Islam- Submission To Whom?

Sermon for 10/28/2001

Submission to Whom?

Colossians 2:8

Adapted from an outline on Pastor’s Pastor

Introduction:

A. David Brown- What’s going on? The sidewalks are swarming with excited children masquerading as every imaginable creature and character. There is Batman and the Joker, Wonder Woman, witches, devils, ghosts, skeletons and even razor fingered mass murderer, Freddy Krueger. These children are going door to door shouting, "Trick or Treat," hoping to collect a ton of candy before the night is over.

B. Take a look at the houses the children are going up to. They are strange, too! Eerie grinning Jack-O-Lanterns watch as the children approach. Skeletons, scarecrows, witches, black cats, and more decorate the doors and windows.

C. Haunted houses.

D. Halloween is not too far off. Wednesday night.

E. Halloween brings up images of horror and fright. Hollywood movies. Nightmares.

WBTU:

A. I want to tell you about a true nightmare that happens every day!

B. A person dies and is taken up to the Great Throne Room to be judged.

C. God looks for their name in the Lamb’s Book of Life and does not find it.

D. This person starts to get nervous and says, "I don’t understand, I thought that you were going to bring out a scale and measure my good deeds and my bad deeds and whichever measured the most would be the destination of my soul. If I was good I would go to Paradise and if I was bad then I would go to Hell."

E. God says, "If I did it that way everyone would go to Hell."

F. "I don’t understand," the man says. " I was told that if I was faithful in confessing You before others, if I was faithful in saying my prayers 5 times a day, if I was faithful in giving my alms to You, if I was faithful in fasting for a whole month every year, if I went to the Holy City one time in my life, that you would usher me into Paradise."

G. "Who told you that?" God asks.

H. "Oh, it is plainly laid out in the Koran, the book that you wrote through your Great Prophet Mohammed," the man says getting more agitated.

I. "I have only written one book and it was not the Koran," says God. "Who is this Mohammed, I do not know him?"

J. The man says, "Well, Mohammed is the last and greatest prophet you sent to the earth."

K. God says, "I did not send any Mohammed. I sent my Son Jesus Christ and he is the last and greatest prophet. What do you think of Jesus Christ?"

L. "Well, he was a prophet and I followed some of his teachings," said the man. "But he is nothing compared to Mohammed."

M. God says, "I sent my Son Jesus Christ and you did not listen to him. Jesus Christ died for you on a cross and was resurrected from the dead so that you could have the victory over sin."

N. The man, beginning to become confused and very nervous, says, "I was taught that Jesus did not die on a cross. He was transported into heaven like Elijah and never faced death. The Christians just made up that story."

O. "No, they did not," says God. "And because you did not accept the gift of salvation through my Son, you will be cast into the lake of fire."

P. "No, No, It’s not fair! I was told lies! How could this happen? I was told lies ever since I was a child! You can’t do this; it’s not fair! I was faithful and sincere to my faith," shouts the man.

Q. "Yes, you were," says God, "but you were sincerely wrong. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and you chose to believe lies instead of the truth. Now depart from me!" And with a tear God punishes this man eternally.

R. What a terrible nightmare! However, it is true. It happens every day in the Middle East and Muslim countries.

S. Colossians 2:8.

T. These past several weeks we have been exposed to a religion called Islam.

1. The word Islam means "submission." The question is "Submission to whom?"

2. The word Muslim means "one who submits" to the teachings of Islam.

U. Many people are saying that Islam is just one of the ways to get to God. How naïve! The husband of Sharon Stone (An actress) almost lost his foot recently, when he entered a Monitor Lizard’s cage. He had been told it was safe; he had been told he needed no special protection. In the end, he learned that he was extremely naïve and that his advisors didn’t know what they were talking about. The moral: Don’t believe all that is being said about Islam; it’s intended to cause us to let down our guard. Remember that Jesus said; "Be on the alert."