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The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist
Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us
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message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.
So maybe we ask ourselves this question, where does Islam
begin? Where did it begin?
Or or maybe a better question that would be this morning is
where do the people who believe in Islam believe Islam began?
And we can look for Genesis chapter 16 this morning and
where we would not necessarily ourselves see the foundation of
Islam. Yet Islamic authorities would
point to this chapter of scripture, or at least they
would point to a particular person as one who was with in
the lineage of what eventually would become Muhammad several
hundreds of years or 1000 years later.
So look at chapter 16 and verse #1 where it says now Sarai,
Abram's wife, bear him no children.
And she had a handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.
And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold, now the Lord hath
restrained me from bearing, I pray thee, go in unto my maid.
It may be that I may obtain children by her.
And Abram hearken to the voice of Sarai, And Sarai, Abram's
wife, took Hagar, her maid, the Egyptian, after Abram had 12-10
years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to
be his wife. And he went into Hagar, and she
conceived. And when she saw that she had
conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.
Now, I'm not necessarily preaching from this text this
morning, but remember that anyone who has more than one
spouse has more spouses than God ever intended a person to have.
And so we look at Solomon, we look at David, and we see that
we talked about this a few weeks ago in Sunday evening service,
that there are many times when a man has more than one wife in
the Bible, that it's not explicitly condemned in those
verses. And there were maybe even some
who would say, well, does God endorse polygamy?
And I would just say, we'll look at the fruit of the tree that is
planted here. And every time there is more
than one spouse involved, it always leads to trouble.
Ask David, ask Solomon, ask Abram here, because this was not
a good situation. What was he supposed to do, wait
upon the promises of God? The promise of God was this, you
will have a son, and from that son will become a great nation.
But he circumvented what God had already said.
And by the way, there's a lot of issues that we're dealing with
today in the Middle East. There's a lot of issues that
we're dealing today with Islam because believe it or not, Abram
simply didn't trust God the way that you're supposed to trust
him. And it's a reminder to us here
this morning that our decisions have far more reaching
consequences than a lot of times we believe.
Our decisions affect our children.
Our decisions affect our grandchildren.
You say, well, I don't have any grandchildren.
Yep, Yep, me neither. But it will affect them.
It's hard for me to fathom. That's hard for me to recognize.
But if the Lord tarries, if he doesn't come, the decision to
dine and I make will affect not just my children, but my
grandchildren, my great, great grandchildren.
And it could affect for many, many generations.
That's true for all of us. And so here's what happens.
This is this, this, this, this situation takes place.
The Lord Abram tries to circumvent, to try to fulfill
what the Lord has said, instead of just trusting the Lord.
And now the situation is going to turn out of control.
Verse 5 And Sarah, I said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee,
I've given my maid into thy bosom.
And when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her
eyes. The Lord judge between me and
thee. But Abram said unto Sarah, I
behold thy maid is in thy hand, to do as it pleaseth thee.
And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.
And the Angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of the water
in the wilderness, by a fountain in the way of sure.
And he said, Hagar, Sarah's maid, whence camest thou, and
whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the
face of my mistress Sarai. And the Angel of the Lord said
unto her, Return to thy mistress, Submit thyself under
her hands. And the Angel of the Lord said
unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall
not be numbered for multitude. And the Angel of the Lord said
unto her, Behold, thou art with child shall bear a son shall
call his name Ishmael, because the Lord hath heard thy
affliction, and he will be a Wildman.
His hand will be against every man, and every man's hand
against him, and he shall dwell in the presence of all his
brethren. You say, well, pastor, I see
what you're saying. You're trying to fit Islam into
what it says here about being a Wildman, being against every
man. It'll be a large nation in and
of itself. You're trying to shoehorn this
into Genesis chapter #16 to try to make your overall point.
And the answer is that's absolutely not true.
This is what Islam says of itself.
It says before Muhammad was that they could trace their lineage
back to Muhammad through Adnan. Adnan was supposedly a son of
Ishmael and established through Ishmael and Adnam established
the Arab and prophetic line separate from Isaac's line,
which leads to the Israelites. And this is found in classical
Islamic historical works such as Eben Ishaqs, Surat Rasul Allah.
And so this is not something that I'm just trying to fit into
the word of God. This is Islam saying it.
This is where we come from. If you were to go before
Muhammad. And what we see here from the
word of God is this, there's going to be trouble, there's
going to be difficulty, there's going to be hardship.
And So what I'm pointing to is what the Muslims would point to
here, and I'm just highlighting what they would say.
Muslims also consider Ishmael to be a direct ancestor to
Muhammad. So with all of this being said,
and using this maybe as a jumping off point for what we
are going to look at today, we're going to start by
considering the summarizing phrase of Islam.
And the summarizing phrase of Islam would be this.
There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet.
Maybe you've heard that phrase before.
There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his prophet.
With this one phrase, Islam is summarized by its adherence.
It's reckoned that today there's about 2 billion Muslim believers
in the world. Now we're looking at a globe
that has somewhere around 8 billion people.
About 25% of the world's population claims to be of the
faith of Islam. And yet we see that while
America is not an Islamic nation and there's somewhere around
maybe 5 million of those who claim to be adherents of Islam
in the United States today, yet we do realize that it is
growing. And it is growing in the United
States at a very rapid pace, almost doubling since about
2013. That is large exponential growth
here in the United States. But I think a lot of times,
because we don't necessarily see a lot of Muslims in our
community. And certainly there are some, no
doubt that we see at different places, whether you're going to
the store or whether you're just out and around town.
There's a Islamic school in Mansfield that is not too far
where for some of you all live. Islam is a very, very large,
large world faith. Believe it or not, the most
populous Muslim country is not in the Middle East.
It's Indonesia, where there are over 200 million who claim to be
Muslim. Pakistan, India and Bangladesh
all account for half a billion Muslims in the world population
and Muslims are the majority in 49 different countries.
Out of the almost 200 countries around the world, about 1/4 of
them are considered to be Muslim majority countries.
So when one thinks of Islam, you likely think of this phrase here
that you might have heard before.
Maybe you couldn't have recited it to me, but you're at least
familiar with it. There is no God but Allah and
Muhammad is his prophet. Now this phrase is a creed or
it's a statement of faith. For someone to become a Muslim,
they must repeat this phrase three different times.
That is their way of maybe we could put it this way, becoming
saved in the Muslim faith that they would have to say three
times within in their heart there is no God but Allah and
Muhammad is his prophet. Now with such a simple
statement, you would probably think it's a pretty simple
religion, wouldn't you? You would think, wow, this, you
could summarize it in one sentence.
So there must not be a whole lot to it.
And the fact of the matter is that there is a great deal that
comes into the Muslim faith. Now, where did Islam come from?
Just a very brief history of it. Around 6:10, ADA man named
Muhammad received his first revelation from Allah while in a
cave outside of Mecca. You no doubt heard of Mecca
before and the pilgrimages that can sometimes take place there
that he received, by his account, a revelation from the
Angel Gabriel. And he believed that the Angel
Gabriel in that revelation was going to kill him.
He was surprised. He was shocked that he actually
lived through the experience. But it was yet through that
experience that the basis for what is called the Koran was
starting to be written today. Now, Islam spread very quickly.
Now you say how quickly did it spread?
Well, let's consider Christianity for a moment.
That you were to look at maybe a 20 year period after Christ
resurrected and the world was literally fact.
It said that the world was turned upside down by the fact
that the apostles and other missionaries would go around the
world just preaching and teaching Jesus Christ.
Islam also had a very rapid spread as well, but it's spread
was not by what we would call proselytizing or sharing the
faith. The spread of Islam had
everything to do with the sword. It had everything to do with
Muhammad being not just what is considered a prophet, but a
warrior prophet. And you can see just in a very
short period of time, from about 622 to around 7:50 AD, the rapid
expansion of Islam throughout not just the Middle East, but
into Africa, Asia, and then even into parts of Europe, what we
would call Spain and Portugal today.
The Quran in Surah 2 verse 216 says fighting is prescribed upon
you and you dislike it, but it's possible that you dislike a
thing which is good for you. The idea that fighting and being
able to fight the infidels was actually a very good thing.
The Prophet viewed war as a religious event, slaying those
who do not believe in Allah or in the last days.
It says in Surah 9 verse #29 he eradicated the Jews from Medina
and ultimately conquered his hometown Mecca with very little
resistance. There Muhammad destroyed
hundreds of Pagan idols from Kaaba and established Islam as
the official religion of the Arabian Peninsula.
And so you can see that in those just 10 years, that 10 year
period in the dark red, how very quickly the Islam faith spread
by the sword. Now after Muhammad's death, you
could consider that somewhere around 1400 years of conquest
followed the following Christian regions that were conquered by
Islamic forces are these Syria 634, Egypt 639, N Africa 700,
Spain 711, Morocco 722. In fact, although not overtaken,
even Rome was sacked by the Muslims in 846.
Muslim captured other territory, including Persia 642,
Afghanistan 670, Turkistan 715, and West Africa in the late 9
hundreds. And perhaps the greatest
expansion of Islam occurred under the Ottomans.
And you've likely heard of the Ottoman Empire conquered the
city of Constantinople in 1453, a city second only to Rome in
its influence. And the Turks would rule much of
the civilized world over the next 450 years and even
challenge Christian supremacy in the very heart of Europe.
Now, why is this? Well, one of the things that I
think is very telling about the faith Islam is that the name
Islam, the word Islam means submission or surrender,
submission or surrender. And there would be those Islamic
historians or theologians who would say that it means
submission or surrender to Allah, that it's totally
voluntary, that Islam literally means you're surrending yourself
to Allah and to Allah alone. And I would submit to you that
it is submission or surrender by the sort that is, you will
believe that we understand that really when it comes to matters
of the heart, can the sword solve anything, that really the
heart has to be changed and to truly believe.
And we believe that as believers, don't we, that we
believe that as believers that we can't force anyone or coerce
anyone into believing Jesus Christ their Savior.
But yet there is a pervasive amount of fear that you find
during this time, fear of death, fear of conquering, fear of all
of these different things. But not everybody would agree
with what I just told you. Even some secular historians
would disagree. James Missioner, for example,
said no other religion in history spread so rapidly as
Islam. The West has why?
They believe that the surge of religion was made possible by
the sword, but no modern scholar except that idea and the Quran
is explicit in support of the freedom of conscience.
And no offense to Mr. Michener, who passed away about 25 or so
years ago, but I would say to James Michener that that is one
of the most preposterous statements that one could ever
make because there are many reasons why what he just said is
not true. Well, why is that?
Well, first of all, because. Oh, yeah, you probably could
have read that right there. Doesn't that look nice?
All right, we'll move on now. If you don't, you don't have
time to read that. We're moving on.
Is it a religion of peace?
Well we ask ourselves this. Well the Quran doesn't agree
with what we just read. The Quran does not agree with
that Quran. Surah 9 verse 5.
Then when the sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters
wherever you find them and take them captive.
Besiege them and prepare for them each ambush.
But if they repent and establish worship and pay the poor due,
then leave their way free. Surah 2191.
Slay them wherever you catch them.
Turn them out from where they have turned you out, for
persecution is worse than slaughter.
Sora 812 I will instill terror into the hearts of the
disbelievers. Smitey above their necks, smite
all their fingertips off of them.
Sora 47 verse 4. So when you meet those who
disbelieve in battle, strike their necks until when you have
inflicted slaughter upon them, then secure their bonds.
I would say that's for very specific verses on top of those
I had just told you before that seem that the Quran is
explicitly saying if you were a unbeliever that there are some
very severe consequences that should be placed upon you.
Now, Muslim theologians and even from some that I have just read
this week would say, now listen, that those are all in in the
sacred text, but you're taking them out of context.
You're taking them far away from what they meant because they
were meant for a specific time or for a specific reason.
And I will say I have a little bit of sympathy for that because
don't we realize as believers that there are difficult verses
in the word of God and someone who's maybe is an unbeliever
tries to throw that difficult verse in your face and you say,
well, listen, sure, that verse is in the Bible, but you don't
understand the context of that verse.
And so I want to be careful when I present these things to you
that I'm not just throwing random verses at you, that I'm
making sure that, you know, I'm being fair with what I say about
these other religions. So what I would say that the
Quran doesn't agree that it's a religion of peace, that
submission or the submission that means by the sword or
surrender. But I would say it's not just
the Quran that doesn't agree with that interpretation that
it's a religion of peace. But Muslim rule countries don't
agree with that, just the very fruit of those who live under
Sharia law. And there are many nations that
live under Islamic or Sharia law.
Muslim rule countries have no freedom of speech.
They have no freedom of religion.
In Muslim rule countries, proselytizing is illegal.
You realize that we cannot send missionaries into Muslim rule
countries to do what they would do in other countries.
Why? They're called closed countries
to the gospel. Now listen, no country is closed
from the Lord. The Lord can overrule whatever
any government wants to do, but at the same time, you cannot get
a missionary visa to go into Qatar.
You cannot get a missionary visa to go into Saudi Arabia.
There are other means that the gospel has to be propagated, and
typically it's by those who are within that country, those who
already live there. But even those understand that
if they come to Christ, that at best they may be thrown out of
their homes, they may be thrown out of their family, and at
worst they may lose their life. Though this is not a
hyperventilating pastor who is just trying to be over the top
with you this morning. This is pretty well founded by
what all of us have seen, by what the media often times
hides. But when they do portray it, it
is portrayed as this because it is real.
Muslim ruled countries are often places where women are treated
as property. In Saudi Arabia that a woman
could not travel until just a three or four years ago, could
not travel without permission from her husband, could not go
anywhere. And I have quotes that I won't
share with you this morning for the sake of time.
But the idea that a woman is a piece of property, that she is
not an actual human entity with the rights that a man has.
And so we we see that just Muslim countries don't agree
with this. They the very fruit of it.
And by the way, not to take an aside here, but there are Muslim
countries like Saudi Arabia who are putting millions and
billions of dollars into things like sports, into things like
entertainment and media. You see all the large
skyscrapers that are going up in those areas and theme parks and
all kinds of things to try to modernize and to try to give a
little bit of a different look at what a Muslim rule country is
like. And so you have to be very
careful about that propaganda because that's what it is.
It is propaganda. And so we would say the Quran
doesn't agree that it's a religion of peace.
Muslim rule countries don't agree.
That's a religion of peace, and jihadists don't agree that it's
a religion of peace. Our nation has some very unique
experiences, don't we understanding what Muslim jihad
is like. The idea that jihadists will
receive virgins as a reward in paradise comes from certain
interpretations of Islamic texts, particularly the hadith
literature. And the Hadith describes rewards
for martyrs, including how Reeves, which would be heavenly
maidens or heavenly virgins, promise to the righteous in
paradise. Now, to be clear.
Not every Muslim is a jihadist. I think we need to be clear
about that. The Muslim that you meet on the
street here in the United States of America may not believe and
likely does not believe what a jihadist who has been
radicalized believes. But where did those jihadists
get those beliefs from? They got them from the very
Muslim texts of which others are not taking a literal
interpretation of. And they are saying, Nope, this
is literally what it says, and this is what they're going to
do. They do it in the name of Allah.
And so I would say that questioning that Islam is a
religion of peace comes from three prongs.
That their own holy text does not say it's a religion of
peace. That how they live out that
religious text in countries that are fully run by Muslim clerics
and Sharia law does not agree. And that those who have been
radicalized or those who are living out the very most literal
words that come from the Muslim holy texts.
And so by looking at this, we say, wow, this is a very, very
dangerous line of thinking and it is spreading like wildfire
all around the world. Now.
Islam has five different pillars.
The five pillars of Islam are the five core tenets, the five
core beliefs of what makes Islam Islam.
They are signposts that point towards Islam.
But I would argue that there are also sign points, sign signs,
rather signposts that point away from Jesus Christ.
So these are signs that point towards Islam but point away
from Christ. Why is it important that we
learned this? Well, one apologist says if
you're prepared to deal with these five issues, then you can
really engage in effective ministry.
Again, why are we laying this so bare with us here today?
It almost seems like it's cruel or unkind.
No, no, If we want to win someone to Christ that has these
beliefs, we need to know what these beliefs are so that then
we can show what the word of God says about these things.
You know, we don't want to whitewash what they believe to
try to be overly kind here today.
In fact, that's not kindness at all.
We want to expose what the false belief is so then we can show
how the gospel can free them from this type of thinking.
I think it's very important that we do so.
But I'm going to explain the five pillars to you here this
morning in just a moment. But I have a video, a short
video that from an Islamic social media account of a social
Islamic group. So not my words, not a
Christian's word summarizing Islam, but Islam summarizing
itself and Islam's own words. It's about a 5 minute video that
I want to show you and then I'll give you some summarizing
thoughts about it. So if we could, let's go ahead
and run that. The five pillars are the core
beliefs and practices of Islam. The five pillars of Islam are
the framework of a Muslim's life.
They are the testimony of faith, prayer, giving Zagat, support of
the needy, fasting during Ramadan and the pilgrimage to
Mecca at least once in their lifetime.
For those who are able, one profession of faith, Shahada,
the belief that there is no God but God and Muhammad is the
Messenger of God, is central to Islam.
The testimony of faith is saying with conviction.
Allah Allah, Allah Allah Muhammad Rasulullah.
There is no one worthy of worship but Allah and Muhammad.
Sallallahu ayuwa sallam is the Messenger of Allah.
The first part, there is no true God, but God means that none has
the right to be worshipped but God alone, and that God has
neither a partner nor son. This testimony of faith is
called the Shahada, a simple formula that should be said with
conviction to convert to Islam. The testimony of faith is the
most important pillar of Islam. 2 Prayer Salat Muslims pray
facing Mecca five times a day at dawn, noon, mid afternoon,
sunset and after dark. Prayer includes a recitation of
the opening chapter of the Quran and is sometimes performed on a
small rug or mat used expressly for this purpose.
Muslims can pray individually at any location or together in a
mosque where a leader in prayer guides the congregation.
In prayer, a person feels inner happiness, peace and comfort in
that God is pleased with him or her.
The Prophet Muhammad, said Bilal, call the people to
prayer. Let us be comforted by it.
Bilal was one of Muhammad's companions who is in charge of
calling the people to prayers. Men gather in the mosque for the
noonday prayer on Friday. Women are welcome but not
obliged to participate. After the prayer, a sermon
focuses on a passage from the Quran, followed by prayers by
the Imam in a discussion of a particular religious topic. 3
alms Sagat In accordance with Islamic law, Muslims donate a
fixed portion of their income to community members in need.
Many rulers and wealthy Muslims built mosques, drinking
fountains, hospitals, schools, and other institutions as a
religious duty and to secure the blessings associated with the
charity. All things belong to God and
wealth is therefore held by human beings and trust.
The original meaning of the word zicat is both purification and
growth. Giving sicat means giving a
specified percentage on certain properties to certain classes of
needy people. The percentage due on gold,
silver and cash funds that have reached the amount of about 85
grams of gold and held in possession for one lunar year is
2 1/2 percent. Our possessions are purified by
setting aside a small portion for those in need, and like the
pruning of plants, this cutting back balances and encourages new
growth. 4 Fasting Psalm During the daylight hours of Ramadan,
the 9th month of the Islamic calendar, all healthy adult
Muslims are required to abstain from food and drink.
Through this temporary deprivation, they renew their
awareness of and gratitude for everything God has provided,
including the Quran, which was first revealed during this
month. During Ramadan, they share the
hunger and thirst of the needy as a reminder of the religious
duty to help those less fortunate. 5 The Pilgrimage to
Macaw The Annual Pilgrimage Hajj to Macaw is an obligation once
in a lifetime for those who are physically and financially able
to perform it. About 2 million people go to
macaw each year from every corner of the globe.
Although Macaw is always filled with visitors, the annual Hajj
is performed in the 12th month of the Islamic calendar.
Male pilgrims wear special simple clothes which strip away
any distinctions of class and culture so that they stand equal
before God. The rights of the Hajj include
circling the Kaabah 7 times and going 7 times between the
hillocks of Safa and Marwah, as Hagar did during her search for
water. Then the pilgrims stand together
in Arafah and ask God for what they wish and for his
forgiveness, in what is often thought of as a preview of the
Day of Judgment. The end of the Hajj is marked by
a festival, Eid al Ada, which is celebrated with prayers.
This and Eid al Fitter, A feast day commemorating the end of
Ramadan, are the two annual festivals of the Muslim
calendar. Right.
I think we could see from that that there's some major
differences, aren't there, between biblical Christianity
and Islam. And one of the things that I
want to impress upon you today is the fact that there are many
within Islam, but there are also many outside of Islam that try
to make clear to us as Bible believers that Islam and
Christianity really aren't that different.
They're just different expressions of the exact same
God. You call him Jehovah, we call
him Allah, but it's really just one God.
And I would say to you that, well, really, those who know
Islam understand that's not true.
It was just the first time I watched that video.
Just the stark impression on my mind was the cross with the
circle and the arrow going through it.
The thought that they said no to Jesus Christ.
If you could summarize Islam in just one slide, it would be that
picture that it's no to Jesus Christ.
And so that and that alone would prove to us no, they are not the
same that they cannot be compatible with one another.
That Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life and that
no man cometh under the father but by me.
And they expressly say we are not going through Jesus Christ,
we are going through Allah, which tells us that they are not
the same religion. But there are those again, who
are outside of even Islam that would say, and I mentioned to
you before that here in our town that the human Rights Committee
wants woman. That was very clear and saying
that Christianity and Judaism and Islam are all exactly the
same, that there is not any difference between one another,
that they're all expressions, different expressions of the
same God. And I would say to a true Islam
adherent, a Bible, even Christian and even a practicing
Jew would all say that's not true.
We, we all believe different things.
And so understand that there is that desire for unification,
that there is that desire for peace within, in one another and
harmony. But I would say to you that
unification cannot come apart from truth, that unity is a
wonderful thing. I like unity.
I'm glad that we have unity here at Liberty Baptist Church.
But our unity comes through the truth of Jesus Christ, doesn't
it? That you believe in Jesus and I
believe in Jesus. There's unity, but there cannot
be unity between those two. It's a square peg and a round
hole. There's no way to be able to put
them together. That doesn't mean that we're not
civil and polite and loving and kind to those who are the
Islamic faith we should be. Why?
Because we want to show them Jesus Christ, but at the same
time we cannot pretend that it's something it's not for the sake
of false unity, because that is something that Jesus Christ
himself would not have done. Because he was never one to put
aside truth in the sake of love. He spoke the truth in love and
that's why people came to him the way that they did.
So just as a review, what are these five pillars of Islam?
The 1st is the creed acknowledging Muhammad as the
prophet of Allah. The believer now submits oneself
to the teachings of Islam. The Quran, the holy book of
Islam, becomes the guiding principle of life and eternity.
And Muhammad is now the example by which a Muslim lives.
And Muhammad is revered as like a God in many different ways.
So first was the creed. The second is the time of
prayer, the lifeline of Muslims. Prayer is the central practice
of Islam. Muslims are obligated to pray
five times daily. They wash themselves beforehand,
recite their prayers in Arabic while prostrating themselves
before Allah. The Muslim is also required, as
we saw it, to pray specifically on Fridays at noon with their
Islamic community. If a Muslim does not pray
regularly, he will forget about Allah and His greatness.
And we saw a minimum of five times a day before dawn, noon,
late afternoon at sunset and night time in Islamic rule
countries, there will be the call to prayer that is made out
loud for everyone to hear. And I will say some of the most
faithful people to prayer that I've ever seen have been Muslims
over the years. I've not unusual.
I can think of two different occasions that I've seen someone
who has been praying, pointing themselves towards Mecca.
Once at a rest stop in Connecticut pulled over to the
side and they had pulled over the side.
I believe it was the sunset time for prayer and they had pulled
over to a corner of the parking lot and then had been saying
their prayers here in Easton over at the Burger King, not too
far from here. The same idea was that time of
day that they pulled over to the side a corner of the parking lot
and prayed. And I want to tell you that
there are many of Islam who are very devoted to their faith.
I would say that's a devotion that sometimes Christians don't
have. I'm going to Burger King.
I tell you what I'm going for. I'm going for a Burger King
sandwich is what I'm going for. And if I'm going to rest stop in
Connecticut, I really, I just want to keep on going 'cause I
don't stop in Connecticut. All things considered.
I don't even want to be on 95, you know.
But I will say there is a devotion that's there.
But devotion does not mean truth, and we have to be able to
understand that just because they are devoted, they are
devoted to something that is false.
But I do think that we can take some thought from that and even
use that. And we'll look at this in the
next couple of weeks to be able to use their dedication to
prayer, to be able to talk to them about our relationship with
Jesus Christ. So there's fasting.
And of course the Ramadan time of feasting is a one month time
where there is an abstentation from food, drink and stimulus,
activity and even marital intimacy, except it can be
broken of food and drink at night and this takes place of a
time of self restraint. Oh I got them in the wrong
order. So it's fasting almsgiving.
And you saw almsgiving. 2.5% is the amount of which they are
required and it is given through their church or through other
charitable organizations. This is given and then also the
pilgrimage and this is the climax of the Muslim experience.
Followers of Islam who are physically and financial able
are required to visit the holiest city of Islam.
Did you get the connection there between Ishmael Hagar, the
mother of Ishmael? We just read this and they made
that connection themselves. This was not something, again,
that I put into this text myself, but it was found by
them. This is what they would point to
as well. The structure, do you see that
cube that they were walking around there?
That structure most Muslims believe was first established by
the Old Testament prophet Abraham as the first House of
worship on earth had become corrupted with hundreds of idols
by the time of Muhammad. But Muhammad destroyed all the
idols, restored the worship of Allah that Abraham had begun.
So again, to take that which is found in the word of God and to
corrupt it and to turn it into a lie.
And Muslims face this building to perform their daily prayers
from wherever they live in the world.
And at least once during their lifetimes, they are required to
circle the cube building and pray.
Additional duties include visiting Muhammad's last sermon
site, throwing stones at the devil, and sacrificing an
animal. So these are the five pillars of
Islam, and it's a very brief description of the tenants of
Islam to give you a little bit of a better idea of what it is.
Now, the Quran summarizes the pillars in this way.
And listen carefully. Those who believe and do deeds
of righteousness and establish regular prayers and give
almsgiving will have their reward with the Lord Surah 2277.
I'm going to read that again. Listen carefully, those who
believe and do deeds of righteousness and establish
regular prayers and give alms giving will have their reward
with the Lord. Now do you notice the ands of
that verse? Do you notice the ands that are
found there? Is having a reward with the Lord
in Islam believing in Allah? The answer is no.
It's believing in Allah and do this and do this and do this
that you must adhere to all five of the 10s.
Now at the beginning you might have remembered that I said if
you were to receive the creed three times, that you were to
become a believer at that time. But that in and of itself is not
enough to secure salvation within the Muslim faith.
You know, you have to not just say the creed, but you must do
all of these for the rest of your life to be able to have any
hope of eternal life at that Judgement Day.
And at the Judgement Day you will find if you go to heaven or
you go to hell, could I tell you that that is an absolute.
That's such a sad thing to think that someone could adhere to all
those things and perhaps they didn't have the ability or, or
perhaps maybe they did have the ability or, or who who decides
if they have the ability or not to go to Mecca or not?
And maybe that's the reason they don't go to heaven and they
won't know that till the Judgment Day.
They won't know if they've done good enough to the Judgement
Day. They won't know that they have
done enough. So again, it's another one of
those lines of faith where it's not just about what has already
been done, but it's about what you do, your own works of
righteousness, all of these. Ands.
Now there's several quotes here that I have from some
apologists, Christian apologists about the five pillars and about
Islam that I think would be good for us to heed.
But once said this, the five pillars of Islam offer a
framework of works based righteousness that cannot bring
a Sinner to peace with God. They failed to address the need
for grace through faith in Christ alone.
Lee Strobel, you might know him from the The Case for God, that
book that was written several years ago that has a wonderful
book in many ways if you have the chance to read it.
Lee Strobel said Islam's 5 pillars focus on outward
religious duties, but lack the inner transformation and
forgiveness that Christianity teaches through Jesus sacrifice.
Another the five pillars are an attempt to earn favor with God
through deeds, but the Bible makes clear that salvation is a
gift, not the results of works. Another says Islam's emphasis on
ritual and law through the five pillars misses the gospel of
grace and redemption by Christ's blood.
It's amazing to me that we can have some commonality in names,
Abraham, Ishmael, Hagar, that there can be commonality and
things like prayer, fasting, even alms, giving offerings with
Stewardship Sunday. We're be talking about those
types of things today. That we can have some
commonality in certain things, but realize that there really is
no commonality because it all comes down to this Jesus Christ.
And if you deny Jesus Christ, then you cannot have truth in
your line of thinking, whether it's a religion, whether it's a
cult, or whether it's your own personal beliefs.
If you deny Jesus Christ, you are denying the truth of what
faith is truly all about. You say, well that's that's so
exclusive. Why would you say something so
exclusive? Well, because Jesus said
something so exclusive. But I'd also remind you that
it's so inclusive that all are called to be saved.
Oh, sure, it's exclusive. There is one way, but that one
way is open to all. It's open to you and it's open
to me. I don't deserve it.
If you think you deserve it, you've missed what grace is all
about. None of us deserve it.
We were all sinners in need of a Savior, yet He saved us through
His precious blood. Now, next week, we're going to
look at some of the fundamentals of our faith.
And how they compare to Islam. So we'll look at some of our
fundamentals and compare them to Islam.
And by the next week, Lord willing, we'll talk about how to
engage with someone who is a Muslim.
We meet these folks all over the place and in many walks of life.
And if you're not careful, you might try to avoid them because
you don't know how to have a conversation with them.
And I will tell you that you can have a Bible based conversation
with someone who is a Muslim and that the gospel can be glorified
in that. And you don't have to be
intimidated because we have the truth.
The truth is within us because of what Jesus Christ did for us
through salvation. Thank you for listening to the
sermon from the pulpit of Liberty Baptist Church.
If this message was a blessing to you, or if there's any way we
can serve you, please let us know by contacting us at
info@mylibertybaptist.org. Or you can visit us this Sunday
at 800 Washington St. in Easton, MA.
May the Lord bless you as you grow in His Word.