look, I know so many homeschoolers in this area and some of them even listen to my sermons and I hope they're listening to me right now, these bunch of homeschoolers in Phoenix, Arizona that talk about how conservative they are and how traditional they are and they're so into being so, and then they go to some NIV preaching church, they go to a church that has no soul winning, they go to some Calvinist mess and then they sit around and just pontificate about how godly they are because they homeschool. Homeschooling doesn't make you godly. It's not that hard. Get over yourself. Homeschooling is what you should do, but it doesn't just make you an awesome Christian because if you're not a fisher of men, if you're not winning souls, you're nothing. Oh, but we're raising this godly family. Yeah, what about the family down the street that's going to hell and you're in a dead church? Why don't you get in a fire breathing church? Why don't you get an independent fundamental Baptist church instead of getting in some living room with a couple other homeschooling families and going down deep and staying down long and coming up tri with all your Michael Pearl and your Bill Gothard and your Vision Forum and all this crap. It's garbage. And by the way, how many of these people have turned out to be perverts anyway? Bill Gothard is a pervert. This Vision Forum guy turned out to be some phony and had to resign. Why do people get so ... Why don't we go to a local ... Why don't we ... What's that stupid Bill Gothard company called? This is a rant. I'm still on the rant. We're going to get back to the sermon in a minute. Advanced principles in the Book of Proverbs or something. Somebody help me out. What is it called? But they form these parachurch ministries, no greater joy ministries, parachurch ministries, you know, the advanced principles of Bible Life College and they got their red Bill Gothard notebook that they carry around and also ... Look, why don't you get in a Baptist church with an independent Baptist preacher and do some real soul-willing and quit just obsessing your life about homeschooling. Get over yourself. More important than the violin lesson is getting out and winning some souls. And why don't you go to a fire-breathing church? Why don't you go to a real church? Why don't you go to big boy church? Why are you at some dead, small, not-growing church? You know, and it's like these homeschoolers need to get in a fire-breathing church. And it turns people away from homeschooling because then you start talking to your fellow independent fundamental Baptist, start talking about homeschooling and they're like, oh, you're one of those people. Oh, you're one of these, you know, you're going to go live out in the middle of nowhere on some compound homeschooling your kids and sheltering them from the world. No I'm not. I don't believe in that. Homeschooling is not my life. Homeschooling is not ... Look, I'm not a dad. I don't just go through life like, I'm a dad. That's all. I'm just a father. It's all I do. No, no, no. Look, my life is not just about my family. The Bible says if you put your family before Christ, you're not even worthy of Christ. My primary job in life is to preach the word of God and to win souls and to be a pastor. Not to just be a homeschool dad. That's not my primary role. Okay? And people, look, when people ask you, so what do you do? I'm a homeschool dad. No, you're going to say I'm an electrician, I'm a pastor, I'm a plumber, I'm a carpenter. People can go overboard on homeschooling, okay? And it becomes this weird obsession with people. And this Michael Pearl, okay, is doctrinally not sound. So why would we just, yeah, but he's got some real good stuff on homeschooling. I don't care. He's not doctrinally sound. He teaches false doctrine. Listen to this quote from him. Here's an article he wrote, living parallel lives in the same place, no greater joy. Pearl says, we should and can sin no more. We should and can sin no more. I have been preaching and living this gospel of sanctification for many years. I've been living it for years. I preach it in the prisons and it works on men who've lived lives of total addiction and enslavement. They come unto me all the time, bubbling over with joy and tell me that they're now living free from all sin. They're free from all sin now. Walking in complete victory over sin. This book, the thing that put Michael Pearl on the map, he wrote this book called To Train Up a Child. The book's garbage, folks. Now I'm all for spanking your kids. I believe in spanking, the Bible's crystal clear on that, I spank my children. But this guy's book basically teaches that if you spank your kids and if you do it the way he teaches you, your kids are all going to be perfect. That's literally what he, and look, it carries over from his salvation message. Oh, you can just live your life free of sin. Oh yeah, you just discipline your kids right and they're going to do everything right. And it's the same problem. He says in the book, he says, well, even a dog, he says, even a dog can be trained to have unquestioning obedience to his master and have 100% obedience. So of course children can do the same thing. Now here's the problem with that stupidity, Michael Pearl. Dogs are not human beings. Dogs do not have the complex minds that we have. You know, dogs are just happy to just, and just like, just give them a treat and they're happy. They don't worry about things like love and marriage and fidelity and they don't, they don't worry about, you know, achieving things in their life. They don't worry about winning other dogs to Christ and they basically, they have this real simple attitude of just like, treat is good. Give me a treat. Oh, if I do that, I get a treat. Roll over. I'll roll over and get a treat. Here's the thing. You're not going to have, you might tell a kid roll over and they're going to say, why should I roll over? And then you say, oh, cause I'll give you a cookie. I don't want a cookie, but see the dog does not ever not want a cookie, but human beings will say, keep your cookie. I don't want a cookie. I remember when I was a kid, I, you know, I'd tattle on my sister, my older sister. I'm telling, I'm telling, she'd say, I'll give you cookies. I don't want cookies. I'm going to tell on you. I'll get you gum. There's a famous story. She said, I'll get you gum. I'll get your favorite gum. You know, big red. Cause I loved big red when I was a kid, she said, I'll get you big red. And I said, make it a plenty pack. You know, the one that has 32 sticks of gum. I said, make it a plenty pack and I won't tell, but see the dog doesn't sit there and negotiate with you for additional treats. It doesn't look at that tree and be like, really? Where's the real treats? You know, or just say no treat cause I'm just going to do what I want because dogs are dogs and humans are humans. But here's what's so stupid. He says, oh, dog can be trained that way. But guess what? And he, he brings up like dog training schools. Guess what? They don't beat the dog at a dog training school. They don't whip dogs. Who's ever known something about dog training schools or you've maybe worked there. Yeah, you know a lot about dogs. They actually don't beat the dogs at dog training schools, at obedience schools. That's not the, the method of teaching. Okay. And then he brings up the military. Well, even in the military, they can just be taught to just unquestioningly obey. They don't beat you in the military either. So these are foolish parallels. Now I'm totally for spanking children. The Bible says beat him with the rod. He shall not die. But I'm not going to compare my children to dogs or soldiers. Those parallels don't add up. Yes, you can get a dog to do exactly what you say when you say it. But I don't treat my children like dogs. I don't consider them on the level of a dog. And I don't consider my children like soldiers either. Yeah, you'll do whatever the drill sergeant says. Do you love the drill sergeant? Who loves their drill sergeant to this day? Who doesn't love their drill sergeant? Yeah, that, that, yeah, you don't love him. It's not the same thing. But basically, my wife was showing me the book and reading the excerpts from the Michael Pearl book. And I told her, I said, this is like Billy Mays parenting. You know who Billy, who knows who Billy Mays is? The infomercial guy. I said, this is like a Billy Mays commercial, this book. Oh, it's so amazing. It works every time. I mean, just look at this. The stains just come right off. I mean, look at this. This mother couldn't get her children to obey. But now that she's got to train up a child, I mean, now these kids are so obedient. It works every time. It's amazing. How many people are coming up to me in prison ministry all the time and they're just constantly telling me how they're totally free from sin? How much would you expect to pay for this? You know, it's not, you know, I mean, that, it's, it's, it's like just, no, you're not just going to fix everything. Just, oh, just do these couple of things and everything's going to be perfect. Your kids are going to be like little soldiers. Your kids are going to be like an obedient dog. It's not true. It's a lie. But he gives you this pie in the sky and look, there are a lot of people, look it up, who have literally gotten Michael Pearl's book and look, I'm not saying that the book made them do it. There are many people who've gotten this book by Michael Pearl and literally beat their child until it died. They beat it to death, their child. There are people who starve their children to death after reading the Michael Pearl book or put them outside on a cold day and they froze to death after reading the Michael Pearl book. Look it up. And it's, I mean, the book has been brought into courtrooms as evidence against people when they killed their child by beating it to death with a plumbing pipe or starving it to death or freezing to death. I'm not making this up. Look it up multiple times. And they say, well, we didn't tell them to do that in the book. Yeah, but you told them in the book that if you spank them, they're going to be perfect. You said that in the book that they're going to obey perfectly. And what happens is parents, they're just like, I must not be, they keep not being perfect. I mean, what's the problem? You know, they just keep going. And then people do the same thing in their Christian life. They're just beating themselves up for not being perfect. I mean, Michael Pearl said I shouldn't be struggling with sin. Michael Pearl said my children should all be perfect. I'm not trying to have perfect kids. I'm not trying to be a perfect person. Okay. Because I understand that I'm human and I understand that my kids are human. I'm not trying to have a perfect life. I'm not trying to have perfect finances. I'm not trying to have a perfect family. I'm not trying to have a perfect marriage. And this is a false doctrine. It's an unhealthy teaching that teaches people to strive toward these unattainable, ridiculous goals for their children, for their families, and for their churches. I have so much more, but I'm out of time. I want to just keep going on about this because there's so much to say. But look, you say, why do you rail on this homeschooling movement that basically just elevates homeschooling above all else? And that's the main thing, okay? Here's why. Because this attitude of wanting to have a perfect family, perfect homeschooling, just little textbooks, storybook, airbrush, little photos of everybody being perfect that we can share on social media, it's not the way that God actually wants us to live our lives. You see, my wife and I were talking about this. One way that she illustrated it was like that the family, it's like a machine, okay? The family is a tool that we use to serve God. It's something that's a part of our lives, an aspect of our lives. And let's say that it's like a car that we're driving in, right? Basically, people like Michael Pearl and these other homeschool fanatics, they want to drive that car at like 10 miles an hour all the time, 15 miles an hour. And they're just like, look how smooth of a ride this is. Look how comfortable we are. Look how laid back we can be. And look how everybody's happy and everybody's sitting there and they're smiling and they're feeling good. And he keeps saying in the parenting book, he keeps saying like, you know, yeah, I see these mothers that are frazzled and everything, yeah, they're not doing it right. And he says, once they get my book and implement it, they look so well rested. And these mothers look so calm and they're so peaceful. You know, yeah, well look, I could have a really smooth ride and a peaceful ride in my car too if I only ever drove 10 miles an hour. But you know the way I want to live my life for Christ? Kids, hold on! Why? Because it's a race, man. Run with patience the race that is set before us. Look, I want to be like a NASCAR driver for the Cane of Rhode Island. I want to basically, sometimes I'm pulling into the house and it's like, the tires come off, the new tires come off, they put the gas in the tank and it's like, and people are jumping out of the way and the pit crew's jumping out. Look, my wife is a member of my pit crew. My children are members of the pit crew. So then in our spiritual lives, we're covering hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of miles spiritually. We're like, whoa! Okay, then Michael Pearl's like, oh, you guys are just, you guys just look so ragged and overworked and, you know, I'm smooth sailing over here. Yeah, but you're not doing anything. And look, I mean, look, sometimes we do, we try to redline it in our Christian lives. Now I'm not saying we should go overboard and go slamming into the wall and go up in a bunch of flames, but it is a race, folks. We should be pushing ourselves, and look, when we travel across the country to these soul-winning marathons, sometimes it's intense. Sometimes I come home from it and I'll get sick a few days later just because, you know, your immunity's down from kind of the stress or pushing yourself. Sometimes it gets ugly. Sometimes you get stressed out. Sometimes you get overwhelmed. Sometimes, you know, you're missing sleep and you're skipping meals, but you get 141 people saved. You teach 50 people how to go soul-winning. You don't just sit on some ranch somewhere, out in the middle of stinking nowhere, letting the whole world go to hell while you're just like, oh, but look at our little perfect home school classroom. Hey, where no oxen are, the crib is clean, but there's much increase by the strength of the ox. My goal in my family is not to just have an idyllic perfect family. If so, I wouldn't have nine kids. You just have two kids, just one boy and one girl. And then you can teach them Latin and fencing and chess and archery and horseback riding. And you can, everybody gets up and they're refreshed and they sit down and eat the meals and stuff. You know, sometimes it gets ugly, my friend. Real life gets ugly. Faithful word, Baptist church, things can get ugly. I mean, look, remember a few months ago that one service got pretty ugly. It was like we show up to church and out in the parking lot, there's protesters. I literally picked up this woman and dragged her to the sidewalk and she's cursing us all out and threatening us. I'm dragging a protester. I'm throwing out a family out of the church. I'm dealing with the police five minutes later. And then, you know, I'm preaching an ugly sermon on pornography or something, you know. I mean, that was a hairy morning. But guess what? We broke the attendance record. Guess what? We're winning 100 people to Christ every week around here. Guess what? People's lives are being changed. Guess what? We're not like the independent fundamental Baptist church down the street that's a high steeple, few people, not growing, not doing anything. It's us four, no more, but it's real peaceful. And oh, I just felt so peaceful when I go to those services over there. Yeah, but you know what? Sometimes there's war to go, you know, it's a war. It's a time of peace and there's a time of war. And you know what? In order to, somebody told me, oh, my parents, when I was growing up, they never fought. They never, my parents never fought. They always got along perfectly. And then I met the parents and the mother had short hair, wore pants, and told her husband what to do. That's why they got along, because he just did whatever she said. Yeah, here guys, you want to have a totally peaceful marriage? You want to have a pretty beautiful marriage? Just do whatever your wife tells you to do and then you can have peace and get along. But you know what? Sometimes you have to stand up and say no to your wife and then sometimes it gets ugly when you say no. You know, sometimes you say no to your kids and it gets ugly. Sometimes you have to spank your kids and it gets ugly. Life gets ugly. And I'm sick and tired of this fake, just perfect, idyllic, oh, well we're living the sanctification life over here and we discipline our kids right so they're all good and they're all perfect and everything's great. You liar, you fraud. Either you're lying and making it up or you're operating the machine at about 10% capacity. Yeah, you look, man, you looked really good running that marathon, except you weren't running, you were walking and sitting down every five minutes and eating a sandwich and just relaxing and chatting, but man, you looked good out there. But the guy who wins probably doesn't look good when he finishes. He's probably going to be drenched in sweat. He's going to be all wired and amped up on adrenaline and it could get ugly. Yeah, here's how to have peace and a perfect life, no fighting, not pushing yourself, not running the race for Jesus, secluding yourself out in the middle of nowhere instead of living in the city and winning souls and knocking doors. Look, I don't want to live some perfect life in a log cabin somewhere homeschooling my children. I want to be out there preaching the gospel to the lost, pulling people out of the fire. And look, is this church the prettiest church? Nope. It's industrial Baptist church. Get her done Baptist. Right? It's it's red line Baptist church. And so look at, you know, you don't get rewards for having the smoothest sailing. Oh, oh, oh, we're at the judgment seat of Christ. You know, Pastor Steven Anderson gets the reward for the smoothest life with no bumps because he followed Michael Pearl's teachings to a T most obedient children. The award goes to Pastor Anderson. There's no award like that. There's no hey, if your kids are the most polite at the dinner table, you'll receive a crown of righteousness. Where's that in the Bible? I thought the crowns for winning souls. I thought it's for evangelizing the world. I thought it's for preaching the gospel. And you know what, when you work hard and you push yourself, sometimes other things in life aren't going to be perfect. And you know what this man, I'm going to close it on this. This ought to be an encouraging message to you because you're not perfect and your marriage isn't perfect and your kids aren't perfect and your church isn't perfect and your life isn't perfect and your body isn't perfect. But you know what, while you have a marriage on the rocks or rough time with your kids or rough finances or, you know, rough time at church, win souls, serve God, love Christ. And you know what? You can struggle with sin along the way and still get and I'm not condoning sin. You know, I'm not condoning sin. I'm saying to you that even if you struggle with sin, you can still do great things for God. And that's good news for you because you struggle with sin. Good news for you. Oh, my marriage isn't perfect. You can still serve God. Oh, I struggle with this sin in my life. You can still serve God. Oh, my kids are disobedient. You can still serve God. Don't throw in the towel because you're listening to a bunch of fake frauds or you're seeing everybody's fake life on fake book. Right? That's not real, folks. They don't, I mean, you know, they show a beautiful family picture. You don't see five minutes before it's like, wipe those tears away. We're trying to take a picture. Little brat, you're ruining every picture. Facebook away the redness of eyes. It's true. Life gets hairy. Life gets ugly. But don't worry about it. Do the best you can. Serve God. Walk in the Spirit. Every day, get up and prepare to go like this to the old man every day and kill the old man. Mortify the members of your uncleanness. Every day, get up and say, no, we're going to read the Bible, you know, you know, you're reaching for the remote for the TV. It's like, you know, and make yourself. Read the Bible. Make yourself pray. It's not going to come naturally. And don't go into life with an unrealistic expectation. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much, Lord, for Romans chapter seven, Lord, it gets me fired up when we talk about this, Lord, just because Romans seven is such a great scripture. And it's such a powerful teaching. And when these wicked people who want to just turn it on its head, what is their motive except for just a prideful, arrogant, hypocritical wickedness and a despiser of their brothers and sisters in Christ who are actually telling the truth about the lives that they live? Lord, help us to work hard to win that battle, Lord, on a daily basis, Lord, help us to walk in the Spirit. Help none of us to walk in the flesh or to use this as an excuse to sin, Lord. Help us to put on the new man, Lord, but help us to realize that we're never going to be perfect and our lives are never going to be perfect, but help us to serve you to the best of our ability. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.