A Biblical Understanding of Islam

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♪ Yes I will, oh bless your name ♪ ♪ Oh yes I will, sing for joy when my heart is heavy ♪ ♪ All my days, oh yes I will ♪ ♪ Oh I don't want to be the same God that never fails ♪ ♪ Will not fail me now, you won't fail me now, no way ♪ ♪ The same God who's never late, who's working all things out ♪ ♪ Working all things out, oh yes I will ♪ ♪ Lift you high in the lowest valley ♪ ♪ Yes I will, oh bless your name ♪ ♪ Oh yes I will, sing for joy when my heart is heavy ♪ ♪ All my days, oh yes I will ♪ ♪ For all my days, oh yes I will ♪ ♪ I choose to praise, to glorify, glorify the name of all names ♪ ♪ Nothing can stand against, I choose to praise, to glorify, glorify the name of all names ♪ ♪ Nothing can stand against, I choose to praise, to glorify, glorify the name of all names ♪ ♪ Nothing can stand against, I choose to praise, to glorify, glorify the name of all names ♪ ♪ And nothing can stand against, I choose praise, to glorify, glorify the name of all names ♪ ♪ And nothing can stand against, oh yes I will, lift You high, in the lowest valley, yes I will, bless Your name, oh yes I will ♪ ♪ Sing for joy, when my heart is heavy, all my days, Oh yes I will, sing for joy, in the lowest valley, yes I will, bless Your name, oh yes I will, sing for joy, in the lowest valley, oh yes I will, bring Your name, oh yes I will, sing for joy, in the lowest valley, oh yes I will, sing for joy, in the lowest valley, oh yes I will. ♪ ♪ Oh yes I will, for all my days, oh yes I will, for all my days, yes I will. ♪ ♪ I was buried beneath my rebellion, lost without hope of redemption, blind to my need for a savior, oh but God. ♪ Crushed by the weight of my failure, living in the lie I created, digging my grave without knowing it, oh but God, oh but God. Rich in mercy, how You love me, too much to let me stay lost, my salvation sent from heaven, mailing my sin to a cross, oh but God. You gave me a truth worth believing, I strained my chains for Your freedom, You were the one that I needed, oh but God. You resurrected my heart from the ruins, and my rescue came through like the morning, and this is my sure testimony, oh but God, oh but God. Rich in mercy, how You love me, too much to let me stay lost, my salvation sent from heaven, mailing my sin to a cross, oh but God. Oh, the wreckage of my choices You have turned to Light from ashes, lifted from death, risen within

Now I stand in confidence Oh, the wreckage of my choices You have turned to Light from ashes, lifted from death, risen within Now I stand in confidence Rich in mercy, how You love me Too much to let me stay lost My salvation, sin from heaven And my sin to cross You Rich in mercy, how You love me Too much to let me stay lost My salvation, sin from heaven And my sin to cross Oh, the God Oh, the God Oh, the God Oh, the God It's great to be with you again. I trust that you can remember my accent from last time. If not, let the person next to translate for you. I've been in Texas, this is my 14th year, so I think I've become Texan, but I can't get the accent right. I just can't talk like you, so bear with me. Coming to America, one of the things that I try and explain to people that we understood when we came many, many years ago, and it's really important to understand when you come to America, is the concept of freedom. We are the land of the free. We have a Bill of Rights that guarantees our freedoms, and it's really important to understand that that concept of freedom is fundamental to an American worldview,

to the American way of life. We believe so strongly in that. Even in Christianity, freedom's important. It's really important that we don't force our religion on people. We don't force it even on our own children. Freedom is something significant about the way God made us and put his image in us. And so we come to Islam. What about Islam? How do we connect that to understanding Islam and to understand the Muslims that are in our nation and Islam that's growing in our nation? What do we do with that? There are those who want to say, well, we really are kind of like strange cousins. I mean, we all come from a belief in Abraham and a monotheistic religion, and we all claim Abraham as one of our great fathers of the faith. Aren't we really more common than we are different? But in the end, it comes down to the very core of our faith and understanding what the core of our faith is. And if Islam or any other religion contradicts the very core of what we believe, we're not cousins. We're not brothers. We don't have agreement. And so I would like us to be based in the book of Romans today. Romans is a wonderful book you should read. It's got so many rich, deep truths. Romans chapter 8 is an amazing chapter on the Holy Spirit.

Many people don't understand the Holy Spirit. You should read Romans 8. In Romans 9, God, through Paul's writing, transitions to an understanding of Israel. Where do Israel stand in terms of the nation that had God and was God's instrument and now don't seem to understand the Messiah? And in Romans chapter 9, Paul makes a transition to understanding Israel. And then in chapter 10, He builds on that and lays down some fundamental truths of what it is to know Jesus and to follow him. And so we're gonna start in Romans chapter 10, understanding that he's been talking about Israel, he's gonna carry on introducing them in Romans chapter 10, but really this passage we're gonna read speaks of any religion, and especially is true of Islam, anything that doesn't understand the gospel and is a works-based religion. Because to understand Islam and how we view them biblically, we must understand that they are fundamentally a works-based religion, which is why they have Sharia law and all those things we'll talk about. And so let's read together, it should be on the slide for you, in Romans chapter 10, and we'll read the first three verses. You can turn in your Bibles and read with me. Paul writes, brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God,

but not in accordance with knowledge. For not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. This is about any religion that does not understand the gospel of grace and what it means that Jesus paid it all and that we accept our faith. And Islam is like that. Islam, Paul is writing about Israel, he could easily be writing about the religion of Islam. And so let's look at some things in this passage. Well, first of all, let's lay some foundations because if we think we're the same as Islam, there's some fundamental truths we need to understand first as we get into this passage. Number one, that Islam outrightly denies the Trinity. I think you have there a verse from the Quran, Quran chapter four, verse 171. The Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary, was no more than a messenger of Allah. Do not say Trinity. Stop for your own good. That's in the Quran, an outright denial of the Trinity. You can see that they do hold Jesus in high regard, son of Mary, he's a messenger of Allah in fact. He's second only to Muhammad as the greatest person that ever lived. More than that actually,

he's the only person that they believe, and this is what being common to us, that he never sinned. The only person in all of human history who never sinned in Islam is Jesus, but no more than a messenger. He was simply a prophet. Do not say Trinity. Do not say that he was part of God. So that's clearly fundamentally different to my belief. You cannot be a biblical, born again, Bible-believing Christian and deny the Trinity. You cannot. You have to hold to the Trinity, and there the Quran outwardly denies that. Well secondly, it outwardly denies the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. They say, when I've been in some discussions with Muslims, they say, how can the only person who lived a sinless life have to die the worst death ever? That makes no sense. So their belief actually is Jesus didn't die. He was taken up into heaven, and someone they think it was Judas is the most common answer. A lookalike, looked like Jesus, was put on the cross, and so the Quran says that in chapter four again. They did not kill or crucify Jesus. It was made to appear so to them. We were all fooled by someone who looked like Jesus, but it wasn't him.

God took him straight to heaven. He didn't actually die, because the logic is God would never let the only perfect human being that's ever lived die on a cross. That couldn't be. So there's a complete denial of the gospel, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Are we the same religion? Are we brothers under Abraham? If you deny the trinity, if you deny the core of the gospel, we're not the same. Whatever religion you are, we are not the same. This is the core of our faith. You have to believe this. Now, the other thing they deny is original sin. We are not born sinners. In Islam, you're born clean. You're born pure. You only are a sinner when you commit your first knowing sin. At the age of accountability, we might call it. Only then do you become a sinner. That is the opposite of us. We know we need a savior. We are born sinners that need redeeming. It's fundamentally different to them. And then, they do not accept the Bible. They believe that the Old Testament was given to the Jews, and the Gospels were given to the Christians, but we all corrupted it.

We changed it. But it's okay. You don't need to worry if you're a Muslim, because the Quran fixes everything. So, everything you would have needed to know about the Torah and the Gospels, they call the Injil, but they're lost now. We can't trust them. It's okay, because the Quran will fix everything and have all that you need to know anyway. So, if we take some of those basic fundamentals, we cannot be in agreement with the religion of Islam. It is not the same. It, at the core, denies the very root of what I believe. If you take away the Trinity, if you take away that I am a sinner that needs salvation, if you take away the Gospel, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus that saves me, if you take all of that, my faith is gone. Biblical Christianity does no longer exist. So, at its core, I cannot agree with the religion of Islam. It does not teach. In fact, it teaches the opposite of what my Bible says, at its core. Now, there are other things it might say that are good things to live by, be modest, care for people, might say those things, though, that's fine, but at the very core, at the very heart, it is not the same.

So, I would caution you, be careful. There are people who will try and convince you that it is the same. I take my students to one of the main mosques in Fort Worth. We have 14 mosques, the main central mosque, and when we first started going there, they started to, I think it was marketing, they started to say, you know, we're all really have more in common, we really shouldn't think of ourselves as different, but in the beginning, they didn't realize who I was, and so when I started asking them questions, then they started having to admit the truth. So now, when I take students, they don't try to pretend we believe the same anymore, because they know, at the heart, we don't. We are different. So, as a result, I cannot in any way support the religion of Islam. But notice what Paul started when he started this passage. He said, brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God is for their salvation. We need to have a heart's desire and a prayer for the salvation of Muslims. We might oppose their religion, but each one of them is someone God has created, has put his image in them, and Jesus died and rose again for them, every one of them. So is my heart's desire and my prayer for their salvation. God has given me the joy in both being,

living in Central Asia, but as well living in Texas, the joy of being able to personally see Muslims become followers of Jesus Christ. To realize the truth of the gospel and to see God work in their hearts. And let me tell you, when a Muslim gets saved, they make a really good evangelist. They are able to say things. I've never believed in Islam, I've never accepted the Quran or Muhammad, so I always have that barrier. But Muslims who used to believe that, man, they have a powerful testimony. Now look what Paul says about these Jews who don't know the gospel. He says, they have a zeal for God, a zeal for God. Well, in Islam, this is really a spectrum. You meet Muslims all across, from those who are just cultural, who are kind of, yeah, I'm a Muslim, but I don't really read the Quran or do the things I'm supposed to do, to all the way on the other side, you have those who are very strict, who wanna follow Sharia law, and even would be willing to participate in something called Jihad, a holy war. Now we don't have enough time this morning to get through it all, so here's a little teaser. Come tonight, all right?

We can talk more about things like Jihad and things like that, but we have time tonight for that. We don't have as much today, this morning, but that's mostly, Muslims are gonna be somewhere on the spectrum from, yeah, I'm kinda born as a Muslim, but I don't really know much about what it is, to I'm on fire for Islam, and my goal is to convert the world to the Muslim religion. That's a whole spectrum, so the zealousness depends on that spectrum, but there is something that they are all zealous about. Even this person who's over here who doesn't practice, there are two things that are kind of untouchable, that if you mess with those two things, their emotions will stir. The first one is the Quran, and the second one is Muhammad. Those are the two untouchable things, the Quran and Muhammad. You start to criticize those two things, they are going to be, all of a sudden, this person who didn't seem very serious will seem to move towards being this very serious Muslim. Don't touch those two things, those are. So, I used to want to argue about those, but I've learned now not to. My job is not to put down Muhammad in the Quran, it's to lift up Jesus in the Bible. So they wanna talk about the Quran, I'm like, okay, thank you, can I tell you about the Bible? They wanna lift up Muhammad, I'll say,

okay, I understand that, but can I tell you about Jesus? So, that, I've learned, is the best way to deal with those two things. So if you are with a Muslim, there can be a lot of things you can criticize about both Muhammad and the Bible. My advice is don't do that. Rather, transition, turn the focus as soon as they wanna talk about it, say, okay, thank you for telling me about that, can I tell you about what I believe? And that would be my high advice for you to do that. Those, I think, who could critique are those who used to believe in it. Those former Muslims who now know Jesus, I think they have a valid argument for critiquing Muhammad in the Quran. I've never believed in Muhammad in the Quran. So I don't feel like it's my place to go after them, but I do believe in Jesus in the Bible. And so I'm always trying to make a fast transition into Jesus in the Bible, and to get them to hear about that. Now, some of their zealousness comes from the idea that they have angels on their shoulders. It's a works-based religion. Remember, they don't know what righteousness is through the gospel, so they believe every one of us has two angels on our shoulders. And when you reach the age of accountability where you know what sin is,

the angel on your left shoulder records every time you commit a sin. And the angel on your right shoulder records every time you do a good work. And so, if you're not feeling like your scales are in good balance, you might wanna really work on the right side. So you get a bit zealous for, you go to the mosque, you do some good things for Islam, because you're like worried. Yeah, I was drinking alcohol, and I told a lie, and I did some things that are not good, so this angel was really busy. I need to put this angel to sleep and wake this one up, so I'm gonna be zealous for a while, because I feel like my scales are out of balance. If you think about it, if Christianity was a works-based religion, we'd be the same, right? I'd be the same. Get to the end of the week and think, all right, did I do enough for Jesus? Yeah, is my scale in balance? And the other thing is you never know how the scale must be. In Islam, nobody knows. That's always, they will say, inshallah, if God wills. Is this scale supposed to be 51% to 49? Is that good enough? Nobody knows. Maybe it's supposed to be 60-40.

Maybe it's supposed to be 80-20. So when you're feeling like you haven't done enough, you get some zeal, and you work hard, and you try and get this angel to be really busy, and this angel to be really asleep. Now, here's a big theological difference why I can't agree with Islam either. If it's a scale, then if I commit a sin, I can counter that sin with a good work. So I can cancel that sin out with a good work. In Christianity, how many good works cancel out a sin? If I tell a lie, how many good works do I need to do? Now, we're not Catholic. We don't do Hail Marys, but how many good works will cancel out a lie? A million? A gazillion? A googolillion or whatever, right? None. There are no amount of good works I can do to cancel out one sin. Sin in Christianity, in biblical Christianity, sin is very heavy, condemns me. I need a sin. Sin in Islam is not heavy. There's only one sin that's heavy in Islam and that's not to be a Muslim, to turn your back on Islam. But everything else I can counter with doing good. And some sins, some good works count extra. For example, going to the mosque for a man,

going to pray at the mosque on Friday noon prayer, which is like our Sunday service, counts plus 25. 25 points. So you can see, if you were in a workspace religion, imagine if church was like that. We'd be pretty full of church every Sunday, right? So that's the zeal is, oh, okay, how's my scale doing? Maybe I need to work really hard right now so that I'm leaning in a good direction. So when people get old, they work especially harder. They're more committed to their faith the older they get because you're closer to judgment day. And so you need to work hard and build on that. Now, look at this passage. It says, zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. They do not according to knowledge. They don't know. We have some fundamental passages in Christianity that we'll put up for you that talk about the knowledge you need to have. How do we gain the righteousness of God? They do not know this. Look, for example, Philippians chapter three, verse nine. These are up for you on the screen. Philippians three, nine, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Jesus Christ, the righteousness of God that depends on faith. Not making an angel record my good works. No, my righteousness comes by faith

in what Jesus has already done. Romans 3, 22, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. Faith and belief in Jesus Christ, what he did. That's how you, that's the knowledge they don't have. They do not understand the truth of this gospel. In 2 Corinthians four, three to four, if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. Muslims have been blinded. They have been blinded so they do not see Jesus as the Messiah, as the one who died and rose again. He's a messenger. He's simply a messenger who brings God's message. No, he's not. You need the knowledge of the gospel. They need to know this truth. When you don't know it, then this verse says, they seek to establish their own righteousness. When you don't know that Jesus paid it all, that he did all the work and you just believe in what he did, you try and do it yourself. So one way you load these five, these right side shoulder is called the five pillars. We'll have that up on a slide as well. You try to obey the five pillars.

You work on these things and especially when you're old, you do these things. These are the five essentials. If you're like, this is the core. If you're a Muslim, do these five things. So number one is called the testimony. The testimony means that you say with your mouth as often as possible this statement. There's no God but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet. That's it. It's called the shahada. There's no God but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet. And you say it in the first thing when you wake up in the morning. You say it the last thing before you go to bed. You whisper it in the ear of a child immediately when it's born. When someone is dying, it's the last thing you whisper and you try and get them to say with their mouths. Every time you say it, this angel, good job. Another one, plus one. Here you keep earning credit every time you say the testimony. It's not a salvation. It's not a personal individual. It's simply there's no God but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet. That's number one work. Number two, if you look at the next one, daily prayers. This is one of the hardest ones for them.

Let's call it a daily devotion, a daily quiet time. Now, if I asked you to tell me this last two weeks how you did, did you have a good, solid daily devotion with Jesus every day for the last two weeks? They have to do it five times a day, five times a day. Imagine I told you, you've got to have five quiet times every day and every time you miss one, minus, minus, and when you do it, plus, five, right? It's hard, it's hard for them. Two are usually early in the morning, one at noon and two afternoon, evening. And you are taught how to do it when you become, when you reach puberty, you become a Muslim in your own right, and you are taught at the mosque, like we would teach kids Sunday school or membership classes, you're taught how to do those five prayers. They are not prayers like we pray, they are recited formal prayers that have all kinds of movements to them, bowing down, turning to acknowledge the angels on your shoulders, things like that. So it's a recited prayer that you learn, you're taught it at the mosque, and then every day, these days the smartphone tells them where to do it. Otherwise, if in a Muslim country, we would hear the call to prayer going out five times a day. We heard it in our neighborhood all the time.

13 years we lived in a Muslim country. In the end, you don't even hear it anymore, it's just part of background noise. But it's to remind you, pray. If you do, plus, if you don't, minus. Imagine that burden, five times a day. That's one of the things they've got to do. The third one that they have to do is fasting, sorry, fasting. I've got to get my A's right here. Fasting, all right, during the month of Ramadan, you fast from sunrise to sunset. You don't have to guess, the mosque will tell you exactly what minute it starts and what minute it ends, and you're supposed to fast from food and water, certainly, but even from intimacy and other things during that time, the month of Ramadan. That's the month Muhammad received the Quran. So, in some countries, the closer to Mecca you are, the more strict it is, so that there's a saying in Islam, you may not even swallow your saliva. That's the strictest form, so imagine that. You swallow your saliva, minus. The further you get from Mecca, the more relaxed they are. Where we were was not close to Mecca. So, we go to the restaurants and people are eating, and we're like, isn't it Ramadan? Oh, God understands, we got to work. When we're retired, that's when you fast. So, my grandparents were fasting,

and God covers us with that. And when we become grandparents and retired, we'll do it for our children. There's a lot of compromise the further you get, but the closer you are to Mecca, the stricter it is. And they take that very, very seriously, so you got to do that as well. Okay, the next one is giving. Like we would say, giving our tithes and offerings. They have that. You must give, but it's not of your income, it's of your worth, or your net wealth. And it's usually around 2%, two to two and a half percent of your net wealth. So, if you're rich, you have to give a lot. If you're poor, you give a little. And so, every year, you have to give that to the poor mainly, but also to the mosque and to the cause of Islam. You must give. If you don't, this angel will record that you did not give what you were meant to give. Okay, and then the last one that you have to do is once in your lifetime, go on a pilgrimage to Mecca. That's where the holiest place of Islam is. For about five days, they do all kinds of rituals on pilgrimage. You can watch fascinating examples on YouTube if you're interested. Once in your lifetime, you're only excused

if you're too poor or you're medically not capable. So, often poor families in countries like Pakistan and African Muslim countries will save up and they'll send the oldest male in the family. And then he goes on their behalf. It's expensive. Pilgrimage visa, you pay $500 to Saudi Arabia just for a pilgrimage visa, plus the travel and everything else you have to do. So, it's an expensive thing. So, people save up as much as they can. They can't accommodate everybody. They usually can only take about two million every time, every year. So, they allocate quotas to different countries. In America, the quota they give us, we never use up. There's always extra visas available. In a country like Pakistan, there's a seven year waiting list. So if you wanna go on pilgrimage, you put your name down today, your name will come up in seven years time. The waiting list is that long for them. Once in your lifetime, do those things. Those are just the basic five to establish your own righteousness. If you're a Muslim, if you do those five things, you're establishing your own righteousness. You are loading up this, this angel's very busy.

If you do those five things. There's more than that, but those five are the core. Now, there's a verse also in this passage that is fundamental to Islam, but really to us as well. Look at the word that he uses in Romans chapter 10 and look at verse three is the word submission. They seek to establish their own righteousness. They have not submitted to God. To submit or subject yourself to God's righteousness. In fact, the word Islam means submission, and a Muslim is one who submits. This is a very important word for them, and Paul is using it right here in this passage. You're trying to establish your own righteousness. You need to submit, place yourself under God's righteousness what Jesus has already done. And this is where it gets tricky and where we here in America have concerns about Islam because remember we said our key word if you want to understand America is freedom. Submission takes away a lot of that freedom. It's more about the word control. And so we have this word in Islam that many of them think we misunderstand the word called Sharia law. Sharia law which is a way of life of how you must submit to Allah. Now remember we've said in this verse we submit to Jesus.

We place ourself under his righteousness. But in Islam you submit to a way of life called Sharia. Now there are levels of Sharia. There's some parts of Sharia I think are okay. Like they have something called recommendations. So in Sharia law marriage is a recommendation. Having children is a recommendation. Being modest, dressing modestly is a recommendation. Caring for the poor is a recommendation. Those are good things. But the problem is they then also have prohibitions and the penalties for those things. And they have some things which are just not acceptable. Some that really stuck out to us that we struggled with when we lived in a Muslim country was to do with pets and specifically dogs. Muhammad did not like dogs. So he declared them unclean. So in a Muslim country if they have dogs they're there for protection. They'll be tied up at a gate to bark at people. They're kind of your security. But they're not a pet. If you meet a Muslim with a dog as a pet they are not very serious about their Muslim faith because Muhammad said dogs are unclean. He loved cats. So Muslims love cats. If you have a cat they'll be oh cats are so good. Because a lot of Sharia, a lot of these things

are based on what Muhammad liked, what Muhammad said. Alcohol, Muhammad pronounced 10 curses on alcohol. He cursed the farmer who digs the ground to plant the grapes. He cursed the one who waters the ground to grow the grapes and so on. So very strong prohibition against alcohol. So you may not have alcohol. It's not allowed. So yeah Budweiser and all those guys would be in trouble if we had Sharia law. So you have these things that are not allowed or recommended but then you have the part that comes and suddenly says that there are strong prohibitions that carry very difficult punishment. to them, where there are verses in the Quran, and we can show more of these tonight. I have some on a PowerPoint that I'll share with you tonight that talks about cutting off people's hands. If you're caught stealing, Sharia law will cut your hand off. I remember talking to some Saudi Arabians, and I said, oh, there are a whole lot of people in Saudi Arabia with only one hand, because of theft. They said, no, nobody steals. Because, I'm gonna cut your hand off. The hardest one, if you have the freedom to decide your belief,

and you decide, I don't want to believe in the Muslim faith anymore, I would like to believe in a different faith, the prohibition for that is death. To convert from Islam is death. Now, Romans 10 is really good, because it doesn't leave the question hanging. It says, they try to establish their own righteousness, but they don't have knowledge, they don't understand how to submit to God's righteousness, but it's really great, because it doesn't leave you hanging, it begins to build in that chapter, till it gets to this amazing verse, Romans 10, verse nine. How do you submit to God's righteousness? Here it is, clearly, Romans 10, nine. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart, God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. You will be saved. Your God's righteousness, the righteousness you need, will be yours through Jesus Christ. If you will confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, that's it, there's some submission. Do you see the submission there? Jesus is Lord, I have a Lord. Now, hey, I'm in Texas. We don't like kings in Texas. We don't like anyone telling us to do stuff in Texas.

I've learned that, like, hey, leave us alone. This verse, though, if I submit to Jesus Christ, He's my Lord, right? He's my Lord. When He says, I say, yes, sir. Not to earn righteousness, but because He's already given me righteousness. This is important with Muslims, because they think us Christians have a cheap faith. Oh, you don't believe in these angels, you don't believe in working. Oh, that's nice and easy, how convenient. You just accept what Jesus did and do whatever you want. No, that's not biblical Christianity. This verse says, He's my Lord. We do believe in works, but not to save us. We work for God out of worship, because He has saved us. We live for Him, He's Lord. So, confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart. God raised Him from the dead means you believe He died and rose again for your sins. There's the answer right there. That's what Muslims need to know. These two doctors that we led to Christ, that's exactly what we walked them through, and we helped them pray a prayer to understand what it means to accept Jesus. That's the answer we have to give them.

Think how burdened they are, really how burdened you would be to think that you've got to work with these two angels and try and live according to Sharia law. Think of that heavy burden on you, and you don't have the Holy Spirit to help you. It's a heavy burden. If they could only understand, verse nine, that we have to find a way to share. And when we do, and the Holy Spirit is working, and they come to Christ, oh, you've just seen someone become an evangelist. When they come from that heavy burden of works and Sharia to the light of the gospel, and to realize that that burden is gone, and they can now live for Jesus as Lord, oh, you find some pretty exciting people who are on fire for Jesus. Jesus, when he sent out his disciples, do you remember he said to them, I'm sending you out, I want you to be as wise as serpents, and as harmless as doves. When he sends them out, and he says, okay, go out and then come back, be as wise as servants, and harmless as doves. I think that's a good way to understand how to approach Islam. When it comes to the religion of Islam, let's be wise as serpents. Let's not let it compromise us.

Let's not let it fool us into thinking we're in common, that it's a religion that can redeem. No, let's be wise. But when it comes to. individual Muslims, let's be as harmless as doves. Let's share the love of Christ. Let's show them Jesus. Let's show them what true righteousness is that's only found in the gospel. So before we close, I wanna share with you a way to share the gospel, an easy way for you to share the gospel with a Muslim, okay? And this is how it works. In Islam, they have 99 names for God. 99 names. Have you ever seen some of them carry that string of beads? There are 33 beads, each with three names on. And they're supposed to continually look and pray. Every time they do, this angel is recording it as a good thing. 99 names for God. So I use that to them. I say, hey, do you guys have these 99 names for God? Yeah. Tell me about some of them. That's amazing. You think of God 99 ways? Tell me about that. What names stand out for you? What names do you feel you pray about?

Just ask him about the 99 names. Just be a learner and get information. And then, after that, you say, man, can I share with you a name I have for God? And you tell me if you've ever heard this name. You tell me if it's in your 99 names for God. Now, I'll give you a spoiler, it isn't. Okay? But there's an amazing name for God we tend to use only at Christmas. And I don't know why we only use it at Christmas, because it is so amazing. Now, it's so easy for you to remember. It's found in Matthew, first book of the New Testament. And all you have to remember is the number 123. Okay, even a caveman can do that. Okay, Matthew chapter one, verse 23. Matthew 123. It says, the virgin shall be with a child and bring forth a son, and he will be called? Emmanuel, which means God with us. Do you realize how incredible that verse is? So then, I say to them, oh, can I tell you a name that's found in God's book, the Bible, that I believe in, that's found in the book of? Matthew chapter? See, oh, good, right, there, we got it already. And I say, this name, Emmanuel, have you ever heard it? They've never heard it. Say, oh, it is the most incredible,

because, you know, I used to think I had to work to get to God. I knew God was high and holy. I knew He was beyond me. And if I just work hard enough, if I'm just good enough, if I just don't sin and I work hard enough, maybe I can get to God. But it never worked. He is so holy and beyond. I'll never get to Him. I'll never be good enough to make it. And then, I found out about Emmanuel. Because Emmanuel says, I don't have to try to get to Him. He came to me. God with us. And then I share my personal testimony of how God came to me through the gospel of Jesus Christ. I've been able to do this in mosques all over the world. When I go to different mosques, visits in the world, I say to them, hey, tell me about your religion. Do you have these 99 names? And they're, oh, yes. And they're ready to tell me the 99 names. And I'll listen as long as they wanna talk. In one mosque in Zambia, they took about 30 minutes to tell us about all those names. And finally, when they were done, I said, you know, I have a name for God. Can I tell you this name? And in the middle of that mosque,

I was able to share the gospel. Because of Matthew 1, 2, 3. And this beautiful, amazing name we have for God, Emmanuel. So if you ever meet a Muslim, you don't have to remember all the stuff I've told you. You just remember they have 99 names. And you ask Him to tell you. And then you tell them about, come on, you're not gonna forget, right? It's found where? Matthew 1, 2, 3, Emmanuel. You just tell them that name. Think how radical the name Emmanuel is. God with us. Tell them how God came to you. How He was with you. Now we can't end today talking about Muslims who don't understand God's righteousness when there could be someone here, I don't know, all of you, and somebody who's listening or watching. Maybe you've tried to establish your own righteousness. You know, one of the problems we have in Texas and in America is thinking we're born Christians. Of course I'm a Christian. Like a Muslim's born a Muslim, I'm born a Christian. You're not. You have to be born again a Christian. And the way I tell people is. You have to have two birthdays.

So right now I'm 62. I know I look older, but I'm 62. But I'm also 51. I'm 62 and I'm 51. I was born physically 62 years ago, but I was born spiritually 51 years ago. So how about you? Have you got two birthdays? If the person next to you asked you how old are you, can you tell two birthdays? If you can't, you're in as much trouble as a Muslim. You don't understand God's righteousness as well. Do not leave here today without understanding that the Bible says, confess with your mouth, his Lord, and believe in your heart, the gospel. You can have your second birthday right now, today. You believe in your heart that Jesus died and rose again for your sins. You need to then confess that with your mouth. I'm gonna close with a prayer. At the end of this prayer, we're gonna have some of us standing up front. You need to come and confess with your mouth and say, I do believe that Jesus is my Lord, that he died and rose again for my sins. If you've never done that, you only have one birthday, you're in trouble. You're as lost as a Muslim. Don't leave here if you do not know two birthdays.

Now, a final thing, we are commissioning all of you to go to the schools, we just prayed for your schools. That's a great way to share the gospel, even with pupils and fellow colleagues. Just say, hey, this might sound weird, but I've got two birthdays. Can I tell you about my two birthdays? How about you, do you have two birthdays? It's a good way to just have a gospel conversation with people, talk about the importance of being born again. Now we come to the most important question of all. Have you turned from sin and selfishness and given your heart and life to Jesus? Listen, if not, today is the day for you. Just pray this simple prayer from your heart. Lord Jesus, I need you. I know that I'm a sinner and I can't save myself, but I believe Jesus that you are God in the flesh. I believe you died on the cross for my sins and rose again from the dead. And right now, I ask you to forgive me and save me, come into my life, change me, make me the person you want me to be. I surrender my life to you and I promise to follow you all the days I have left. Now, if you pray that kind of prayer and mean it, the Lord will come in and your life will never be the same. Listen, I would love to hear from you. So please contact me and share with me what's going on so we can pray for you.

And if you are ever in the Texarkana area, we would love for you to visit us live and in person at FBC Texarkana. Listen, you really are important to God and you're important to us and we're here for you.