Show us the straight way, The way of those whom Thou has favored…(The Opening)
I am the way and the truth and the life. —Isa al-Maseeh [a]
Why You Need To Know About Jesus
Every sincere Muslim wants to submit to God, and this is why every Muslim needs to know Jesus, Isa al-Maseeh. The Holy Bible says he alone submitted to God and was without sin:
“The world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me.”[1]
“He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.”[2]
In contrast to Isa’s perfect submission to God, all of the rest of mankind has failed to fully and consistently submit to God:“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”[3] Since Jesus alone submitted to God perfectly, he alone is able to teach us how to submit. And he has graciously shown us what we need in order to better submit to God.
1. God Wants Us to Submit to Him
God desires all men to submit to and worship him alone. He made this plain when he revealed his law through the prophet Moses: “You shall have no other gods before me.”[4] God also revealed the kind of submission he desires through the prophet David: “Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture”[5] God is like the Good Shepherd and we are like his sheep. Because God is loving, merciful and compassionate, the submission he desires is like the joyful obedience of a son or daughter to a loving father, not like the dutiful submission of a slave to a master.Unfortunately, scripture and experience show us there is something in us that keeps us from submitting to God as we should.
2. The Problem of Sin Prevents Our Right Submission to God
The prophet David reveals that all men are sinners:
There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”[6]
Our own experience confirms the truth that all men are sinners. View any newscast or open any newspaper any you will see reports of war, crime, oppression and injustice. And if we are honest, we will admit there have been times when our attitudes, words and actions have not been pleasing to God. This has been the human condition since Adam and Eve fell into sin, as recorded in Genesis 3 (Taurat).Here is the great dilemma for every Muslim. We strongly desire to submit to God, but the problem of sin gets in the way. Fortunately, since God is merciful and compassionate, he has provided a way through Isa al-Maseeh.
3. Isa Alone Has Resolved the Problem of Sin and Enables Us to Submit to God
God dealt with the problem of sin by sending Isa al-Maseeh into the world to die for our sins. Since God is holy and just, he has decreed the death penalty for sin:“The wages of sin is death.”[7] But because he is also most loving, compassionate and gracious, he himself provided Isa al-Maseeh to pay that penalty for us. In this way, he provided forgiveness for sinful men and women without compromising the requirements of justice. The blood sacrifice of lambs, common to all Middle Eastern cultures, points to this Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. As the Injil says, “without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin.”[8]
Isa al-Maseeh paid the price for our sins to remove our guilt and give us right standing with God. In addition, he gives us a new nature and a new relationship with God to enable us to submit to God in love as to a loving father:“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”[9]
How to Rightly Submit to God
God has graciously given the gift of right standing with Himself along with the power to rightly submit through Isa al-Maseeh. Like any gift, it must be received to be possessed. We receive the gift of this right relationship with God through faith and repentance. Faith The Bible says our father Abraham “believed the Lord and it was credited to him as righteousness.”[10] This means God granted him right standing because of his faith rather than his own efforts to submit. In doing so, Abraham became the model for all worshippers of the one true, living God. We must do likewise.
Rather than trusting in our own imperfect attempts to submit, we must trust in the perfect submission of Isa al-Maseeh and in his sacrifice on the cross for our sins. Repentance As we transfer our trust from ourselves and our imperfect efforts to Isa al-Maseeh and his perfect life and sacrifice on the cross, we must also turn away from anything we know to be wrong. This turning away from wrong and changing our mind about it is what the Bible calls repentance. God requires us to repent of our sins as well as trusting in Isa: “Unless you repent, you too will all perish.”[11]
If you would like to receive the gift of forgiveness of sins and eternal life in order to rightly submit to God, offer God this simple prayer from your heart:
Dear God,I want to submit to your good and holy will in my life, but I confess I have failed to obey you completely in the past. Please forgive my sins as I turn from them now and place my trust in Isa al-Maseeh and his great sacrifice on the cross. Grant me grace to know you and to live for you. I ask these things through the merits of Isa al-Maseeh. Amen.
If you would like to learn more about the Good News of Isa al-Maseeh, the Good news and the Bible please contact us. We would love to hear from you.
Footnotes
a John 14:6
1 John 14:31 (Injil)
2 1 Peter 2:22 (in the Injil)
3 Romans 3:23 (In the Injil)
4 Exodus 20:3 (Taurat)
5 Psalms 100:3 (Zabur)
6 Psalms 14:1-3, 53:1-3 (Zabur)
7 Romans 3:23 (In the Injil)
8 Hebrews 9:22 (in the Injil)
9 John 1:12-13 (Injil)
10 Genesis 15:6 (Taurat)
11 Luke 13:3 (Injil)