IS PERFECTION POSSIBLE? (10 OF 20)
by Jerry Vines
Scripture: I JOHN 3:4-10
This content is part of a series.
IS PERFECTION POSSIBLE? (10 of 20)
Things Worth Knowing
Jerry Vines
I John 3:4-10
3/23/97
When I was a college student up in central
Georgia I was conducting a revival meeting on a week
near a camp ground where a particular group of people
met every summer. That particular group had a
doctrine that it was possible for a believer to reach
a state in his or her Christian life where they would
not sin. That night, as I was preaching, I was
dealing with the matter of sin in the life of a
believer and after the service was over some of the
camp staff members who were college students like
myself, asked if they could meet with me and talk
about the subject for a while. I was eager to do so
because I knew that they were teaching that it is
possible for a believer to get to a point where they
cannot sin and they do not sin and where they are
living a perfect life. We had a rather interesting
discussion, as you can imagine. When we came toward
the conclusion of the discussion one of the college
students said to me, "Well, we do believe that we make
mistakes, but we do not believe that we sin." I
smiled and looked at them and said, "Well, what you
call a mistake, the Bible calls a sin."
There are some people who believe, though
however, that you can get to a point where you will
not sin and do not sin and as these college students
did, they often refer to the verse I have just read to
you. Do these verses teach that it is possible for a
Christian to get to a live where they do not sin and
where they are living a perfect life? If this is what
these verses teach immediately we have several
problems. One of the problems we have is that this is
inconsistent with what we know human experience to be.
Read the lives of the great Bible characters and you
will find that none of the characters of the Bible got
to a point where they could not sin. In fact, the
apostle Paul says in Philippian ...
Things Worth Knowing
Jerry Vines
I John 3:4-10
3/23/97
When I was a college student up in central
Georgia I was conducting a revival meeting on a week
near a camp ground where a particular group of people
met every summer. That particular group had a
doctrine that it was possible for a believer to reach
a state in his or her Christian life where they would
not sin. That night, as I was preaching, I was
dealing with the matter of sin in the life of a
believer and after the service was over some of the
camp staff members who were college students like
myself, asked if they could meet with me and talk
about the subject for a while. I was eager to do so
because I knew that they were teaching that it is
possible for a believer to get to a point where they
cannot sin and they do not sin and where they are
living a perfect life. We had a rather interesting
discussion, as you can imagine. When we came toward
the conclusion of the discussion one of the college
students said to me, "Well, we do believe that we make
mistakes, but we do not believe that we sin." I
smiled and looked at them and said, "Well, what you
call a mistake, the Bible calls a sin."
There are some people who believe, though
however, that you can get to a point where you will
not sin and do not sin and as these college students
did, they often refer to the verse I have just read to
you. Do these verses teach that it is possible for a
Christian to get to a live where they do not sin and
where they are living a perfect life? If this is what
these verses teach immediately we have several
problems. One of the problems we have is that this is
inconsistent with what we know human experience to be.
Read the lives of the great Bible characters and you
will find that none of the characters of the Bible got
to a point where they could not sin. In fact, the
apostle Paul says in Philippian ...
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