[0:00] Welcome. We're going to continue the talk from last week. If you did not get the handout from last week, I can give it to you. I have some extra copies. But also you have a handout for today. Now, this is just the Bible verses that we're going to be looking at looking at today.
[0:21] And so what we're going to be doing is looking at how is God changing Muslims and bringing them to Christ? What is God doing and how you can be involved?
[0:34] Remember the question that we read last week was in Mark 4.41. And the disciples are saying, who is this that even the wind and the waves obey him? A great question, as I said. You want everybody to ask that question.
[0:54] And that's the question you want Muslims to ask. Who is this person? Who is this Jesus? And if I can see it, if a Muslim asks me that question, I say, great. And then we can start talking about what the Gospels say about him.
[1:14] So look at Romans 10. It's on your sheet. It's 1 through 4 and 9 through 15. Now we have a lot to cover, so we have to read further quickly, but listen carefully.
[1:27] Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
[1:39] For being ignorant of the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law, for righteousness to everyone who believes.
[1:54] Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
[2:11] For the scripture says everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame, for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. For the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.
[2:23] For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?
[2:35] And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news.
[2:46] Now in these verses, Paul is talking about, in the first few verses, he's talking about the Jews. But as I was reading this a number of years ago, I thought, wait a minute, this sounds just like Muslims.
[3:02] Exactly. Exactly. Because the description of the Jews sounds just what the Muslims are thinking themselves.
[3:12] Almost exactly. See, Muslims are indeed zealous for God. But zeal for God cannot make you right with the Holy God.
[3:24] Zeal can be misdirected. You know that. See, the problem is, their zeal is not based on knowledge. Something is missing here.
[3:38] And it's very, very important. See, according to verse 3, they do not submit to the righteousness of God. They are trying to get to heaven by their own works of righteousness.
[3:53] I can do it. I can do it. It's my righteousness, they're saying. But that is not the teaching of the Bible at all. But the Bible says we cannot get to heaven by doing righteous or good things.
[4:07] We are all corrupt and under God's just judgments because of our sin. The only way to know God is in trusting the Lord Jesus Christ alone for salvation.
[4:20] On the cross, Jesus took our sins upon himself and he died in our place. And he gave us the gift of his righteousness.
[4:32] No one can come into a relationship with God except through the saving work of the Lord Jesus. Which he secured on the cross in his resurrection.
[4:46] It is for those who are trusting in him alone. Remember this, my friends. You become a Christian not by doing something.
[4:59] But by believing in a person. The person is the Lord Jesus Christ. It says in verse 13 that we just read.
[5:12] For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Notice who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Sadly, my friends.
[5:28] The Muslims know none of this. None of this. A few years ago, a group of us from our church went to the mosque. And we were there because the Muslims are going to talk about what they believe.
[5:44] And we also talked about what we believe. And I want you to listen to what the Muslims said. Listen very carefully. He said, I honor Jesus.
[6:01] I love him. I love him. I love him. And when he returns, I will hug him and kiss his hand. That's what the Muslim teacher said.
[6:15] Is that good? Or is that not good? My friends, it is not good. And this is what you must understand.
[6:27] The Jesus of Islam is not at all the Jesus of the Bible. So I went home that day. And I looked up and found out what is he saying?
[6:40] What do they really believe about Jesus? And listen to what I found. It is very disturbing. He didn't say this. I found this later. This is what Islamic theology says.
[6:53] Jesus will descend to the earth. When you see him, you will recognize him, a man of medium height, reddish hair, wearing two light yellow garments.
[7:05] He will fight the people for the cause of Islam. Did you hear that? He will then break the cross to pieces.
[7:17] He then will kill the pigs. Because Muslims don't import. That's what Jesus of Islam will do. And then it says, Allah will perish all religions except Islam.
[7:33] Jesus will destroy the Antichrist and will live on earth for 40 years and then Jesus will die. The Muslims will pray over him. And it says this, Jesus, son of Mary, will come down to the world.
[7:48] Now it says he will get married. He will live for 45 years and then die. He will be buried with Mohammed in his grave. Then I, that is Mohammedan, Jesus, son of Mary, will stand up in the grave and ascend to paradise hand in hand.
[8:08] Now, is that the Jesus of the Bible? Not at all. Not at all. Muslims have no idea who Jesus is.
[8:23] In fact, what I just read to you, this was written over 700 years after the time of the Lord Jesus Christ in the mind. But look again at Romans 10, 14.
[8:33] How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
[8:44] Someone needs to say something. They don't not know. They must come to know the Lord Jesus as Savior and Lord and Son of God to be saved.
[9:00] Last week I mentioned to you that there are thousands of Muslims coming to know the Lord today. And that is very true. Despite the great differences between Jesus of Islam and Jesus of the Bible, many Muslims are now confessing Jesus as Lord and God and Savior and Messiah and Son of God.
[9:23] God is doing great work in the Muslim world. Now, I want to share with you two testimonies if I have time. I'm the only time to do one, but I'll try to do two of them. And I want to read one of them from this book.
[9:36] This is an amazing book. It says, From Cairo to Christ, It's Egyptian to become a Christian from a Muslim background. Now, listen to what he said. It's so good because he's telling you what he was thinking before he became a Christian.
[9:52] And that's what's good about it. What led him to become a Christian? He's telling you here. Now, listen carefully. I kept having internal conflicts and continued to raise questions.
[10:06] Most of them had to do with the behavior of the Christians I was getting to know in comparison to that of the Muslims I had long known. There's a saying in Arabic, only a rotten orange produces rotten juice.
[10:26] So if Christianity is so rotten, why were the Christians I had gotten to know so good? How then was this rotten orange of Christianity producing such good juice while the perfect orange of Islam was producing rotten juice?
[10:45] See, he's thinking. He's thinking. He says this, The Christians, they loved their God and one another. A Muslim like me didn't love or yearn for God.
[10:57] We feared and obeyed God. The Christians turned to their God as if he were their dearest and most beloved friend. Isn't that good? For them, it was almost a romance.
[11:11] For me, such a romance was a scandal. What do you mean you love God? You know, they said, listen, don't say that. They were shocked by that. What's that mean?
[11:22] He said, in Islam, the goal is to submit to the guidance of the prophet, that is, Muhammad, their prophet. Not to understand more of God's love.
[11:36] In contrast, now listen to this, what he says. In contrast, the Christians I don't think to know weren't worried about getting everything right. Isn't that good?
[11:48] Let me read that again. The Christians I was getting to know weren't worried about getting everything right. They were pursuing a relationship with a person, like we said, the person of Christ.
[12:08] And that person loved them really enough to give up his life for them. I began to wonder, how much of what I have learned about both Islam and Christianity is wrong.
[12:19] So this was very difficult for me. It brought about an identity crisis. Could everything my family and society taught me about Islam and Christianity be untrue?
[12:34] My whole sense of reality and truth was collapsing right in front of my eyes. What would I do if my whole belief system were a lie? I came to recognize that I would never become perfect by following all the rules of Islamic law.
[12:54] I could never be sure if my book of good deeds would be heavier than my book of evil deeds on judgment day. For I believed Christ could make me perfect.
[13:05] See, man, he's talking about Jesus. Come here, dear. Since he was perfect, I could claim his perfection as my own if I accepted him.
[13:18] I was about to commit the unpardonable sin that is blasphemy putting someone or something at the level of God, namely Jesus Christ.
[13:30] Would it be worth it? Should I risk death? I became a Christian on Christmas Day in 1977. I was baptized into Christ. I chose the Christian name of Stephen, the first martyr, suspecting that my own martyrdom might not be far off.
[13:49] Now, how many of you changed your name when you became a Christian, fearing that your martyrdom may not be far off? He trusted Christ and God changed his life.
[14:03] There's two important truths we need to know after reading this testimony. That God used the lives of Christians to begin his journey from Islam to Christianity, from Islam to Christ.
[14:18] He met some Christians and saw their love for each other and for the Lord Jesus. These Christians were different. He watched and listened to them. And number two, he wanted to know why they were different.
[14:32] And this is important. Why are these Christians different? And then, why they believed in the Lord Jesus. For him, it was the kindness of Christians that caused him to start thinking about the Lord Jesus Christ.
[14:50] Remember, my friends, that Muslims who visit your church or even those that you know in your neighborhood, for them, you may be the very person who God used to begin their questioning about who is this Jesus that God can use you.
[15:11] See, my friends, evangelism is always done in relationship. It's also done in community. The community of God's people.
[15:23] God uses his people of the church as a witness to the truth of the Christian faith. See, mostly, whether you think so or not, Muslims are watching you. They're watching me.
[15:35] They're listening. Who are you? How do you act? What do you say? How do you treat your children? How do you work? They're watching you. Whether you think so or not, they are watching you.
[15:51] May God bless us and sharing with words and with our life the goodness of Jesus. I'm going to do one more testimony.
[16:02] We've got a few more minutes and then we'll end with that. There was a lady from Iran who visited our church. She came to the church to know more about British culture since she was now a student in the UK.
[16:20] In other words, she's in Britain. I'm from Iran. I know nothing about Britain. I've got a little church to find out about British culture. That's why she came. She even told us that's why she came. Okay?
[16:32] A couple of ladies met her and started chatting with her. She did not live far from the church so one of the women met with her again and asked her if she would like to read some of the Bible stories about Jesus.
[16:46] Now this woman from Iran said yes. And so when she met with one of these women she brought a list of questions to ask her. These questions had come from what she had learned about Christianity when she was in Iran from Muslim sources.
[17:05] The first question was did Jesus preach when he was a newborn baby? That sounds bizarre to you but in the Quran immediately after Jesus was born he started preaching.
[17:18] and this lady said it didn't happen. And so she said what do you mean it didn't happen? But then this lady said I'm only going to tell you what God's word says and nothing else.
[17:33] And the woman was impressed by that. What does God's word say? She's okay just tell me that. And she was pleased with that. But her next question was how can Jesus be the son of God?
[17:46] How can God have children? She didn't understand all about Jesus being the son of God. Well they talked about that issue a little bit but mainly they started reading through the gospel of Mark.
[17:58] And she was amazed at what Jesus said and did. Remember she never read the gospel. Almost 99% of the Muslims have never read the gospels.
[18:08] They have no idea again who Jesus is. She started reading the gospels and her impression was wow Jesus is different. Yes Jesus is different. How can you not see that reading the gospels?
[18:23] And her heart began to change. And what made the biggest change for her she saw how Jesus cared for women.
[18:35] She says I have never heard anything like this before in my life. She says I want to know who this Jesus is. Isn't that good? Isn't that great?
[18:48] So one night our church there was a baptism of a young lady and after the baptism the lady from Iran said that she wanted to be baptized.
[19:01] She said well you need to believe in Jesus to be baptized. She says I want to be a father with Jesus. So she prayed to receive Christ and then she was discipled for a while and then she was baptized at a later date and she's now still following the Lord Jesus Christ.
[19:20] See God did a great work in her life. She may have come to church for the wrong reason but God changed her heart. And also these two Christian ladies loved her enough to talk with her about the Lord Jesus.
[19:38] she was amazed at how much Jesus cared and loved others especially women as I said. She came to see her own sin and her need of a savior.
[19:49] And throughout this entire time many many people were praying for her in the church. And God opened her heart and she is now a follower of Jesus.
[20:01] Wish you could meet her one day. See both of these testimonies began with God moving them toward a location where Christians were present.
[20:11] Now it also means that God moves us toward a location where most of them are located. But in these testimonies they came and met Christians. They saw, they listened, and God used that to convince them there's something different about the Christians which led them to think about why are they different and that difference is Jesus.
[20:36] And so we all need to have a philosophy of ministry. Like I have a philosophy of ministry. Here's what I do. This is what I keep in my head and hopefully in my heart is that I want to listen well, I want to love well, and speak well, and pray well.
[20:56] That's what, that's my ministry. Listen, love, speak, and pray. And you can do that. That's what God has called you to do.
[21:07] Well, we're not going to have time to look at those. I want to look at one more thing in Matthew 9, before we end. Jesus says in Matthew 9, he says, Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.
[21:28] When he saw the crowds he had compassion for them because they are harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. And I love this, that Jesus is walking around and he's looking at people and we need to learn to look at people.
[21:43] Look at them, greet them, see them, have that compassion for them. They're all like sheep without a shepherd and they all have great needs.
[21:53] Everyone struggles with fear, guilt, and shame and they keep it in themselves and they don't say a word. But once you start getting to know a Muslim and sitting down with them developing a relationship, things start coming out of their heart, they'll start talking.
[22:09] They're all hurting, just like you and me. They want somebody who will listen to them and of course share with them about how they can have peace with God.
[22:22] Now, I'm going to close reading from this book. It's a testimony of a Christian. It's an amazing testimony.
[22:37] Listen carefully to what he says. And then see how God says your heart. He says the Reverend Subrani, he was in Holland.
[22:49] And while he was in Holland, he, after Theo van Goh, was murdered, all these mosques, this is back in 2004, and all these mosques and churches even were being burned down.
[23:06] I mean, Muslims were being attacked. The thing was, this pastor cared nothing for Islam.
[23:16] He didn't like Muslims. He didn't care anything about Islam at all. And it says, he's a very conservative Christian. Pastor Subrani firmly insisted that Jesus is the only way, the only truth, and the only life worth having.
[23:35] He insisted that Islam was a false religion, and he called Allah a desert demon spirit. For peace sakes, what's he doing? But that's what he's saying there.
[23:46] Well, who is this guy? But then something happened. Sobrani stood up and walked to his neighborhood mosque.
[23:57] He knocked firmly on the door and to the shock of the Muslims huddled inside, he declared that he would stand guard outside the mosque every night until the Dutch attacks stopped.
[24:12] But why? Why was he doing this? He hated his slum. What possible reason would this conservative Christian give to explain his actions? What could have motivated him of all people to do this?
[24:26] He showed no appreciation for Islamic culture, clothing, or food. He recounted no stories of past friendships or dialogue with Muslims. He couldn't care less about Muslims you think by reading this.
[24:38] But listen to what happened to his heart. When I pressed him to explain his actions to give some account why he would defend a religion he so deeply disliked, here is what he said.
[24:53] Jesus, Jesus commanded me to love my neighbor and to love my enemy too. That's why I do it. Why? To love your neighbor and to love your enemy.
[25:07] That's what we as the church are called to do. Let's pray.