Shepherd
Feature: What is sin?
Sin is lawlessness, that is, doing one's own will without restraint of God or man. It is missing the
mark, or coming short of God's standard of perfection in thought, word or deed. It is the failure to
do what one knows is right. Romans 3:23; James 4:17; 1 John 3:4.
WHERE DID THE FIRST SIN TAKE PLACE?
The first sin took place in heaven, when Lucifer, the chief of the angels, desired to take God's place.
He was then cast out of heaven and became known as Satan. Isaiah 14:12-15.
HOW DID SIN ENTER THE WORLD?
Sin entered the world through Adam when he disobeyed God by eating of the forbidden fruit in the
Garden of Eden. Genesis 3:1-13.
WHY DID GOD ALLOW SIN TO ENTER?
God made man as a free, moral agent with the power to choose between good and evil. His
desire was that His creatures should choose to love and worship Him voluntarily, and desire good
rather than evil. But if a creature has the power to choose good, he must of necessity have the
power to choose evil. Genesis 2:15-17.
WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED TO ADAM IF HE HAD NOT SINNED?
He would have enjoyed long life in the Garden of Eden. Genesis 2:17.
WHAT HAPPENED TO ADAM WHEN HE DID SIN?
l. He became spiritually dead toward God.
2. He became subject to physical suffering, sickness and death.
3.He lost his innocence, became unrighteous and unholy, guilty and lost, an enemy and an alien.
Genesis 3:7; Ephesians 2:1-3.
4. If he died in his sin, he would suffer eternal doom.
HOW DID ADAM'S SIN AFFECT HIS CHILDREN?
His sinful nature was passed on to all his posterity. "As by one man sin entered into the world, and
death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Romans 5:12 (See also
v. 13-19.)
DO YOU MEAN THAT WE ARE ALL BORN INTO THE WORLD
SINNERS BECAUSE OF ADAM'S SIN?
Yes! Adam could only beget children with his own nature, and that nature was sinful. All children
have to be taught to do right, but they know how to do wrong without being taught. Psalm 51:5.
As an illustration of this principle, a metal jelly-mold gives its shape to all the gelatin desserts or
salads that are made in it. If you should drop the metal pattern and it becomes dented, all the future
gelatin molds will show the effects of the fall.
WELL, DOES THAT SEEM FAIR THAT ADAM'S SINFUL NATURE
SHOULD BE PASSED DOWN TO ALL OF US?
Adam acted as a representative of the human race. Since we are all created as free, moral agents,
perhaps we would all eventually have done the same as Adam did anyway.
IS THERE NOT SOME GOOD IN ALL MEN?
It depends on whether you are looking at it from God's standpoint or man's. God can find no good
in man that would help to earn him a place in heaven. As far as righteousness or fitness for heaven is
concerned, God says there is none. Man is totally depraved. Isaiah 1:6.
WHAT IS MEANT BY THE EXPRESSION "TOTALLY DEPRAVED"?
It means that sin has affected every part of man's being, and that although he might not have
committed every sin, he is capable of doing so. Jeremiah 17:9; Romans 3:10-18; Romans 7:18. In
addition, it means that he is totally incapable of pleasing God, as far as salvation is concerned,
Romans 8:8.
BUT WILL GOD FIND FAULT WITH A PERSON WHO HAS NOT COMMITTED THE TERRIBLE
SINS OF MURDER, DRUNKENNESS, IMMORALITY AND SO FORTH?
God sees not only what a person has done but what he is in himself. What a man is, is a lot worse
than anything he has ever done. A filthy thought-life, a hatred of some other person, a lustful look
- these are terrible sins in God's sight. Matthew 5:27, 28; Mark 7:21-23; Romans 8:7,8. They separate
man from God. Isaiah 59:1, 2.
BUT ARE NOT SOME SINNERS WORSE THAN OTHERS?
Undoubtedly they are, but we must not compare ourselves with others. People who do that are not
wise. We will not be judged in comparison with others but in the light of God's holiness and
perfection. Romans 2:1-3; 2 Corinthians 10:12.
WILL ALL SINNERS SUFFER THE SAME PUNISHMENT?
No! All who die in their sins will spend eternity in hell. However, there will be degrees of punishment,
depending on the opportunities a man has had to be saved and the sins he has committed.
Matthew 11:20-24; Luke 12:46-48.
WHAT ABOUT THE HEATHEN WHO HAS NEVER HEARD THE GOSPEL?
God has revealed Himself to all mankind in creation as well as in conscience. If a heathen lived up
to this knowledge, God would send him further light so that he might be saved. But the heathen has
rejected the knowledge of the true God and has worshiped idols of wood and stone. Therefore, he is
without excuse, Romans 1:20. Without Christ, the heathen is lost, and that is why Christian
missionaries go into all the world with the Gospel.
HOW COULD YOU PROVE TO ME THAT I AM A SINNER?
If you have to answer "No" to any of the following questions, then you are a sinner. If you have never
trusted Christ as your Lord and Savior, then you are lost and you need to be saved.
l. Do you love God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind?
2. Do you love your neighbor as you love yourself?
3. Would you like your friends to know the most impure thought you have ever had?
4. Is your life as holy in the dark as in the light?
5. Is it as pure when you are alone as when you are with others?
6. Is it as clean when you are away from home as when you are at home?
7. Have you always performed all the good you knew you should do?
8. Can you honestly say, "I have never taken the Name of the Lord in vain"?
9. Have you an unbroken record of never having told a lie?
10. Are you as perfect as the Lord Jesus Christ?
Rod & Staff
Feature: The Bible: infalliable Word of God?
Dear computer user,
Have you ever noticed that the Christian church seems to be in a mess? One church says one thing,
and another another? One church states that abortion is the sin of murder, and another says that a
woman should be allowed to make her own choice about whether or not to have an abortion. One
church says that homosexuality is sinful, while another supports any "loving and committed"
relationships that homosexuals may have.
I have seen things even more shocking than these. I have read statements by professors in certain
theological seminaries who deny that Jesus was born of a virgin, and that Jesus' body came out
of the grave. I have seen reports of the so-called Jesus Seminar, where scholars get together and
go through the statements attributed to Jesus in the Bible and vote whether or not Jesus actually
made these statements. (Isn't that scientific, to vote whether or not something actually took place?)
Recently there was a feminist conference at which Dolores Williams, a professor at Union
Theological Seminary, made this statement: "I don't think we need a theory of atonement at all.
I think Jesus came for life and to show us something about life... I don't think we need folks hanging
on crosses and blood dripping and weird stuff." (Source: Christian News, 2-14-94. This issue also
notes than certain mainstream Christian denominations funded the conference where this
statement was made.) With friends like these, does the church need any enemies?
I firmly believe that the breakdown of the visible Christian church (as opposed to the invisible
church, the group of all true believers) can be traced to one thing: placing human scholarship
above the Bible. Liberal theologians deny that the Bible is the inspired and infallible Word of God.
Oh, they may say nice things about the Bible, and even say that it contains the Word of God, but
they deny that every word in the Bible is inspired by God, and is therefore infallible (without mistake
--that is, accurate both as to spiritual truth and historical fact). They claim that human scholarship
must determine which parts of the Bible really express God's intention, as opposed to which parts
are of merely human origin. This approach to the Bible is really quite convenient for the scholars
who use it because it allows them to change the message of the Bible to suit their whim, or the whim
of popular fads and opinions. That is why some theologians can tailor their message to suit
whatever radical cause meets their fancy, whether it is pro-abortion, pro-homosexual, or whatever.
What people need today, more than ever, is this: "Thus saith the Lord." The Bible claims in many
places to be the Word of God. "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking,
correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for
every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16,17). Consider the value that Jesus placed on the Old Testament
when fighting the temptations of the devil: "Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word
that comes from the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4). How can man live by the word of God unless he
has a place where God has recorded his Word? Indeed, God has given us his Word--the Bible is
his Word. If the claims of the Bible are true, then the Bible is in fact the Word of God and we had
better listen. Indeed, the proper attitude for us to have in connection with the Bible is this: "This is
the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word" (Isaiah 66:2).
But if the Bible's claims to inspiration are false, what is the Bible but a book of contradictions?
I hope that I have not bored you and that you have read up to this point, because the message
of the Bible has great comfort and hope for you. It tells you to acknowledge your sin and then it
assures you that Jesus Christ has forgiven your sin. Through faith in him you have the hope of life
in heaven. It is my hope and prayer that you have found comfort in Christ. However, this comfort
can come only from the Word of God, which we have in Bible. If the Bible is not the inspired and
infallible Word of God, then all of its parts are suspect and unreliable, just as any human book
would be. But I firmly believe that the Bible is totally reliable in all its parts. I pray that you will find
this same assurance in the Word of God.
However, if you are one of those who puts human scholarship and learning above Scripture,
if you claim for yourself the right to pick and choose those parts of the Bible which present an
authentic message from God, then I encourage you to turn to Revelation 22:18,19.
I've got questions to ask
1. I feel that I believe in God because I fear going to hell and I’m feeling quite guilty about it.
What can I do to ease this feeling ? - Reader
Fear going to hell:
Knowing that hell exists and fearing going to hell is normal and human. Remember though that the
Bible does not say to fear hell "...but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in
hell." (Matt 10:28)
Believe in God:
When you say that you believe in God, what kind of belief is that ?
The Bible records that "... the devils also believe and tremble." (James 2:19)
Cain also believed in the existence of God and even talked to Him, but "... Cain rose up against
Abel his brother and slew him." (Gen 4:8)
The Bible says that "... if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that
God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." (Roms 10:9)
Your belief in God has to be a life-changing belief. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new
creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Cor 5:17) It cannot be a dead faith. "In the same
way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." (James 2:17) True belief in God has
to be love in action.
"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens
to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after
looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks
intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has
heard, but doing it -- he will be blessed in what he does. If anyone considers himself religious and
yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless."
(James 1:22-26)
Feeling guilty about it:
Some people feel guilty because they are not interested in God at all, except to take advantage
of His offer to get out of going to hell.
Christianity is all about a relationship with God and knowing our God. By doing so, we will find
purpose and meaning in life beyond our everyday existence. That’s when we get involved in
God’s plan and God Himself gets involved in everything that goes on in our lives. This relationship
lets us live victoriously above our circumstances and looks at life and everything it has to offer in
God’s eyes. He shows us the true meaning of life and how to really enjoy life the way He meant for
us. It is not being blinded by the world and the cheap substitutes to real living and true happiness
that it offers. It is about living, really living.
Don't be fooled, "God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows." (Gals 6:7) No one can
take advantage of God and get away with it.
Start getting to know God. Talk to Him everyday. Read His Word. Fellowship and get to know the
other christians who are also part of God’s family and who share the same identity and sense of
purpose as you do. Desire to know Him and to do His will. - Victor Tan
2. If I commit a sin and ask for forgiveness, but commit the sin again a few days later and ask for
forgiveness again.... I mean this could go on, so what’s the point ? What then is thedifference
between asking for forgiveness and actually repenting ? - Reader
Non-Christians are not perfect. They sin. Christians are also not perfect. They also sin. Difference
is that Christians are ‘saved sinners while non-Christians are not.
The difference between asking for forgiveness and actually repenting is that repentance is a state
of the heart that decides to turn 180 degrees away from whatever it was doing or the direction that it
was heading and move in the opposite direction. Asking for forgiveness usually follows repentance.
If there is no repentance, then asking forgiveness is just paying lip-service. And a lot of Christians do
that.
You are right when you say that you commit sin and ask forgiveness and the cycle is repeated again
and again. In Romans, Paul too, acknowledges this battle between the spirit which is a new creation
of God and the flesh which belongs to the world.
"I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do
what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but
it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the
desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the
evil I do not want to do -- this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I
who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I
delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against
the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a
wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God -- through Jesus
Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave
to the law of sin. (Roms 7:15-25)"
This battle is brought about because our spirit is a new creation and wants to do what is righteous
and good but our body is not a new righteous body yet. It is still one of sin. Our righteous physical
body will only appear when the resurrection occurs.
"Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed -- in a flash, in the
twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised
imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable,
and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and
the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed
up in victory." "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" The sting of death is
sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ." (1 Cor 15:51-57)
In the meantime, there’s still gonna be sin in our lives. But understand that 2 kinds of sins dominate
in our lives. One of which can be overcomed by the washing of the Word and discipline. Paul
reveals in 1 Corinthians that he disciplines his body to place his body under subjection so as not to
become a slave to its desires and sin.
"No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be
disqualified for the prize." (1 Cor 9:27)
The other comes under the category of demonic bondage where the influence of demons in a
person's life causes him to sin. This is usually not so easily overcome especially with discipline.
This kind of bondage requires deliverance where the demons are made to leave the person in the
Almighty Name of Jesus. An example could be where a person drinks heavily and it could
eventually end up as an addiction. The habit always begins voluntarily with the consent of the
person getting drunk but after time, it could end up with demonic influence that is driving his
alcoholism and try as he might, the person might find it almost impossible to break free.
Also do not be deceived into thinking that sin is only outward. The Bible says that sin is also a state
of the heart. It is also rebellion. Your thoughts and heart could already condemn you even if your
actions don't.
"But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone
who says to his brother, `Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, `You fool!'
will be in danger of the fire of hell." (Matt 5:22)
"But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery
with her in
his heart." (Matt 5:28)
The wonderful thing about it is that God has said that "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just
and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (1 Jn 1:9)
God gave us this verse because He knew that we would still sin even after becoming Christians.
This verse is not for us to take advantage of God's grace and goodness but to get back into that
relationship with Him.
"What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We
died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into
Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into
death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too
may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be
united with him in his resurrection." (Roms 6:1-5)
Sin to a real Christian will not cast him into hell because he is already saved by the Blood of Jesus
Christ whose death on the Cross paid a one-time price for all sin past and future. The forgiveness
and repentance that a Christian asks is not for the purpose of salvation as it has already been given
the moment he has received Christ as his Personal Saviour. However, sin comes in between a
Christian and his relationship with God. His relationship with God suffers and something has to be
done about it so that the Christian can enjoy God as before. That's where the repentance and
forgiveness comes in, to restore the Christian back in harmony with God.
Shall we go on sinning that Grace may increase ?
Habitual sins and bondage - discipline and God's power. - Victor Tan
Bulletin Article: Easier or Harder?
"Enter through the narrow gate...Small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and
only a few find it." "Take my yoke upon you...for my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
(Matthew 7:13, 14; 11:28, 30)
When we choose to follow Christ, do things become harder or easier? On the one hand, Christ tells>
us the gate is small and His way narrow; on the other, He says His yoke is easy and His burden light.
Sometimes we feel the whole world has turned upon us because we follow the Lord. Life becomes so
difficult, even unbearable. at other times, we believe we are immeasurably better off than the rest of
the world. We have such purpose and joy in the Lord that we would never dream of going back to the
world. Can such a swing between paranoia (everything’s against me) and euphoria (everything’ for
me) be explained?
I believe it can be. Things are hard before they are easy. I remember how hard it was in school to
memorize the multiplication tables. It was easier, when given 3 x 7, to add up the 7’s one by one.
I would just use my skill in addition and not have to learn another skill, i.e. multiplication. But is it really
easier? Of course not. When it comes, to 12 x 12, I would have a hard time adding my head off. It's
much easier to memorize the tables. I may shudder at the thought of having to do it, but when the
hard part is over, things will become easier.
Similarly Christ offers us both a harder and easier way. Harder, because he demands our all,
"If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross after me." (Mark 8:34).
He is not asking to come into our life to do some minor repairs. He wants to show us the kind of
persons we really are: selfish, arrogant, faithless. Then he wants us to put to death, nail us on the
cross, crucify our self. All this is very painful.
But when the pain is over, he promises to give us himself - all that God means us to be. Paul could
say, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me" (Galatians 2:20).
When Christ truly lives in us, nothing is hard. Nothing is so powerful that Christ’s strength cannot
overcome it. Nothing is so dark that his light cannot dispel it. Nothing is so oppressive that Christ
cannot set us free from it.
When Jesus says it is both hard and easy, He is not giving us double-talk. He means it. The way
of the cross is difficult and painful. But in it we find life. The way of the world is easy and smooth, but
with it comes a slippery end that leads to destruction. Between the two, there is no way.
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