WHY I AM NOT A MOSLEM: In the current news as we hear daily about Islam, we must choose to remember Muslim doctrines obstruct the way to eternal life. They believe the Galilean was a great prophet, but not the Savior of the world. He did not die on the cross but only appeared to do so. He was actually taken up alive to heaven before an embodied spirit resembling him appeared to undergo crucifixion. Since Jesus did not die, he was not raised from the dead. His unshed blood did not atone for the sins of mankind. He will come again to earth just before the Day of Judgment (Anti-Christ?) proclaim that Muhammad was God’s final and most sublime prophet, and lead all of mankind into Islam. Then “the son of Mary” will die like any other mortal man and be raised to life along with everyone else on the last day.
For them Christ is a prophet, but not the divine Son of God who said, "Before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58).
For Muslims Jesus is not the Savior who died for their sins and said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me" (John 14:6).
Unless Muslims - and all others who deny Christ's deity - hear and embrace the good news that "the fullness of deity" dwells in Jesus (Colossians 2:9), they will be without eternal hope. Salvation is the cure for the SIN virus. What is the irreducible minimum of what salvation is all about? Our mission is to preach the fact that God will forgive all someone’s sins forever. The good news is not that God will fix your marriage, or make your life happier or make you prosperous or make you successful. The good news is that alienation from a holy God which carries the price of eternal damnation can end. And you can be reconciled with God and enjoy His glorious Heaven forever. All your sin having been dealt with. Salvation has two inseparable parts: substitution and imputation. Both are in II Corinthians 5:21
“For He hath made Him who knew no sin to become sin for us”. (SUBSTITUTION) God has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. On the cross, God treated Jesus as if He had committed every sin ever committed by every person who would ever believe. Though, in fact, He committed none of them. That’s the great doctrine of substitution. God unloaded His fury for all the sins of all the people who would ever believe in Him in the history of the world. He unloaded all His fury against all their sins on Christ. To borrow the language of Leviticus 16, Jesus became the “scapegoat”. Scapegoat was guilty of nothing. But the High Priest, as it were, laid all the sins of the people on the scapegoat and sent him away.
“In order that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (IMPUTATION)
That’s the other side of salvation called imputation. The reason Jesus lived a full life was that He might live a complete life fully righteous. That He might live a complete life absolutely without sin, absolutely perfect so that that perfect life could be credited to your account. That’s the backside of imputation. On the cross, God treated Jesus as if He lived your life so He could treat you as if you lived His life. That’s the Gospel. That’s substitution.
In faith, repentant faith, acknowledging our sin, we acknowledge Jesus died and rose again for us. We ask Him to save us from our sins and at that moment, the payment of Christ is sufficient for all our sins and the righteousness of Christ is granted to us. And from then on God treats us as if we had lived Christ’s life. That’s why Paul in Romans says, 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation.” Can’t be, it’s paid for. Jesus says, “Paid for. Paid for. Paid for.” The Father says, “Sorry Satan, can’t see it. All I can see is the righteousness of Christ.” The great doctrine of imputed sin to Christ on the cross and the imputed righteousness to us.
That’s the Gospel message. If you are persuaded that Christ did all that is necessary and all that ever will be necessary to bring you to God, you not only will be saved but know it!
Without Jesus’ being both human and divine, there is no gospel message. The only way salvation works is that it was God who accomplished it! The incarnation of Jesus Christ is the central fact of Christianity. All Christian theology is built on it. The power of the gospel is that God became man and that, by being both wholly God and wholly man, He was able to reconcile men to God. Jesus’ virgin birth, His substitutionary atoning death, resurrection, ascension, and return are all integral aspects of His deity. They stand or fall together.
From WFM-15 - Who Is the Lord–Jehovah or Allah? (011014AM)