Doctrine of Sin

Doctrine of Sin

Acts 4:12

Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

  “Sin” is a word that seems to be used very lightly at times.  There’s a brand of desserts that are named “Sinfully Delicious.”  Sin is used in light-hearted ways as though it’s a small thing to sin.  But you can’t read very far in the Bible without seeing that sin is considered a really big deal by God.

   The reason for Jesus coming to us in a fleshly body and dying on the cross was to deal with sin.  Why?  Because sin, for humanity, goes back to the very first man and the very first woman who didn’t make it far even living in perfect conditions without indulging in sin.  And please stop blaming Satan like he was solely responsible.  He didn’t force the fruit down anyone’s throat.  They ate willingly.  And that is the word that best describes our sin problem – will. 

   Growing up in a Roman Catholic dominated area, I heard a lot about the concept of “Original Sin.”  Simply put, “original sin” was an inherited condition we get from Adam and Eve.  When Adam sinned, his sin condemned the rest of us to paying the consequences for his sin.  We inherit the punishment for this sin.  I once heard a preacher describe it as though a kind of nuclear bomb had gone off at the beginning of human history, and its radioactivity of sin has spread down to us through time and space.  This original sin has given us a sin nature that tends toward rebellion and disobedience.  And anyone who has raised kids knows that you don’t have to teach disobedience and rebellion to your kids – they tend to do it naturally. 

  This sin condition we inherited is fatal in 100% of cases.  The good news is that there is a cure.  When Jesus allowed Himself to be beaten and nailed to a cross, He paid for this miracle medicine that cures us from the curse of sin.  Just before He died, Jesus said three words – “it is finished.”  God’s plan of redemption was complete; salvation was come to a lost world.  I doubt we will know all that happened that day or all it means to us until we go to be with the Lord in eternity.  But we see a glimpse from time to time and we saw one in our church this week.

   A young girl, a friend of the pastor’s daughter, came to Bible study.  Pastor was talking about witnessing and the girl responded to what he said.  She said she realized that she was a sinner and wanted to know how she could be saved.  He gave her the opportunity to say the sinner’s prayer and she did.  She was translated from death to life and from eternity separated from God to eternity with the Lord.  Her decision caused the angels in heaven to rejoice and offer praises to God.  Salvation is a miracle and we were privileged to see this one happen.  She received the cure for sin.  The curse lifted off her and she received eternal life. 

   Was this a chance encounter?  I think not.  I don’t believe it was a coincidence, I believe the Holy Spirit arranged for her to be there and to hear salvation being described. 

   Jesus came to give life to a sinful world and He welcomes all who come to Him.   He removes the curse of sin to all who ask.  Keep witnessing to the unsaved in your life and give them the chance to be delivered from death to life.

Stephen Cram                            March 31, 2013                              Colossians 2:8

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, following the tradition of men according to the rudiments of the world, and not in accordance with Christ.

What’s So Good About Good Friday?

What’s So Good About Good Friday?

Psalms 22: 16-18

16 For dogs have surrounded Me;
The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me.
They pierced My hands and My feet;
17 I can count all My bones.
They look and stare at Me.
18 They divide My garments among them,
And for My clothing they cast lots.

   Everything had looked so different on Palm Sunday. The crowds cheered. They called Jesus “King” and threw palm fronds at His feet.  Can you imagine being cheered by thousands?  What a rush!  THAT was a good day!

   Monday and Tuesday were good days.  Jesus took charge and cleared the temple of men practicing unfair business practices.  He was confronted by the religious leaders and He confounded them with His wisdom. 

   Wednesday and Thursday had good moments in them.  Jesus and his friends shared Passover together.  They reclined at the table and chatted and speculated on who would have what position in Jesus’ coming kingdom.  Everything was normal up to the end of the meal when Jesus said He was to be betrayed by one of them.  Then they sang a hymn and went out.  These were good days.

   But then it was Friday.  Good Friday.  Friday was not a good day.  The name doesn’t seem to fit - it wasn’t really a good day.  It was the day Jesus was killed. 

   The Disciples watched as their Teacher was arrested in the middle of the night and taken away.  Most scattered and hid but John and Peter followed along.  Then Peter was confronted by an inquisitive young girl and denied Jesus three times and he ran away.  Not a good day if you were a follower of Jesus.

   The High Priest and his cronies conspired to get Jesus arrested and hired witnesses to testify against Him.  They ran a “Kangaroo Court” to convict Him and then marched Him to the Roman Prefect’s court and threatened Pilate until he caved in and condemned Jesus to crucifixion.  Not a good day for Jesus.

   They took Jesus to a place to be scourged, which is a fancy word for whipped.  He was whipped bloody and tormented by the Roman troops.  He was dragged back to Pilate and presented to the people who rejected Him in favor of a common thug.  No, not a good day at all.  Then this not-good-day turned into a very bad day. 

   The cross. The cross brought terror to millions of people.  The thought of crucifixion frightened the hardest person and broke the strongest who was nailed to one.  Men would scream and beg and plead when they were being hoisted up onto one.  So we don’t like to talk about the crucifixion of Christ.  We like to hear about the crowds He preached to.  We like to hear about the little children coming to Him.  We like to hear about the healings and raising people from the dead.  We don’t like to hear about the scourging and the crown of thorns and the cross and the blood.  The cross is as much a part of the Christian message as any other part of His life.  Paul said “We preach Christ and him crucified.”  We sing songs that declare, “We glory in the cross.”  But in reality we shy away from the cross.  We don’t like to think about the cross.  Friday was a long day.  It started at sundown the night before and didn’t end until just before sunset that day, and during that time Jesus died.  How can we call this Friday Good Friday?

   We can call this Friday “good” because it wasn’t the end of the story.  Like Dr. Tony Campolo preaches, “it was only Friday, but Sunday’s coming!”  The story of Friday was a tragic story, but it was only a part of the whole story.  Friday led to a couple of days of quiet and fear and sadness and then it was Sunday.  Sunday was a good Sunday.  Sunday was the reason Jesus had to go through Friday.  Sunday dawned and a woman walked through the gloom to the garden tomb and discovered that the stone wasn’t where it was supposed to be.  And an angel told her the tomb was empty.  Empty!  The tomb was empty!  As she hurried away, the day brightened and it was a good day.

Stephen Cram                           March 24, 2013                Colossians 2:8

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.  Colossians 2:8 NASB

Remember The Cross!

Remember The Cross!

I Corinthians 11: 23-26
23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread;
24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.

   I once read that if a young man forgets his hat at the bar, no one thinks very much of it.  But if an old man forgets his hat at the bar, everyone says he’s losing his memory.  I think the point was that we all have to have help remembering things at times.  There is an old wives tales about wearing a string on your finger.  I guess that since an elephant never forgets we can buy one and lead it around with us all day.  Although it wouldn’t work for me – my car is too small to fit an elephant.  The modern way is to either mark a calendar or enter a reminder on our tablet or IPad.
   There have been times in our nation’s history when we wanted to remember something and a slogan was made up and repeated over and over.
Remember the Alamo!  Remember the Maine!  Remember Pearl Harbor!  Remember 9-11!  All these were negative memories that were remembered because we hoped for a positive result.
   In 1 Corinthians 11 Paul tells us that Jesus wanted us to remember something, too.  It, too, was a negative memory that leads to positive results in our lives.  What He is asking us to remember are these things:
First: His Body broken for us.
Bread signifies life, so when Jesus broke the unleavened bread and gave it to His disciples, He illustrated that His body would be broken in order that they might have life.  He was beaten, humiliated and hung on a cross.  He suffered and died so that we could be whole.  His body being broken brings us new life and also He provides for our healing.
   When we take the bread at communion, we remember His suffering and how his body was broken for us.
Second: His shed blood is a new covenant for us.
When Christ raised His cup, He proclaimed that the cup signified a New Covenant.  No longer would people have to sacrifice innocent animals and offer their blood to cover sins.  Christ made one final sacrifice and brought His blood one time as a last offering for sins.  The cup did not just cover sins but now sins would be washed away.
   When we take the cup at communion, we remember this blood sacrifice that sets us free from sins and reconciles us to God.
Third: We proclaim His death until he comes.
   This sounds like a gruesome thing to remember, but we need to remember His death and we need to proclaim His death to the world.  The trend among “trendy” churches is to downplay the death of Jesus and many never mention the blood He shed or the suffering He went through.  But without the suffering and the blood and His death and resurrection there would be no church – trendy or otherwise.
   We need to proclaim His death and resurrection to a lost world.  As you go out to share the Gospel:  Remember the Cross!

Stephen Cram                            March 17, 2013                      Colossians 2:8

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.  Colossians 2:8 NASB

Don’t Be Taken Captive

Don’t Be Taken Captive

Colossians 2:8 KJV

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

   When a verse begins with “beware,” I look closely to see what warning it’s talking about.  “Beware” means to be on guard against something.  We are in a spiritual war and the Adversary means to defeat you by any means possible.  The Bible is warning us to beware of the danger. 

   The next thing I see here is a word that is translated differently in different bible versions.  The King James and other older versions use the word “spoil.”  Other versions use “captive.”  The idea here is to be captured by the enemy and taken as a spoil of war.  When barbaric peoples fight and win a battle they often take captives to become slaves and work for them.  This is what Paul is warning us about here.  If we let Satan defeat us he will take our hearts and minds captive and try to make us do his will.  I have, sadly, heard Christians who have fallen away from God and then lived sinful lives and some went as far as cursing God and their former churches and pastors.

   Paul is warning us here to beware of the philosophies that are everywhere in our society.  Evolution, humanism, materialism, and many other ideas violate Christian beliefs and can hijack your mind and heart and you can be drawn away from God.  This is because philosophies can change your outlook on life.  If you begin to accept that all life came about by random chance it can affect how you view God.  If you take the view that all people are not equal under God that can affect how you relate to others and how sincerely you are in sharing the Gospel.  Fortune-telling can affect how you live day to day.  I have personally seen a Christian who became confused and dropped out of church because she started reading her horoscope every day.  

   When I was going through the break-up of my first marriage, a judge suggested we seek help from a psychologist.  In a one-on-one meeting he assured me that nothing I did was my fault; I was the victim of my mother and father and my childhood.  They were poor and “deprived” me of many things other children had and so I grew up in an “abnormal” childhood.  I told him he was full of beans and walked out of his office.  My mother and father loved me and I had a solid family life.  I did not then and do not now buy into his twisted view of life.  His words seemed to be comforting, but his philosophy was designed to rid me of personal guilt and responsibility for my actions, which is against what the Bible teaches.  We need to confess our sins and come clean to God and receive forgiveness.

   Beware of the philosophies that are in the world around us.  They are designed to pull you away from a personal relationship with God.  Am I saying you should stop checking your horoscope?  Yes, I am!  Should you continue to see your psychologist?  You judge what they’re saying to you and how it affects your relationship with God. 

Guard your heart and your mind against anything that tries to come between you and your relationship with God.  Beware! Don’t become a spoil of war.

Stephen Cram                            March 10, 2013                       Colossians 2:8

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.  Colossians 2:8  NASB

The Black Bart Syndrome

The Black Bart Syndrome

1 Peter 5:8 NKJV

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

   The story of the infamous stage coach robber Black Bart is an interesting one; he never fired a shot and never took a hostage. He recited poetry instead.  That’s right: poetry.  Yet he was one of the most feared bandits in the Old West.  Why was he so feared?  His reputation.  People saw the long coat, the bowler cap, the big moustache, and the flour sack mask and thought, “Oh no!  It’s Black Bart!” The rest was easy.  He took their money and their jewelry and rode off and most of the times no one dared to try to stop him.  Reputation goes a long way towards winning a fight.     

   Our Adversary does pretty much the same thing to us.  We see bad things happening in our lives and think, “horns, red cape, pitchfork.  Oh no!  It’s the Devil!”  And we cover our heads and cringe in fear and let him have another easy victory.  Often we don’t even try to fight back.  We are often so afraid of him we begin to think he’s attacking us when it’s only some bump in the road and is just a normal part of life. 

   We need to step out in faith and live our lives without fear.  I’ve never counted them, but I’m told the Bible says “do not fear” in different ways more than 300 times.  I don’t know if there are really 30 places, but the Bible does tell us not to be afraid a lot.     

   Peter exposes the root of our fears as being the devil and tells us he’s just waiting to devour us.  So should we be afraid of the devil?  Can he really devour us?  Short answer, no. He only has as much power over you as you allow him to have. 

   The best analogy I can give you is you are walking in a zoo and find yourself in front of the lion enclosure.  The big king lion is pacing just on the other side of the wall from you and he’s licking his lips and eyeing you and watching every move you make. You are in no danger no matter how hunger he is.  All you need do is stay where you are and you’ll be safe.  But suppose you jump into the enclosure with him?  Are you in danger now?  You betcha!  He outweighs you and has bigger teeth and sharp claws that can rip you open in one slash.  You are in his power now. Oh why, oh why didn’t you stay on the other side of the wall where you were safe?!?

   You, Christian, are in no danger from the Adversary if you stay where you’re supposed to stay.  Stay close to god.  Stay under God’s protection.  You can go into the lion’s area if you go with professional handlers who will keep you safe.  And you, Christian, can go into the devil’s den if you go with the Holy Spirit to handle him and protect you. 

   Ok, the analogy is a little strange, but go with it, OK?

   So why do we let the Adversary have so much control over us?  Why do we live in so much fear from a lion who really can’t harm us?  It’s the spiritual equivalent to the Black Bart story.  We lose the fight in our heads.  We get a bad cold and we’re ready to convince OURSELVES the devil made us sick.  No, the devil did not give you a bad cold.  Sin has corrupted this world and brought about sickness and as long as we’re living in this damaged world we will face sickness from time to time.  We will lose money and we will have car troubles and we will be out of work and we will face any of dozens of other situations that just happen in life.  Stop giving the devil credit for so much that he had nothing to do with.  Stop losing the battle in your mind even before you fight the fight. 

   Peter tells us to be sober and be vigilant.  Loose translation: keep your head on straight and your eyes open. If you read and meditate on God’s word and examine yourself to be sure you’re living a life pleasing to God you’ll be better able to defeat the Adversary when he comes to tempt you.   And take the Bible’s many warnings to heart – do not fear.  You’ve got a great big Brother who is always with you and the biggest Dad on the block.

Psalms 27:1&2

The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?

Psalms 118:6 

The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?

Stephen Cram                            March 3, 2013                     Colossians 2:8

Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.  Colossians 2:8