Sermon - "Islam Dishonors Christ" (THE BLIGHT OF ISLAM

Note: The first of a series of sermons exposing Islam. - Dr. John S. Waldrip

"Islam Dishonors Christ"

(The Blight Of Islam - Part 1)

Hebrews 7.25

EXPOSITION:

1. Islam is the fastest growing religion in the United States, outpacing even Mormonism in its growth. Since Los Angeles is the second largest Iranian city in the world behind Tehran, and since there are now six million professing Muslims in the United States of America, I am going to preach a series of messages as a response to the terrorist tragedy last Tuesday and the rise of Islam in America.

2. I will use information received from document searches, from studies that I have read online, from ancient and contemporary history books, and from friends and acquaintances who minister among the Muslims in the middle east. But these sources are only secondary to the only really important source of objective truth available to mankind concerning spiritual things, the Word of God, the Bible.

3. During the course of each sermon I will urge you who are Christians to be kind and loving toward all Muslims (How could any Gospel preacher do otherwise?), but to give not one inch to the notion that Islam is an evil and wicked religion that is leading its adherents to Hell.

4. As I pointed out a number of months ago, observations made over the last several centuries by thoughtful scholars have decried the increasingly feminized tendencies of western Christendom. And please note throughout this series of sermons the distinctions I will draw between real Christians and Christendom. Christendom has become increasingly feminized in the west, as measured by objective criteria.

5. These observations were forcefully brought together in a book titled "The Church Impotent: The Feminization Of Christianity." Let me offer an opinion as to why Christendom seems to be falling before the onslaught of Islam in the United States. It’s because Islam is a thoroughly and energetically masculine religion (though it is, of course, Satanic and fraudulent). But it is this masculinity against "Christendom’s" relative femininity that is presently serving it so well.

6. In our nation, where men and maleness have been so vigorously attacked for the last fifty years, and where men of middle age and older have been so anemic that they have not stood up to the assaults leveled against them by the feminists, the response to the challenge of Islam’s obvious and demonstrable masculinity will have to come from the young Christian men of our country, who simply will not allow themselves to be feminized, and who are ready to respond to any terrorist threat to our country.

7. The great tragedy of Islam is that it has no answers to the yearning of anyone’s heart. Islam is not the solution to any afflicted person’s problem. Islam provides no salvation for anyone’s sinful soul. Islam is not the true religion, does not worship the one true and living God, and is at best only a poor counterfeit of Biblical Christianity. Notice, I did not say Christendom, but Biblical Christianity.

8. My intention is to preach a five part series beginning this morning, and continuing this evening, Wednesday evening, next Sunday morning and concluding next Sunday evening. Following each of the five expositions I will bring a Gospel sermon.

9. Now, before we go any farther, let me review our Savior’s instruction toward those who do not believe the way we believe, who are of a different faith, who we think are terribly wrong about the most important matters of life.

10. What did the Lord Jesus want us to do to those who sinned against us as individuals? He said such were to be treated as heathens and publicans, or tax collectors. But how did He treat heathens and publicans? He loved them. He ate with them. He befriended them. We should do the same. Courtesy, kindness, respect. That’s how we should treat everyone.

11. And what about when someone assaults you? In Matthew 5.39 Jesus said, "But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." What the government of the United States does, in fulfilling its Biblical charter and mandate to protect the citizenry, is one thing. But when you are face to face with someone, even if he assaults you for being a Christian, you are not to resist that evil, but are commanded by the Savior to turn the other cheek.

13. Those very important things said, let us look at "The Blight Of Islam." And when looking at Islam I urge you to discount the propaganda, I urge you to ignore the lies, and to consider reliable sources. Do you want to know about Muslims? Ask any Armenian. Do you want to know about Muslims? Ask any Lebanese. Do you want to know about Muslims? Ask any middle eastern Jew. Do you want to know about Muslims? Ask any adherent of the Bahai or Druse or Greek Orthodox faiths. Ask any missionary to the middle east. Ask anyone whose own ends are not immediately served by their answer.

13. As for me, I will turn to God’s Word as my guide into all truth. And then I will cite sources that serve to illustrate and authenticate what God’s infallible Word already, and with a finality that is sufficient for any orthodox Christian, says.

14. This morning we consider the origin of Islam. But rather than focus for now on the historical details of Islam’s origin, let us focus on the suppositions of Islam’s origin, considering only four suppositions of Islam’s origin for now:

1A. First, THE FOUNDING OF ISLAM SUPPOSES THE BIBLE IS INSUFFICIENT

1B. How Very Insulting The Whole Religion Of Islam Is To The God Of The Bible. After All, The God Of The Bible Gave To The World The Holy Scriptures, Some Sixty Six Books Written Over A 1600 Year Period Of Time.

2B. Yet Islam Supposes The Bible Is Not Enough, That More Is Needed, Specifically The Koran. Excuse Me, But I Have Read And Studied God’s Word For More Than 25 Years, And I Find It To Be Quite Sufficient.

3B. Objectively, The Bible Is Sufficient Because It Claims To Be. It’s The Bible That’s Needed To Provide Guidance And Direction In Life, Not Some Other Book. Psalm 119.105 Declares, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." And It’s God’s Word, The Bible, That God Is Well Pleased To Use To Prepare Men For Eternity. As Jesus Said To God, In John 17.17, "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." And As James Reiterates In James 1.18, When He Asserts About God And The Bible, "Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth."

4B. So, What Am I To Conclude When I Have In My Hand A Bible That Is Good And Sufficient, Completely Without Deficiency, And Which Pronounces A Curse On Anyone Who Would Come Along Afterwards And Seek To Add Written Revelation As If From The One True And Living God?

5B. Revelation 22.18-19: "For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book."

6B. So You See, Without Engaging In Any Way In A Personal Attack Against Any Muslim, Or In Any Way Addressing The Specifics Concerning The Truthfulness Or Falseness Of Their Belief System, The Very Conception Of Islam, It’s Origin, Supposes That The Bible Is Somehow Insufficient To Meet The Spiritual Needs Of Every Man And Every Woman.

6B. Excuse Me, But I Have A Problem With That. More Than A Problem. I Don’t Buy It At All.

2A. Second, THE FOUNDING OF ISLAM SUPPOSES THE PROPHETS & APOSTLES WERE UNINSPIRED

1B. Let Me Define Two Terms That Are Common To The Highly Developed Theology Of Bible Christianity. Revelation Has To Do With God’s Communication Of Truth To A Man That Could Not Be Discovered By Any Other Means. Inspiration Has To Do With That Man Then Writing Down That Truth For The Benefit Of Later Generations.

2B. The Two Great Declarations Concerning The Revelation And Inspiration Of The Prophets And The Apostles Are Second Timothy 3.16-17 And Second Peter 1.21: "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works." "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."

3B. Those Two Passages Provide Us With The Basics Of How God Predicted The Coming Of His Son, Recorded The Deeds Of His Son While Here On Earth And When He Ascended Back Into Heaven Following His Death, Burial And Resurrection From The Dead In A Glorified Body, And Then Explained The Implications Of It All Afterwards.

4B. But The Very Existence Of Islam Denies The Inspiration Of The Prophets And The Apostles, Denies That Their Tasks And Efforts Were Superintended And Overseen By God To Preclude Any Possibility Of Error, And Thereby Challenges The Veracity, The Truthfulness Of God.

5B. You See, The Men That God Sent Said That God Cannot Lie. Those Prophets Repeatedly Claimed "Thus Saith The LORD" And "God Said." The Apostles Wrote Such Words As "God, Who cannot lie" And "Let God be true and every man a liar."

6B. But The Very Existence Of Islam, And The Koran That Is Claimed By Muslims To Be Their Holy Book, Supposes That The Prophets And The Apostles Were Wrong, Were Mistaken, Were Ill-Advised, Meaning That They Were Uninspired.

7B. My Friends, To Challenge The Inspiration Of The Prophets And Apostles Is Not To Question Their Credibility Only, It Is To Challenge The Truthfulness And Veracity Of God. Excuse Me, But I Have A Problem With That. I Have More Than A Problem With That. I Don’t Buy It At All.

3A. Third, THE FOUNDING OF ISLAM SUPPOSES THE CHRISTIAN FAITH IS INADEQUATE

1B. Let Us Remember That The Christian Faith Came A Full Five Centuries Before Islam. That’s More Than Twice The Age Of These United States Of America. Islam As A Religious Faith Supposes That The Christian Faith Is Not The Faith Delivered By God To His People, As Jude 3 Says It Is: "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints."

2B. What Am I To Make Of This Verse In Light Of The Existence Of Islam? Does Not Islam Strike In The Very Face Of The Faith, And Of The Faith Having Been Once Delivered? Of Course It Does. But It Is Against Such Challenges As This That We Are Told In God’s Word To Stand Fast In The Faith, First Corinthians 16.13, To Make Sure You Are In The Faith, Second Corinthians 13.5, To Continue In The Faith, Colossians 1.23, And To Be Established In The Faith, Colossians 2.7.

3B. Then, Five Hundred Years Later Islam Claims That The Faith Is Not The Faith? Excuse Me, But The Latter Cannot Supplant The Former Unless And Until The Latter Shows The Former To Be Inadequate. Now, I Will Readily Grant That Christendom, That Weak And Effeminate Religion Whose Practitioners Outnumber Those Of Us Who Are Bible Christians, Certainly Is Inadequate. I Have Maintained That For Years And Don’t Need Islam To Suggest That To Me.

4B. But Christendom Is Not Christianity, Unless You Want To Equate All Terrorists With All Muslims, Which I Am Not Doing. I Simply Point Out That The Very Existence Of Islam Supposes That The Christian Faith Is Inadequate, And I Have A Problem With That. I Don’t Buy It At All.

4A. And Finally, THE FOUNDING OF ISLAM SUPPOSES THE SAVIOR IS UNABLE

1B. In What Regard Does Islam Suppose The Savior To Be Unable? It Doesn’t Matter. If The Savior Is Supposed To Be Unable In Any Respect Then He Is Slighted. And If Islam Did Not Suppose The Savior To Be Somehow And In Some Way Unable They Would Not Be Muslims, Would They? Instead They Would Be Bible Christians, Not The Pathetic Christians Of Christendom Who Are Christians Only Because Their Parents Claim To Be Christian. Is That Not So?

2B. I Have Not In Any Way Addressed The Specific Beliefs Of Islam Or Of Any Muslims. I Have Not Denigrated Islam Or Muslims In Any Way. I Have Not Attacked Them Or Suggested Hostility Toward Them. I Have Only Pointed Out That The Very Existence Of Islam Supposes Certain Things, Which Suppositions Cannot Be Denied, Since Both Biblical Christianity And Islam Claim To Be The One True Religion And The Only Expression Of Legitimate Faith.

3B. Since Real Christianity Is A Relationship With Jesus Christ, The Eternal Son Of The Living God, The Very Existence Of Islam Supposes Something Is Wrong With The Lord Jesus Christ, Or Of The Christian Conception Of Him. Since We Believe Jesus To Be The Second Person Of The Triune Godhead, Omnipotent, Omniscient, Creator And Sustainer, Perfect In All His Attributes, Supposing Him To Be Somehow Unable, Or Supposing Him To Be Anything Short Of Deserving The Preeminence, Is An Attack On The Christian Faith, Which Is Five Hundred Years Older Than Islam.

4B. Excuse Me, But I Have A Problem With That. I Do Not Believe What Islam Supposes To Be True.

CONCLUSION:

1. Please notice that I have not attacked anyone. I have not urged an attack upon anyone. I have argued only logically and Scripturally from the existence of Islam and without any substantive comment on the belief system of Islam.

2. But you can see that Islam is an attack against Christianity, it competes in the marketplace of ideas for the souls of men. Now, if you believe Christianity to be right then you must recognize that Islam is wrong.

3. But if you believe Islam is right, you are logically and ethically required to show why a religion 500 years older is not only superior, but that it is the exclusive vehicle for communicating the will of God to men, and why Christianity not only was wrong for 500 years, but it wrong now.

4. We are not dealing with Christendom, the sum of all who claim to be Christians, just as we are not now dealing with the Islamic world, all those who claim to be Muslims. We are dealing with real Christianity as it is revealed in the Bible and real Islam as it has existed since the time of Mohammed.

5. If one is right the other is wrong. If one is right the other is a blight on humanity, because it misguides men and leads them to everlasting destruction. You cannot have it both ways, and you cannot assert that both are nice religions and can’t we stop talking about it now? This issue will not go away, as the events of Tuesday have so forcefully proven.

6. Now, before my sermon, Gary Isenberger will come and lead us as we stand to sing.

INTRODUCTION:

1. The origin of Islam supposes certain things to be true. There are many suppositions I might have pointed out in my exposition, but I restricted myself to the four most groundless suppositions that I could think of; that the Bible is insufficient, that the prophets and apostles were uninspired, that the Christian faith is inadequate, and that the Savior is unable.

2. Of these four suppositions that I dealt with, it is the last one that strikes most quickly to the very heart, and raises the hackles of those possessors of Biblical Christianity who are truly born again, while those professors of Christendom, who enjoy their religious rituals and their hypocritical playacting, will feign tolerance for everyone, except those who are true Christians, of course.

3. But I will not tolerate an attack on the person and work of Jesus Christ, my Lord. I will not sit idly by while any man, or while any religion, supposes that He is somehow or in any way unable.

4. Understand, I am not threatening any act of violence, as are the practitioners of some religions prone to doing. I am merely saying that I will not allow your supposition to go unchallenged in the marketplace of ideas, you who suppose Jesus is unable.

5. Muslims suppose, by the fact that they are Muslims, that Jesus is unable. And you, if you are not a Christian, suppose the same thing, or you would become a Christian. But I stand on the sure footing that Jesus is able, with five Scripture verses to support my assertion.

1A. First, DANIEL 4.37

"Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase."

1B. He Is Able To Abase Those Who Walk In Pride. That Is, He Is Able To Humble. Why Is He Able To Abase? Because He Is The King Of Heaven, The Sovereign Of The Universe, The Creator And Sustainer Of This World.

2B. But Who Said This? Nebuchaddnezzar, The Man Saddam Hussein, The Ruler Of Iraq, Says He Is The Reincarnation Of. If The Lord Jesus Christ Can Abase Nebuchadnezzar He Can Surely Abase Saddam Insane.

3B. As Well, My Friend, If He Is Able To Abase Nebuchadnezzar, The Most Powerful Ruler In The World In His Day, He Can Abase You. And You Must Be Abased, As He Was, If You’re Ever To Be Converted And Get Your Sins Forgiven.

4B. "But I’m Not Sure This Is Talking About Jesus." You’re Not? Didn’t Nebuchadnezzar Refer To The King Of Heaven Here? Just Who Do You Think The King Of Kings Is? If Jesus Is The King Of Kings, Surely He Is The King Of Heaven.

5B. It Was Jesus Who Abased Nebuchadnezzar, And It Will Be Jesus Who Will Abase You, Either Here In This Life To The Saving Of Your Soul, Or On Judgment Day Before Casting You Into The Lake Of Fire. Pray That You Are Abased In This Life, And Eternally Grateful For It.

2A. Second, PHILIPPIANS 3.21

"Who shall 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."

1B. Here Paul Is Disclosing To His Readers That The Reason Jesus Christ Can Change Our Vile Bodies Into Glorious Bodies Is Because He Is Able To Subdue All Things To Himself.

2B. What Can Jesus Not Subdue? Who Can Jesus Not Subdue? Remember, It Will Be At The Name Of Jesus That Every Head Shall Bow, And Every Knee Shall Bend, And Every Tongue Shall Confess That He Is Lord.

3B. What Power! What Might! What Regal Majesty And Omnipotence Will Jesus Christ, The Son Of God, Put On Display . . . When It Suits Him. How Do I Know? He Is Able!

3A. Third, SECOND TIMOTHY 1.12

"For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day."

1B. What Was It Paul Committed To Jesus Christ That He Was Persuaded Jesus Could Keep? The Safe Keeping Of His Eternal And Undying Soul. You Have An Eternal And Undying Soul. Amen?

2B. Becoming A Christian Is So Much More Than Praying Some Prayer Or Believing Some Doctrine, Like Decisionsts Do. When You Come To Christ God Works The Miracle Of The New Birth. Though Some May Not Realize The Implications Of Their Faith In Christ, Christians Effectively Commit To Jesus Christ The Safe Keeping Of Their Eternal Souls When They Come To Him.

3B. "But It Seems So Complicated To Me." My Friend, Becoming A Christian Isn’t Complicated At All. Just Come To Jesus And He Is Able To Take Care Of Everything Else.

4A. Fourth, HEBREWS 2.18

"For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted."

1B. O, This Verse Is So Hard For A Muslim To Swallow. The Idea Of God Becoming A Man, The Idea Of The God-Man Suffering And Being Tempted Is Repugnant To A Die-Hard Muslim.

2B. But God’s Word Is Very Clear, Though God’s Ways Are Higher Than Our Ways And His Thoughts Are Higher Than Our Thoughts. So, You Are Forced To Believe God Or Trust Human Reasoning.

3B. Jesus Condescended To Become A Man, Though Without Sin. As A Man He Was Tempted, Though He Did Not And Could Not Have Succumbed To The Temptations He Faced. And As A Man He Took Upon Himself All Of Our Sins And Offered Himself A Sacrifice, The Just For The Unjust, That He Might Bring Us To God.

4B. Thus, This Jesus, The Son Of God, The Savior Of Sinful Men’s Souls, Is Able To Offer Assistance To Us When We Are Tempted In Ways He Understands By His Experiences. O, What A Savior Is Jesus, My Lord, A Wonderful Savior Is He.

5A. Finally, HEBREWS 7.25

"Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them."

1B. Here Is The Pinnacle Of The Lord Jesus Christ’s Ability. He Is Able To Save To The Uttermost Anyone Who Comes To God By Him. My Friend, You Need To Understand The Implications Of This Declaration.

2B. You See, You Cannot Come To God Directly. Jesus Said As Much In John 14.6, When He Said "No man cometh unto the father, but by me." Jesus Is The Exclusive And Unique Approach To God, The Only Savior Of Sinful Men’s Souls. That’s Bad News For Any Muslim And For Anyone Who Has Not Come To Jesus.

3B. But Here Is The Good News: Anyone Who Comes To God By Him, That Is, Anyone Who Comes To Him To Get To God, He Is Able To Save To The Uttermost. In Other Words, Jesus Is Able To Save You All The Way To Heaven.

CONCLUSION:

1. My friend, there is nothing wrong with the Lord Jesus Christ. He is a perfectly wonderful and capable Savior. And who else do you know who suffered and bled and died because He loved you, despite your sinfulness?

2. Please understand, I hate no Muslim. I am in profound disagreement with Islam. And I shall spend at least four more sermons emphasizing its errors and character, striving to lead you to conclude with me that Islam is a blight, a plague, that does no man any good, and that does all men harm.

3. If Islam was wrong about nothing besides its supposition that Jesus is unable, that alone would be reason enough to cast it off forever as a false religion. But they are not only Muslims who think Jesus is unable. You do, too.

4. If you think Jesus is unable to save your wretched soul you dishonor Him. If you think Jesus is unable to save your son or daughter, your husband or wife, you dishonor Him.

5. And in dishonoring Him, how are you any different from the religion of Islam and from the Muslims who practice that religion? You see, my friend, come judgment day it will really boil down to only one issue. What have you done with Jesus Christ?

6. And those who come to Jesus, whether they be Muslims or Infidels, Kafirs or Christians, He will in no wise cast out, but will save you and cleanse you and forgive you of all your sins.

"THE BLIGHT OF ISLAM" Part 2