SALVATION

INTRODUCTION:

This is what the debate is really all about. SALVATION!

Pay close attention to both speakers....YOUR SOUL'S DESTINY MAY REST UPON HOW YOU LISTEN.

I want to appeal to the non-Christians in this audience. I am saying these things out of love and concern for you. Some of what I say may be hard for you to hear because it goes against the grain of what you have accepted - -

All I ask is that you listen and try to understand.

THE NATURE OF GOD

Here is where we need to begin - The God of heaven is not Allah.

Nadir claims that we worship the same God....this is just not true!

The God that Nadir brings us is nothing like the God of the Bible.

SEAN....OHP #7 -


THE GOD OF THE QUR'AN

While the Qur'an ascribes to God many admirable and even divine qualities, it also ascribes to Him a number of qualities that are unworthy of deity.

The Qur'an says that:

1. He causeth to err/or go astray

35:8. Is he, then, to whom the evil of his deeds made fair­seeming, so that he considers it as good (equal to one who is rightly guided)? Verily, Allâh sends astray whom He wills, and guides whom He wills. So destroy not yourself (O Muhammad SAW) in sorrow for them. Truly, Allâh is the All­Knower of what they do!

2. He endorses denial of faith; denial of God under certain circumstances

16:106 Whoever disbelieved in Allâh after his belief, except him who is forced thereto and whose heart is at rest with Faith but such as open their breasts to disbelief, on them is wrath from Allâh, and theirs will be a great torment.

3. He forgives sins even before they are committed

48:1-2. Verily, We have given you (O Muhammad SAW) a manifest victory. 2. That Allâh may forgive you your sins of the past and the future[], and complete His Favour on you, and guide you on the Straight Path;

4. Its theory of "cancellation and abrogation," makes God vacillating

2:106. Whatever a Verse (revelation) do We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, We bring a better one or similar to it. Know you not that Allâh is able to do all things?

16:101 And when We change a Verse [of the Qur'ân, i.e. cancel (abrogate) its order] in place of another, and Allâh knows the best of what He sends down, they (the disbelievers) say: "You (O Muhammad SAW) are but a Muftari! (forger, liar)." Nay, but most of them know not.

NOTE: If I understand this correctly God is telling Mohammed, "I may cause you to forget some scriptures...but don't worry about it, I may give you even better ones in their place" i.e. those other ones don't count any more....but the new ones do.

5. The Qur'an makes God a respecter of persons

Remember OHP#6....Mohammed was granted a lot of special favors; including the number of wives he could have; the treatment of his wives; divorce; who he could marry; even being forgiven of sins before they are committed.

Sean ......Put up OHP #35

The God of the Bible is ALL POWERFUL - ALMIGHTY - Spoke the universe into existence

And knows the hearts and intents of men

Jer. 31:17-27 'Ah Lord GOD! Behold, Thou hast made the heavens and the earth by Thy great power and by Thine outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for Thee, who showest lovingkindness to thousands, but repayest the iniquity of fathers into the bosom of their children after them, O great and mighty God. The LORD of hosts is His name; great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, giving to everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds;

God is a God of Love.

This is a much abused idea. Some think that God is only love and will

therefore condemn no one.

It is true that God desires all to be saved (2 Peter 3:9; 1 Tim. 2:4).

1) 2 Pet. 3:9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

1 Tim. 2:3-4 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

But this must be tempered by understanding that not all will be saved.

The very mention of a judgment day argues against universal salvation (2 Cor. 5:10). For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

God is also TOTALLY JUST

Moses said....Deut. 32:3-4 "For I proclaim the name of the LORD; Ascribe greatness to our God! "The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He.

Job said in Job 34:10-12 "Therefore, listen to me, you men of understanding. Far be it from God to do wickedness, And from the Almighty to do wrong. For He pays a man according to his work, And makes him find it according to his way. Surely, God will not act wickedly, And the Almighty will not pervert justice."


Sean put up OHP#36

We also need to understand THE NATURE OF MAN

Man is far beneath God....Cannot understand God without His revealing Himself

In Isa. 55:8-9 we read, "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts."

Man has always sought to make God like himself - we have seen that this week.

Muslims ridicule the nature of God because He doesn't fit their concepts

The scriptures recognize that man is a sinner.....

Because he violates the law of God

1 John 3:4 Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.

1 John 5:17 All unrighteousness is sin,

B. Rom. 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Man is lost because of sin...

Romans 6:23 says, " For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."


Sean Put up OHP#37


SIN SEPARATES US FROM GOD

Isa. 59:1-2 Behold, the LORD'S hand is not so short That it cannot save; Neither is His ear so dull That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear.

James 1:13-15 Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. (NOTE: SP. DEATH)


Sean.....Put up #38

===========================================================

HERE'S THE DILEMMA

WE HAVE THE GREATNESS & PERFECTION OF GOD

BUT THERE IS ALSO THE SINFULLNESS AND IMPERFECTION OF MAN

GOD WANTS US TO BE SAVED

BUT GOD IS TOTALLY JUST


Sean PUT UP OHP#15

THE ANSWER

Rom 3:23-26 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Explain propitiation

1) Penalty for robbing a bank if $50K a $5,000 fine - not just

2) Penalty for a man killing his wife - 30 days in jail!! - not just

3) WHAT COULD MAN PROVIDE TO ALMIGHTY GOD

TO PAY THE PRICE FOR SIN?? - God provided the greatest sacrifice

1 John 4:10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

From the beginning.......tell of the reason for the animal sacrifices....

O. T. a forshadowing of what God had in mind...

Heb 10:1-9 For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never by the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins? But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, "SACRIFICE AND OFFERING THOU HAST NOT DESIRED, BUT A BODY THOU HAST PREPARED FOR ME; IN WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND sacrifices FOR SIN THOU HAST TAKEN NO PLEASURE. "THEN I SAID, 'BEHOLD, I HAVE COME (IN THE ROLL OF THE BOOK IT IS WRITTEN OF ME) TO DO THY WILL, O GOD.'"

CONTINUE PASSAGE NEXT PAGE

After saying above, "SACRIFICES AND OFFERINGS AND WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND sacrifices FOR SIN THOU HAST NOT DESIRED, NOR HAST THOU TAKEN PLEASURE in them" (which are offered according to the Law), then He said, "BEHOLD, I HAVE COME TO DO THY WILL." He takes away the first in order to establish the second.

O. T. became a "means to an end"

Gal. 3:19-29 Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed should come to whom the promise had been made. Now a mediator is not for one party only; whereas God is only one. Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law. But the Scripture has shut up all men under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

The only propitiation for our sins - had to be the sacrifice of God's own Son who was totally pure......

HOW TO HAVE THAT BLOOD APPLIED TO OUR LIVES.......

SO THAT WE COULD GO FREE

Heb. 1:1-3 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high;

Heb. 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

Must be willing to declare that faith...publicly!

Matt. 10:32-34 "Everyone therefore who shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven. Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword."

God wants us to take a stand for Him

And that means we may have to sacrifice - suffer persecution

Matt. 16:13-18 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He began asking His disciples, saying, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" And they said, "Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" And Simon Peter answered and said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it." - THE CONFESSION - NOT PETER

Rom. 10:9-10 ..... if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

Ethiopian Eunuch....Acts 8:29-38 And the Spirit said to Philip, "Go up and join this chariot." And when Philip had run up, he heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, "Do you understand what you are reading?" And he said, "Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?" And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this: "HE WAS LED AS A SHEEP TO SLAUGHTER; AND AS A LAMB BEFORE ITS SHEARER IS SILENT, SO HE DOES NOT OPEN HIS MOUTH. "IN HUMILIATION HIS JUDGMENT WAS TAKEN AWAY; WHO SHALL RELATE HIS GENERATION? FOR HIS LIFE IS REMOVED FROM THE EARTH." And the eunuch answered Philip and said, "Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself, or of someone else?" And Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him. And as they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said^, "Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?" And Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." And he answered and said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." And he ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch; and he baptized him.

Faith is not all that there is.......Must repent of sin....Remember the whole point is dealing with sin!!

Rom 6:1-11 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin, once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

The first gospel sermon......After Jesus D, B, R....sent apostles

Mark 16:15-16....And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. "He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.

Acts 2:36-38 "Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ-- this Jesus whom you crucified." Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brethren, what shall we do?" And Peter said to them, "Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

It is Baptism that is the final act that changes one's spiritual condition.....

Jesus refers to this as being "born again" John 3:1-5 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; this man came to Him by night, and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him." Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?" Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Look at the passages we cited already

In Gal. 3:19-29 where Paul shows that the O.T. Law was our tutor to bring us unto Christ said in V.27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

In Acts 8 where Luke is telling us about the Philip's conversion of the Eunuch.....emphasizing his confession of Christ...."preached unto him Jesus"...."See, here is water..."

In Rom. 6....emphasizing the need for repentance.....Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?

In Mark 16:15-16...emphasizing the sending out of the apostles to preach the gospel.... "He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved;

and then I emphasized the first gospel sermon in Acts 2:36-38..... required repentance....also demands baptism ....Peter said..."Repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins."

So many others.....Tell of Saul of Tarsus' conversion....Acts 22:16

after believing, repenting, praying, fasting..... 'And now why do you delay? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.'

===========================================================

PUT UP OHP#30.....Mohammed said that you must believe ..... Why do you reject??



Sean,....put up #39

===========================================================

1. Nadir said that Muslims believe the Tora....Reject a "bloody Religion"

Cain & Abel - animal sacrifice to God

Passover of the Jews based upon the blood sacrifice

1) Death of first born

2) salvation through a lamb's blood sprinkled on the door posts

Throughout the Tora...blood sacrifice for sins

What was the point of Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac (or given Ishmael)?

1) prove faith

2) a picture of God sacrificing His own son

Look at the Tora....When Israel became then what the Nation of Islam is

God punished them; destroyed them; sent them into captivity

1) look at the nations that embrace Islam today - struggles - poverty

Mohammed said to believe the prophets of the O.T. -

===========================================================Sean----put up #40

===========================================================

Nadir said they reject all but the Tora - and they believe we have a corrupted Tora

Look at what is "Thrown out"

Creation

Blood Sacrifices

Name of God (Allah for Jehovah)

The words that God chose to use...Too pornographic

Ishmael being the son of promise - not Isaac

All the accounts of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, etc. (Changed all the facts)

Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac as a picture of His salvation

David and the promises concerning setting up his throne (kingdom) starting from Jerusalem.....Spiritual kingdom

WHAT IS LEFT??

=========================================================== Sean....put up #41

===========================================================

Mohammed sais to believe the Gospel of Jesus

Reject Jesus as the Son of God

Reject Blood sacrifice for sin

Reject the writers of the 4 Gospels

Reject Paul completely - All of his writings

Reject the N.T. Concept of "Love"

Reject the death of Jesus - Crucifixion

Reject the Resurrection of Jesus

Reject the ascension of Jesus

Reject the church of Jesus

WHAT IS LEFT??

ONLY ACCEPT THAT HE WAS MIRACULOUSLY BORN OF A VIRGIN

That he was divinely inspired and commissioned by God


WHAT THIS DEBATE HAS BEEN ABOUT:

Muslims don't like the way God chose to do His will:

Way he revealed His Gospel (Through letters)

Blood sacrifice for sins

Restrictions (fornication - etc.)

Name of God (Allah - Jehovah)

Words used

OHP#4....JESUS IS THE SON OF GOD

OHP#14....HOW JESUS DIED

OHP#15.....WHY JESUS DIED

OHP#16.....A DEADLY PARALLEL

OHP#19.....CIRCLE REASONING