Read  Matthew 11  

There’s a lot of relevant material in the 11^th chapter of Matthew.  But one verse leaped off the page for me when I read it this past week.  In Matthew 11: 27 Jesus makes this powerful statement, “All things have been committed to me by my Father.  No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Matthew 11:27).

According to Jesus, the only way we can come to know the true God is through knowing His Son.  Until the Son is revealed to us we don’t fully understand who God is.  That pivotal truth is totally rejected today by those who buy into the multicultural philosophy that all religions are equally valid.

Let’s say you were driving through Louisville, Kentucky and wanted to contact me.  You look up my name in the city telephone directory and discover there are six Bob Russells listed.  Not knowing my address, you call the first number and ask, “Is this Bob Russell?”   “Yes.”  “Are you Bob Russell the preacher?”  “Yes.”

You then respond, “Good!  I went to college in Cincinnati with your son Rusty.  I’m trying to find him.  Can you tell me where he is?”   There’s a brief pause before the person on the other end of the line responds, “I’m Bob Russell, a Baptist preacher, and I have a son but his name is Fred.  He went to school at Georgetown.”

You would immediately conclude that you had the wrong number.  There were similarities but enough significant differences for you to realize that’s not the Bob Russell you were searching for.  You were looking for the man who had preached at Southeast Christian Church and whose son had attended Cincinnati Christian University.

The only way we come to know the true God is through His Son Jesus.  If you contact a religion that calls on a higher power but Jesus is not His only begotten son who died on the cross for our sins and arose from the dead — you are communicating with a false god, who is really no god at all.

That’s important to understand because over the last decade many have asked, “Since the God of the Muslims is the God of Abraham, isn’t he the same God that Christians worship?”  The answer is no.  While we need to be understanding of other religions and love those who believe differently, a genuine Christian and a devoted Muslim worship dramatically different gods.

The theology of the two belief systems differ on a number of key points.  We differ on source of authority–the Bible or Koran.  We different on the nature of God–faithful or capricious   We differ on the deity of Jesus–the only begotten son of God in the flesh or a human prophet who is inferior to Mohammed.  We differ on how to be saved–works or grace.  We differ on the proper treatment of women, the uniqueness of marriage and the response to enemies.

The most significant difference between Christianity and Islam concerns the atoning work of Christ on the cross.  The Bible teaches that Jesus’ death on the cross is foundational to the Christian faith.  (See 1 Cor. 15:1-6.) The Koran teaches that while Jesus was born of a virgin and performed miracles, He ascended into heaven without ever dying and the story of a crucifixion and resurrection is a hoax.  Muslims are taught that one day Jesus will return to earth, rid the world of all crosses, turn His followers to Islam, marry, reign for forty years, then die and be buried next to Mohammed.

Dr. Taha Jabir Al-Alwani, Director of the graduate school of Islamic and Social Sciences in Falls Church Va. said the following about the atonement of Christ.  “That means we believe God is thirsty for the blood?  And He wouldn’t give forgiveness to anyone except he sees the blood?  And the blood of whom?  His son?  It is ridiculous!  Really for me…forgive me but I can’t buy it in any mean.”

The Apostle Paul predicted, (1 Cor 1:18): “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”  While Christians should seek ways to reach out to Muslims with God’s love and good news, we cannot share worship services, spiritual fellowship, or marriage vows with anyone who denies that Jesus is the Son of God who shed his blood on Calvary to save us from our sins.

“… we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor 1:23-24).