Sermon - "No Allah In Heaven" (THE BLIGHT OF ISLAM

"No Allah In Heaven"

(The Blight Of Islam - Part 7)

Acts 4.12

EXPOSITION:

1. According to the Koran, the "last day" is the time when Allah will judge all men, all spirits, and all animals according to what they have done.

2. This time is also known as the hour, the day of resurrection, and the day of judgment, though the Koran asserts that the reality of the "last day" is denied by unbelievers, Sura 75:3-6.

3. Muslims believe that when a man dies his soul enters into a state of unconsciousness until the resurrection occurs, a belief that is not too unlike the 7th Day Adventist doctrine of soul sleep.

4. Between the time of the resurrection and the day of judgment there is thought to be an undetermined period of time, that Muslims believe will be imposed by Allah for the purpose of stirring up the anxiety and suspicions of unbelievers.

5. During that time period between the resurrection and the day of judgment it is believed people will turn to their prophets in the hopes they will intercede for them with Allah.

6. At the judgment a book of deeds will be opened, Sura 18:50, and each person’s good and evil deeds will be weighed on a scale. Those certain to be condemned will be those who have denied Allah’s existence and his unity, and those who have ascribed to others equality with Allah. Of course, they believe this includes Christians for asserting that Jesus is equal to God.

7. Although Muslims believe that even all Muslims will also go to Hell, they hope their good deeds for Allah will outweigh their evil deeds and that they will eventually be admitted to paradise.

8. Thus, Muslims believe they can gain access to paradise even with sins, so long as their good deeds outweigh their bad deeds on Allah’s scale.

9. My friends, every religion purports to in some way prepare those who observe it for the time after this life. If religion did not play at least some role in the preparation of an individual for that which comes after this life then to what end and for what purpose is the religion practiced?

10. Though this reason for practicing religion is true of every false religion, including Islam, it is not true for those practicing Biblical Christianity. The religion of Biblical Christianity is not practiced primarily for getting one’s self ready for the next life, but primarily for getting others ready for the next life.

11. Islam, however, just like every other religion in the world, is a religion that is practiced by its adherents for the purpose of preparing themselves for the next life, though it will surprise you how few are the assurances given to a Muslim that he is prepared for the next life.

12. This morning, in this final look at the theology of Islam, we will focus our attention on Islam’s view of salvation and Islam’s view of heaven.

1A. WHAT IS THE ISLAMIC THEOLOGY OF HOW TO GET SAVED?

1B. Many Years Ago, Shortly After My Conversion, I Was Watching A Religious Television Program That Featured An Islamic Teacher Being Interviewed. During That Interview The Muslim Scholar Insisted, Much To The Chagrin Of His Interviewer, That Islam Was A Non-Redemptive Religion. When I Shared That With Others At Different Times They Wouldn’t Believe Me. But It’s True.

2B. Muslims Are Not So Much Trying To Gain Salvation When They Perform Their Religion’s Observances, As Trying To Insure That They Don’t Lose What They Hope They Already Have. You See, Contrary To Biblical Christianity, Which Believes Mankind Is A Depraved And Fallen Race, Islam Believes Man’s Current State Is Normal And That Mankind Is Not A Fallen Race. Thus, They See Such A Thing As The New Birth As Unnecessary. And Such A Thing As Conversion Is Not Seen By Muslims To Be The Result Of A Great Miracle.

3B. So, The Rites And Rituals Of Islam, The Performance Of Their Religious Duties, Serves To Preserve What They Hope Is Theirs, Rather Than To Gain Something They Do Not Have. Let Me Rehearse For You The Religious Duties, Sometimes Called The Pillars Of Islam, That Forms The Common Pattern In Muslim Society:

1C. First, there is their confession of faith, the shahada. "There is no god but Allah and Mohammed is Allah’s prophet." If this phrase is believed and recited in the hearing of two witnesses the person saying it instantly becomes a Muslim. How very much like contemporary Christian decisionism this is, with their sinner’s prayer making them a so-called Christian whether they’ve been converted or not. The shahada is to be recited every day of a Muslim’s life.

2C. Second, there is the ritual prayer, or salat. This takes place five times each day. After the body is prepared through ritual washings with water, or with sand, the person who prays is to face Mecca and follow a prescribed plan of gestures while reciting a prayer in Arabic. These prayers can be performed anywhere, but it is expected that men will gather on Fridays to pray in a mosque at midday. Women may also gather at the mosque on Fridays, but they generally pray out of sight of the men. Let me add here, these prayers are not the heart’s cry of a supplicant to his god, but the recitation of prescribed prayers from memory in Arabic, though the Muslim may not even understand the words he is speaking if he is a non-Arab Muslim.

3C. Third, there are obligatory alms, called zakat. This giving is an obligation that is required of every Muslim according to a rather complex formula that is used to calculate the amount, the method of payment, and who is to receive what is given. Gifts in addition to zakat are obviously permitted.

4C. Fourth, there is the fast of Ramadan, called saum. The Koran requires that during the month of Ramadan, when it is possible to distinguish between a white thread and a black thread (from before sunrise until after sunset), no food or drink or tobacco or sex is allowed. During the nighttime hours these restraints are not imposed, so Muslims usually stay up late to eat. Sick people, preadolescent children, pregnant women, soldiers fighting a war, and some travelers are exempt from the Ramadan fast.

5C. Finally, there is the pilgrimage, known as the hajj. A trip must be made by every Muslim, at least once in a lifetime, if it is physically and financially possible. The trip is to be made to Mecca, and there are all kinds of rites to be performed along the way. Women are allowed to make the pilgrimage if they are accompanied by a husband or other adult male family member protector. This is thought to be a good deed that will be rewarded on the day of judgment.

4B. Islam Recognizes That Human Beings Sin, But Islam Is Based Upon The Conviction That Such Sins Are Not The Result Of Sinfulness, But Ethical Misperceptions. We Have The Moral Power Not To Sin, Islam Teaches. We Do Not Need Salvation. Rather, Men Need Guidance. And With Divine Guidance A Man Is Able To Live A Life Of Submission That Pleases Allah.

5B. If Islam Has Any Concept Of Salvation It Would Be In A Collective Sense, With A Society Of People Seeking To Collectively Save Themselves By Doing Good Works, So Long As They Are Among True Believers (Muslims) And Not Among Those Who Associate Equals With Allah (Which Is To Claim That Jesus Is Equal To His Father).

6B. One Final Comment About Islamic Salvation. If There Is A Sixth Pillar Of The Islamic Faith It Would Be The Jihad. My Friends, No Matter What Public Relations Representatives Say During Radio And Television Interviews, It Is The Unanimous Testimony Of All Contemporary Islamic Scholars That Their Religion Calls For Holy War Whenever And Wherever Possible, To Advance, By Sword Point Evangelism If Necessary, Their Religion To All The World. Thus, To Engage In Jihad Serves To Earn Extra Credit, If You Will, With Allah, To Rack Up Zealot’s Brownie Points, To More Surely Hang On To A Place In Heaven And Scale Up Well Come Judgment Day.

7B. So, There Is No Islamic Theology Of How To Get Saved. There Is An Islamic Theology, And It’s A Vicious And Predatory One, For Hanging On To What One Hopes He Has With This Capricious And Arbitrary God Named Allah.

2A. WHAT IS THE ISLAMIC THEOLOGY OF HEAVEN?

As I review the Islamic view of heaven I will be appropriately discreet in mixed company. This is necessary because of the outrageous things that this man named Mohammed taught. With his predilection for many women, which included a marriage to a little girl, what he said he got by revelation from Allah can only delicately be described without offending people’s sensibilities. Four observations:

1B. First, The Wine Of Paradise

1C. It is quite amazing to me that a big deal is made in the Koran of the wine that those in paradise will drink. Folks, in two places the Koran forbids the drinking of wine by Muslims.

2C. But it seems that paradise will be one long party, with "rivers of wine" said to be flowing in three different passages in the Koran.

3C. So, drinking sprees are quite forbidden now, but they will apparently be an integral part of life in the hereafter for the faithful Muslim in paradise.

2B. Second, The Virgins Of Paradise

Here is where I have to be very delicate, not even mentioning boys.

1C. In addition to rivers of wine flowing in paradise, the Koran indicates, and contemporary Muslim scholars are in complete agreement, that paradise will be a place where each man will have a palace with 70 mansions in it. In each mansion will be 70 houses. In each house there will be a bed. On each bed are 70 sheets of different colors. And on each sheet is a nymph wife who is a young perpetual virgin.

2C. The virgins are ever available for the carnal pleasure of the faithful in paradise. And one contemporary Islamic scholar has written that the Koran shows that it is the mission of the believers in paradise to fully satisfy themselves with these women.

3C. Is it any wonder that young men are willing to snuff out their lives in a spasm of religious zeal? These Islamic jihad terrorists do not see themselves denying their appetites, only delaying their gratification.

4C. And what a lofty and noble concept of women Islam has, that every faithful woman granted entrance to paradise will be restored to perpetual youth and virginity so she can be one of the many, many women consigned throughout eternity to fulfill some man’s carnal appetites.

3B. Third, The Referrals To Paradise

1C. Though entrance to paradise is not guaranteed to any faithful Muslim, there is an explanation why the families of terrorists who blow themselves up or who drive airplanes into buildings never seem to be unhappy about what their sons have done. Ever wonder why the mothers and fathers of terrorists always celebrate the deaths of their sons?

2C. Though the young Muslim man with a carnal mind and no spiritual discernment looks forward to an eternity in paradise, whooping it up in one long drunken orgy, why are those in his family so excited about his terrorist suicide in the name of Islamic jihad? It’s because the faithful who get to go to paradise have the right to intercede for 70 of their relatives.

3C. No wonder their young warriors see no need of a mediator between them and God. They see themselves functioning as mediators on behalf of their loved ones to Allah. What debauchery in the name of religion! What blasphemy!

4B. But It Should Be No Surprise In Light Of The Notable Absence In Paradise

1C. You wonder why the Koran indicates that all that is required to gain paradise is that you avoid great sins and shameful deeds, only falling into small faults, Sura 53:32. In other words, you can get into paradise if you’re not too great a sinner.

2C. How is all this possible? Wine flowing like a river, an innumerable number of willing virgins, as many different kinds of food to gorge yourself on that you can imagine, the right to intercede on behalf of others.

3C. You wonder how Allah will get anyone’s attention in paradise to worship him. But if you are wondering along that line you can stop wondering, because in the Muslim paradise Allah is nowhere present. That’s right. There is no indication anywhere in the Koran that Allah will be present in paradise.

4C. In paradise there will be only sensuous enjoyment, but no worship of Allah, no service rendered to Allah, no attention paid to Allah, because there is no indication that Allah will even be in paradise. . . if the Koran is any guide.

CONCLUSION:

1. Anyone who claims similarity between Islam and Christianity is either a completely ignorant fool, who is speaking about things he has no knowledge of, or a wicked deceiver who seeks the damnation of souls to Hell.

2. Islam believes that men are essentially good, and in need of guidance instead of salvation. But the Word of God clearly shows man to not only be weak, but also wicked, and in desperate need of a Savior.

3. Islam believes that paradise will be one long drunken orgy, with men in paradise functioning essentially as a savior to other members of their families, and without even the mentioned presence of Allah.

4. Of course, for the Christian, heaven is all about communion with God and with Christ, resurrection glory, cleansed from the taint of sin by the blood of Jesus Christ. There will be no deviant promiscuity in heaven, but purity and holiness, because He Who has called us is holy.

5. Now, before this morning’s sermon, Gary Isenberger comes to lead us as we sing.

INTRODUCTION:

1. Please turn in your Bible to Acts 4.12 and stand for the reading of God’s Word: "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."

2. Islam is a false religion that is built upon the teachings of a single man, a man who had an insatiable sexual appetite, a man who married a little girl who was nowhere close to womanhood, and a man whose life does not stand up to careful scrutiny.

3. I do not know why preachers do not preach strongly against Islam. Perhaps they are afraid that they will be assassinated. One Baptist preacher in Washington, D. C. has a $10,000 price on his head, payable to anyone who kills him. The reason? He wrote and published a tract warning American women to not marry Muslim men. For that he has a bounty on his head.

4. I am quite sure preachers will justify their soft line against Islam with many pious sounding excuses. But the real reason for refusing to sound the trumpet is probably fear, fear of retaliation, fear of reprisal, fear of an unexplained accident. But where is the fear of God?

5. My friend, I might ask you the same question. Where is the fear of God? Islam teaches that men are essentially good, therefore salvation is not needed. Men are not evil, they say, only weak and in need of guidance. But that is opposite what the Bible teaches and opposite your own life’s experience.

6. You are not only weak, and you know it. You are also corrupt and defiled and spiritually dead in trespasses and sins. The wrath of God that is held back from overwhelming you in judgment and condemnation is building in intensity and fury with each passing day. The world is suddenly a much less settled and certain place to live in.

7. In the midst of all this, there are four undeniable truths that you cannot deny, that you must not deny, that if you deny you will deny to the damnation of your own soul.

1A. First, YOU MUST BE SAVED

1B. Islam Maintains Salvation Is Not Necessary, But Islam Is Not Correct. By Your Own Lifestyle And Refusal Of The Offer Of Jesus Christ To Be Your Savior You Are Saying The Same Thing.

2B. You Say It To Your Children, To Your Friends, To Your Coworkers, To Everyone Else You Know. So Long As You Remain Unsaved You Are Shouting To The World That You Think A Man Does Not Need To Be Saved.

3B. But Let Me Tell you Something, Friend. So Long As You Insist, Either By Your Words Or By Your Actions, That You Do Not Need To Be Saved You Are Calling God A Liar, The Lord Jesus Christ A Liar, And The Holy Spirit A Liar.

4B. If You Did Not Need To Be Saved, If There Was Anyone Other Way To Rescue You From What Your Own Sins Deserve, God Would Not Have Sent His Son Jesus, His Son Jesus Would Not Have Suffered And Bled And Died, And The Holy Spirit Would Not Presently Be Engaged In Working To Convince You Of Your Need For Salvation.

5B. Therefore, Since The Whole Bible Shows Your Need Of Salvation, Since God’s Wrath Is Determined On You, Since Jesus Suffered And Bled And Died For You, And Since The Holy Spirit’s Ministry To The Unsaved Is To Convince You Of Your Need For Salvation, You Need To Just Quit This Business Of Denying The Obvious, Denying The Truth, Denying That You Need To Be Saved.

6B. You Must Be Saved.

2A. But That’s Not All. YOU MUST BE SAVED BY JESUS

1B. The Whole Point Of Our Text, Built As It Is On The Foundational Truth That You Need To Be Saved, Is That You Can Only Be Saved By Jesus.

2B. You Cannot Be Saved By Keeping Rules And Ordinances Of Law, Whether It Be The Law Of Moses Or The Islamic Shariah. Romans 8.3 Declares, "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh." In Other Words, No Law Or Rules Has The Power To Save Sinners.

3B. As A Matter Of Fact, No System Of Works Or Religious Deeds Can Save You. Isaiah 64.6 Declares, "all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags." This Would Apply To Any And All Religions And Ethical Systems, Including Islam.

1C. Folks, this is why I stated earlier in every religion people practice the religion to prepare for the hereafter, except Christianity.

2C. Biblical Christianity is practiced by people already sure of heaven. Amen? So, why are we Christians? Not to get to heaven, but because we’re already assured of heaven.

3C. And it’s a good thing, since the righteous deeds that every religion calls for are judged by God to be filthy rags.

4B. There Is Only One Savior. Only One Is Both God And Man. Only One Can Mediate Between God And Men. Only One Was The Substitutionary Sacrifice For Your Sins And For Mine. Only One Has Conquered Death, And Sin, And Hell, And The Grave. He Is The Unique Savior Of Sinful Men’s Souls.

5B. You Must Be Saved, Lest You Burn In Hell. You Must Be Saved, Lest You Suffer An Eternity Of Torment. You Must Be Saved, Lest You Feel The Brunt Of God’s Fierce Wrath. And Jesus Is The Only Savior There Is.

6B. Who Else Claimed To Be God Come In The Flesh? Who Else Claimed The Authority To Forgive Sins? Who Else Took Your Place On The Cross Of Calvary And Paid For Your Sins? You Must Be Saved. But That’s Not All. You Must Be Saved By Jesus.

3A. Why? BECAUSE YOU CANNOT BE SAVED BY ANYONE OTHER THAN JESUS

1B. Who Would Save You Besides Jesus? No Religion Can Save You, Since Your Righteousnesses Are As Filthy Rags. Islam Can’t Save Anyone, Because Islam Doesn’t Even Believe In Salvation. They Have No Savior, No Substitute, And No Relationship With Allah Is Even Possible.

2B. And You Can’t Save Yourself. Save Yourself Means To Deliver Yourself From The Penalty Of Your Sins. Save Yourself Means To Escape From The Wrath Of God. Save Yourself Means To Somehow Remove Yourself To Eternal Spiritual Safety. How Are You Going To Do That?

3B. Trying Delivering Yourself From The Penalty Of Striking A Police Officer. Slap A Cop In The Face And See How Successful You Are At Escaping The Punishment For That Sin. Yet You Think You Can Escape The Wrath Of God For Sinning Against The Almighty?

4B. The Fact Of The Matter Is That There Is No Other Savior Than Jesus, And You Know It. No One Has Ever Claimed To Be The Savior Besides Him, And No One Is Able To Save Besides Him.

5B. So, You Must Be Saved. You Must Be Saved By Jesus. You Cannot Be Saved By Anyone Other Than Jesus.

4A. YOU MUST COME TO JESUS NOW

Why do I tell you to come to Jesus now? For two reasons:

1B. First, Because It Is God’s Will That You Be Saved, And Saved Today. Two Verses:

1C. Second Peter 3.9: "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.:

2C. Second Corinthians 6.2: ". . . behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation."

3C. So, you see, I do have Scriptural authority for commanding you to be saved today.

2B. But That’s Not All. You Must Actually Come To Jesus, Not Just Know That Jesus Saves.

1C. It’s wonderful to know that Jesus saves, but it’s not enough to know that Jesus saves. In addition to knowing that Jesus saves you must be united to the Savior by faith. And this is where many people fall short of getting truly converted. They don’t actually unite with Jesus by faith.

2C. To put it another way, Jesus told sinners to come to Him. The invitation is to come to Him. The command is to come to Him. And if you come to Him He will save you.

CONCLUSION:

1. My dear friend, what a grief to God you are. You see, He loves you beyond comprehension, yet you resist Him and fight against Him. He sent His beloved Son to be your Savior, yet you scorn Him. His precious Holy Spirit seeks to deal to prepare your heart, yet you grieve Him.

2. Have you never thought of the lengths to which God has gone to secure your salvation, what the Savior endured to pay your purchase price? How could anyone love you more?

3. I pray that your hard and cold heart is melted by God’s love for you, by Christ’s sacrifice for you, by the Holy Spirit’s tugging at you.

4. Will you not set your heart on Jesus for just a moment’s consideration? Will you not think of His great love for you, and the great terror that will befall you should you continue to reject Him?

5. Now, will you not come to this One Who loves you so? Will you not seek refuge and safety from the storm by coming to Him? Will you not abandon your struggles to save yourself, abandon your struggles to resist Him, abandon your struggles to stand as a lonely and isolated sinner? I urge you to come to Jesus now.

"The Blight Of Islam" Part 8