Can Muhammad Save You?

With you, Mubasher in the flesh, and we've got another program right here on the Jesus or Muhammad Marathon.

Wonderful program, I know, with Dr. James White talking about, actually, you'll see a title on the screen,

Can Muhammad Save You? Now, that's interesting. We're actually talking about Muhammad being an intercessor.

Is Muhammad really an intercessor for Muslims on the Day of Judgment or for anyone? Well, this is a topic that seems to me,

Dr. White, to be a bit confusing and there seems to be some inconsistencies within Islamic theology, and we need a man of your caliber to help us to understand it.

I want to welcome you on the show. So glad that you're back again. Always great to be with you, Brother Joseph. It's a blessing and it's an honor to me.

I really do appreciate it. I'm not going to talk much, not because I'm not loquacious, but because I don't know enough about it.

Go right ahead, Dr. White. Well, you know, it's interesting. When the call to prayer goes out, the

Muslim people are supposed to say a prayer after they hear the call to prayer.

And part of that particular prayer is concerning Muhammad's intercession.

And there's some confusion because there are some people who believe that Muhammad can actually intercede for them.

They can pray to Muhammad and things like that. I think the little better Sunni scholars would say that in reality, this is about the intercession of the final day.

And there is a hadith that I have here that I want to read, and I want people to listen.

This is recorded in Sahih al -Bukhari, and it's recorded a number of different times and sometimes longer forms.

It just seems to be a good form of it to look at here. But this is something that a lot of Muslims don't know about.

And certainly, I doubt almost any number of Christians outside of those who maybe live in Islamic lands, they might have heard about this.

It's just fascinating. My Arabic tutor, you know, can quote entire sections of Islamic prayers and things like that, though he's never been

Muslim. But he was raised in Syria. And so just hearing, you know, the prayers, the call to prayer and things like that.

Some of the schools even make the Christians learn those things. And so it's amazing how much you pick up.

But they might have a familiarity about this. But this is in Sahih al -Bukhari, book 60.

This is hadith number three. And let me read you what happens here. The prophet said, on the day of resurrection, the believers will assemble and say, let us ask somebody to intercede for us with our

Lord. Now, this is on the day of resurrection. So I'm going to expand on this a little bit because, and I'm not trying to pretend to be some type of imam or something, but I listened just recently within the past week to a, what

I believe, very reliable Muslim scholar lecture on this very passage. So I'm not just making these things up on my own.

I could give you references that you could listen to yourself. This one says, on the day of resurrection, the believers will assemble and say, but others say, all of mankind will be very nervous about the coming judgment, and they will come together like a wave, and they will seek someone to intercede between themselves and Allah.

Now, I'm not sure how many times, Brother Joseph, you and I have talked about similar things to this, but we have mentioned the fact that, and I know just on last night's program we did this, we mentioned the fact that in Islam, you have a holy

God in the sense that he says he's holy, and he's wrathful, and he's going to punish sinners in some way, shape, or form, whether he's consistent about that is another issue that we'd have to get into, but there is going to be a punishment of sin.

There's going to be a lot of people in the fires of hell. The Quran speaks often of the fires of hell, and there are going to be some who are in the fires of hell for a short period of time, some for a long period of time, and some eternally.

I did not know this for a long, long time in regards to Islamic theology, but that there are going to be people who are in the fires of hell that are going to be taken out of the fires of hell after a period of time, but then there are others where the fires of hell will be their eternal abode.

In fact, I will get back to reading this, but it was interesting. This same scholar was lecturing about Muhammad's uncle and how

Muhammad had a special intercession for his uncle.

Because remember, his uncle came this close to converting to Islam. He was on his deathbed.

Muhammad was saying, say the shahada, and then he had other people in the room that were saying, well, you abandon your ancestral gods, and he died as a mushrik.

He did not die on Tawhid. And so Allah actually allowed Muhammad to do something that you're not allowed to do.

You're not allowed to intercede for someone who dies in the state of shirk. You're just not allowed to do that. But for this man,

Allah granted to Muhammad that his uncle would receive the least punishment in hell.

Now, he can't get out of hell. He can't get out of hell. But it would be a light punishment. But it would be the lightest punishment of anyone in hell.

Eternal light punishment. And you know what it is. I didn't look this one up, but I trust that he was telling the truth when

I listened to this lecture. He is wearing shoes that are so hot that his brain boils.

And that's the lightest. That's the lightest punishment in hell, is to wear shoes that are so hot that your brain boils.

I'm not sure what your brain boiling would be like, but that's the punishment. So anyway, this is the belief that, of course, a

Christian, then, who goes into hellfire is a mushrik, is a person who has committed shirk, as most

Muslims understand the Koran. I think that that means that the Koran doesn't understand Christianity, but we'll deal with that another time.

We have dealt with it in the past. And they'll be in hellfire eternally. But other people will be in hellfire for a period of time and then will then come out.

So all of mankind on the day of resurrection is looking for an intercessor because they are fearful of this

God who is going to send people into the hellfire. And they have died without assurance that they have the acceptance of this

God. And so the prophet said on the day of resurrection, believers will assemble and say, let us ask someone to intercede for us with our

Lord. So they will go to Adam and say, you're the father of all people, and Allah created you with his own hands and ordered the angels to prostrate to you and taught you the names of all things.

So please intercede for us with your Lord so that he may relieve us from this place of ours.

Adam will say, I am not fit for this, that is intercession for you. Then Adam will remember his sin and feel ashamed thereof.

He will say, go to Noah, for he was the first apostle. Allah sent the inhabitants of the earth.

They will go to him and Noah will say, I am not fit for this undertaking. He will remember his appeal to his

Lord to do what he had no knowledge of. Then he will feel ashamed thereof and will say, go to Kalil Ar -Rahman, that is to Abraham.

They will go to him and he will say, I am not fit for this undertaking. Go to Moses, the slave to whom

Allah spoke directly and gave him the Torah. So, so far we've gone Adam, Noah, Abraham, and now he said, go to Moses.

So he will go to him and he will say, I am not fit for this undertaking. And he will mention his killing a person who was not a killer.

And so he will feel ashamed thereof before his Lord. And he will say, go to Jesus, Allah's slave, his apostle, and Allah's word, and a spirit coming from him.

Now I stopped there just for a moment. That's pretty much a direct Quranic citation. And it's very interesting to try to figure out what that text was actually saying.

A word from Allah and a spirit sent from him and things like that. And the standard

Sunni interpretation is that the word from Allah was simply be and he was.

To try to explain the virgin birth without the role of the Holy Spirit and things like that. We could get into that at another point.

But that's a direct Quranic citation. So I continue with the Hadith. Jesus will say, I am not fit for this undertaking.

Go to Muhammad, the slave of Allah, whose past and future sins were forgiven by Allah.

Now, let me stop right there. Notice there is nothing there about sins.

There is no accusation that Jesus was a sinner. But, but here you have, if this is an authentic Hadith, which it is, if this actually represents what

Muhammad actually said, then you have Muhammad actually telling people that Jesus is going to say,

I am not fit to be an intercessor. Now, we know beyond a shadow of a doubt what the

New Testament looked like in the days of Muhammad. In fact, it's interesting. We can demonstrate what the

New Testament looked like 200 years before Muhammad. We have entire

New Testaments that date from that time period. And it's interesting. There is basically no meaningful change between that time period and the time of Muhammad as well.

Which makes you wonder why you would think there is this huge change before that. But that's another issue we could get into if we needed to.

The point is, we know what the Injil, what the Gospel, what the

New Testament as a body of documents, what the Gospels themselves taught at the time of Muhammad.

Muhammad clearly did not. Because if I was actually going to be a religious leader, telling individuals that Jesus was not fit to do something that I would be fit to do, and I knew that he was described as the intercessor between God and man, the only mediator between God and man, in the very books that I was telling people they needed to believe,

Surah 5, check these things out according to the Injil, go to the people of the

Gospel, look at what's in the Gospel, judge by those things, I would have to make some statement to explain my gross contradiction of the books that I'm telling people were

Natsal, they were sent down from God. But since he doesn't even try to do so,

I would suggest to you, he had no earthly idea that the New Testament identifies

Jesus as the one mediator between God and man. Which again proves to us the

Quran is a human document, it is not the word of Allah. It is a human document representing an ignorant man who did not understand.

Every time the Quran tries to interact with the New Testament and the beliefs of the

New Testament, it ends up failing. Even if you reject what the New Testament teaches, didn't

Allah know what it said at the time of the writing of the Quran? Certainly, he would not have made that kind of error, that kind of mistake.

This is something to keep in mind, it's very, very important. So, we go back. So, Muhammad actually says that Jesus will say,

I am not fit for this undertaking. Now, I want us to remember that phrase. And when

I'm done reading this, one of the things we want to do in the program tonight, we want to hear your phone calls as well, but one of the things we want to emphasize this evening is, how does anyone have the right to intercede before a holy

God? We as Christians believe that we have one intercessor.

And that he has the perfect grounds, the perfect qualifications, and in fact, he is the only one who has ever had the qualification to stand in the presence of the father and represent anyone and bring about their salvation.

But why does he have that ability? That's something that I hope our Muslim watchers, our

Muslim viewers will listen to and will understand. Let me finish this up. So, Muhammad feels he has this ability.

Where does he get his ability? So, they will come to me and I will proceed till I will ask my

Lord's permission and I will be given permission. When I see my Lord, I will fall down in prostration.

He will let me remain in that state as long as he wishes, and then I will be addressed. Muhammad, raise your head.

Ask and your request will be granted. Say and your saying will be listened to. Intercede and your intercession will be accepted.

I will raise my head and praise Allah with a saying or an invocation he will teach me, and then

I will intercede. Now, I'll stop here for a moment. Again, the scholar I was listening to said that Allah will teach him a new form of worship that no one has ever known before, and that he will worship

Allah and that this is important in his gaining the ability to intercede.

You're looking at me very strangely, brother. Is this a new Hadith? This idea, this theologian that you're listening to, he is a

Sunni theologian and he's right there. Conservative, well -known, yes. And he's saying that Muhammad is actually going to have this new form of worship.

As it says here, I will raise my head and praise

Allah with a saying, an invocation he will teach me. So that's part of the Hadith. So it's something new.

Something new. And then I will intercede. He will fix a limit for me to intercede for whom

I will admit to paradise. Now, there is another Hadith that specifically makes reference to the fact that one of the abilities or powers of Muhammad is that he will go to the door of Jannah.

And he will knock upon the door and the angel will say, who is it? And he will say, I am Muhammad. And the angel will say,

I have been instructed only to open this door to Muhammad. And so Muhammad is the one who opens the door to paradise for everyone who will enter into paradise.

That's a major intercessory ability right there. Then I will come back again to Allah.

And when I see my Lord, the same thing will happen to me. Then I will intercede with Allah and Allah will fix a limit for me to intercede whom

I will let into paradise. Then I will come back for the third time. And then I will come back for the fourth time and will say, none remains in hell but those whom the

Quran has imprisoned in hell and who have been destined to an eternal stay in hell.

So evidently, there's three or four times where he will intercede for one group and then another group.

And there is this emptying of the Islamic ummah from the flames of hell.

But that means some of them will be in there for a longer period of time than others. And I have heard that described as being based upon the

Iman that you have, the faith that you have. There's another famous Hadith that talks about how at death you have to cross this bridge.

Yes. And it's over the flames of hell. Yes. And those who are filled with Iman, with faith, with faith in Allah and in his messenger, they will have this light that will just be so bright and they will go running across this bridge just like that because they have so much

Iman. The bridge, by the way, is as narrow as the edge of a sword. Right.

But then there will be others who have a little less Iman. They don't go across as fast until finally you get to those who are crawling along and a little light will come out of their toe.

And then it'll fade out and they'll be left in the darkness on this bridge that is as thin as the edge of a sword.

And then a little Iman will come on again and they'll go a little farther and it'll take them a tremendous amount of time to go across this bridge.

This is what it's likened to. So here you have this kind of thinking about this judgment that is coming.

And eventually those who said la ilaha illallah and wa muhammadan rasoolallah those who said the shahada and said it with sincerity and there are like seven conditions for the sincerity that you need to have to say that because I just said it and I said it in the language you have to say it in.

Right. But no one thinks I'm a Muslim. At least I hope no one out there thinks I'm a

Muslim. I'm not. I just said what you're supposed to say but you have to have knowledge of what it means which

I do. Yes. But you have to have belief in what it says. Okay. And that's what I don't have because while I confess there is only one true

God I believe that God has revealed himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit that he did so in the person of Jesus Christ that Jesus Christ was crucified, buried and rose again and therefore

I cannot say wa muhammadan rasoolallah because he was not a rasoolallah because a rasoolallah will not contradict what

Allah himself has revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. So that's why I'm not a

Muslim but anyone who has said that with sincerity will eventually be removed from the fires of hell.

Let me just make a point and a clarification what I've understood and the hadith that you're bringing based on the

Quran Surah Al Maryam, Surah 19, verse 71 not one of you not one of you will now it actually in Yusuf Ali says just pass over it there's a lot of question about the

Arabic pass through it, pass down into it and so this idea then that Muslim theology there's this theologian that was speaking essentially and the hadith that we're listening to is all coming is it not from the assumption that all

Muslims will be in hell at least at some point. The intercession is to bring Muslims it's not like in the case of Christianity we come before there's a day of judgment where not necessarily you know those who are still alive right on the earth they're not thrown into hell and everybody's in hell and then who we're going to pull out it's more like you come before the throne and you go here or there.

Well hell is definitely a final location as far as that is concerned in fact it is said that the death and hell death and Hades are cast into hell which is the final location so there is evidence that right now there are people who are under punishment who have died outside of Jesus Christ but that is not their final location the final location will be hell itself but this is definitely a different concept now there are those who argue that every

Muslim will taste of the fires of hell there are Muslims that argue against that and even almost introduce the same kind of concept you have in Roman Catholicism of saints who get to bypass purgatory it's like a purgatory because they don't need to be cleansed or something like that indulgences oh boy don't get me into that I could tell you a lot about that I've debated that one a few times too

Islam maybe very very interesting yes but the point is getting back to this

Hadith the point is that mankind will seek an intercessor and the only intercessor who will say he is worthy of doing this is

Muhammad and that Muhammad is given the ability by Allah to intercede for his people and to bring them out of the fires of hell and in fact to bring them into Jannah there is another lengthy

Hadith where Muhammad goes to all the levels of heaven and Jesus isn't even close to the highest level of heaven by the way lots of folks above him but every time they go to this different level of heaven the angel says who is it and the angel who is guiding

Muhammad says I am in company with Muhammad and the name of Muhammad opens this next level right up because the angel has been instructed so the levels it seems odd to me that so many

Muslims have to fight so hard to try to keep their fellow

Muslims from exalting Muhammad when the point of fact is it is the Hadith and the Quran that exalts

Muhammad in this way it is just there and they are trying to say we need to be balanced in it well at least when we talk about exalting

Jesus Christ we believe he is God we believe he is the incarnate son of God he has eternally existed he is my creator and therefore

I am exalting him everything in Islam about how for example the angels were supposed to bow down and give worship to Adam and that Iblis would not do so and this is why he becomes

Satan and is cast out very very strange stuff that people have struggled for a long time to try to make some type of coherent statement out of it but the point is that Muhammad is exalted in his status and his relationship with Allah Muhammad is not only allowed to have more wives than anybody else has but Barakah, have you ever listened to a

Muslim teacher lecture Joseph about Barakah not really no

Barakah, blessing you know what it is Barakah is this idea that only one person in Allah's will was given to be able to exude

Barakah from his very body and that was Muhammad nobody else the virgin born

Jesus who raised people from the dead did not have

Barakah in his body but Muhammad did and so the the the

Sahabi the companions would when Muhammad would wash himself they would collect the water because there is

Barakah in that water they would collect his hair when he cut his hair it's the relic trade all over again it's really what it is but there was

Barakah in the actual body of Muhammad and this again was a special privilege given only to the prophet and so you have all of this in regards to these original teachings of the first few centuries of Islam and so he's given this special position before Allah whereby he intercedes but he only intercedes for certain people who have done certain things who have said the

Shahada they are the ones for whom he intercedes he cannot intercede for a Mushrik he cannot help anyone in that type of situation and it is not

Muhammad that changes the hearts of anyone so that they would say the

Shahada so that they would repent of their sins and flee to Allah Muhammad doesn't do any of that he is simply given this privileged status as the head of the

Islamic Ummah as the head of mankind literally at the day of resurrection where he gives this special kind of intercession and saves people in a process way out of the flames of hell itself now again the vast majority of Muslims are probably not familiar with this most

Muslims are not sitting around reading Sahih Al Bukhari but it is certainly something known by the better read

Muslims understand this kind of intercession but very few Muslims understand what had been written about intercession long before Muhammad ever came along and that was what is found in the

Christian Scriptures and I know you have been told that the Christian Scriptures have been corrupted and they have been changed but once again

I can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that every text that we are going to look at in the

Christian Scriptures existed in the days of Muhammad Muhammad said judge by what you find contained therein he said to the people of the

Injil the people of the Gospel that we are to judge by what is contained therein

Surah 547 now I have asked I think when I was here in August I asked you to look at it

I have asked my Arabic tutor about these things and I have verified that the only way to understand that the therein is the

Gospel judged by what is in the Gospel and so every text we are going to look at was contained in the

Gospel in the days of Muhammad and before Muhammad and in fact there isn't a shred of evidence that any of these texts have ever been changed from the very writing of the

Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ himself I need to address that we all know that I need to address that because of the fact that there are so many people who are confused about these very things confused about the history of the

Bible even last night we had a caller who just dismissed what we had to say because of that very thing but I want to start off with the words of the

Apostle Paul and then I want to go to another text and that is to the book of Hebrews it's a tremendous text could you perhaps give the first one from the

Apostle Paul and then we can take a quick break I'm preaching and you've got to stop me would you like to take the break now let's go ahead and read this we'll take our break and then we'll come back from that as Paul wrote a letter to Timothy his child in the faith in essence in 1st

Timothy chapter 2 he said these words for there is one God did you catch that?

he's a monotheist, all Christians are there is one God and one mesites mediator also between God and men, the man

Christ Jesus who gave himself as a ransom for all the testimony given at the proper time now there you have the teaching of the earliest

Christians that there is one God and that there is one mediator between God and all of mankind in total mankind cannot go looking for anybody else and does not need to go looking for anyone else there is one mediator

God has already established him and he has given him a unique nature and a unique mission and he fulfills that nature and that mission perfectly

I want our Muslim viewers and our Christian viewers to understand what this text is saying and to be able to rejoice that we have a mediator we don't have to go to one and to another and say

I'm not worthy when we go to this mediator he is worthy to be the one who intercedes before the

Holy God for us Thank you Dr. White and very interesting in the

Quran there are verses, many verses that say no intercessor will be allowed except Allah himself well we as Christians would agree with that assuming

Allah is the one true God, Yahweh, Father, Son and Holy Spirit because Jesus is our intercessor as you said and he is

God himself, praise God Dr. White, you were just going to you were bringing some information about the true intercessor,

Jesus Christ you just did 1 Timothy 2 now go right ahead and continue dear brother the point that we really want to try to communicate to all of our viewers this evening is that this text tells us that we do need a mediator there is no question we need that intercessor that one who stands in the gap that one who represents us before a

Holy God we do need that and we have that there is one God and one mediator also between God and man, the man

Christ Jesus we believe that Christ Jesus was a man he was truly man, the word became flesh, he truly was flesh,

I think you were saying what was it? Mubash Mubash, in the flesh and that is exactly what

Jesus was, he truly was man, if he had not truly been man if he had simply been like a divine being that pretended to be a man, he could not be our intercessor, he could not be the one who takes that position because he would not share our nature, as we are going to see the book of Hebrews expands upon this greatly, but I want to start here because the assertion is made here, he is the man

Messiah Jesus, Christ Jesus, he is the mediator between God and man and he is the one that God has placed there, mankind has no right to look at God and say well

I want a different kind of mediator I want a different mediator, I want a mediator that I like, God was under no obligation to provide the one that he did, but his grace and mercy has provided it and we must simply bow down and accept what he has given to us, notice then how it is that the man

Christ Jesus can be a mediator what is necessary for intercession who gave himself as a ransom for all the mediator functions as a mediator because he is the one who has offered the sacrifice that deals with what separates us from God, why is it, even in the

Hadith that we read why is mankind coming to Adam, why is mankind coming to Moses, because of fear, and why did each of the individuals except for Jesus decline, because they remembered some sin they had committed and so they knew, well

Allah might be angry with me so I'm fearful too, so how can I be your intercessor if I'm fearful because of my sins, so you see there is something that separates mankind from a holy

God and that Hadith recognizes that truth, that is true, all of mankind's religions in one way or another have an echo of that recognition, it's called our conscience, we recognize that God is

God we are not and that we have not kept his law, there is something called sin but this text tells us that the intercessor can be the intercessor first of all because he gave himself my

Muslim friend hear me Jesus' life was not taken from him he gave himself so many

Muslims miss out on the glory of the atonement because you say Allah would never ever allow such an exalted prophet to be killed in such a degrading way but you see

Jesus gave himself he said in the Gospel of John no man takes my life from me

I lay it down of my own accord this commandment I've received from the father I lay it down and I can receive it back up again this is voluntary but what kind of a person has the power to give himself but the

God man the one who is fully God and fully man he has the authority, he has the power he gave himself voluntarily here is the greatest demonstration of the love of God the only power that can ever melt the heart of the

God hater is the love of God and the love of God has been proven for all time in the incarnation, ministry self giving death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ no one can ever say that they can question

God's love when you look at the cross of Jesus Christ God's love has been demonstrated who gave himself as a ransom you see his death had to do with sin not his own sin if he had died simply because of his own sin then he could never have given a ransom for anybody but himself because he would have been under the penalty of the law but even did you notice the hadith did not accuse

Jesus of sin that hadith did say Muhammad was guilty of sin that's exactly right so Muhammad could never be an intercessor he could not give anything to redeem anyone else but Jesus, even the hadith admits, was not a sinner he was not under the penalty of sin and so he is able to give himself a ransom we think of ransom normally in a negative way because someone has kidnapped our son or our daughter and they want ransom from us it's a horrible thing but it is a payment given for the freedom of someone else and you see we are the slaves we are the ones that need to be ransomed we are the ones who are justly under the wrath of Allah we need to have a payment given and Jesus has the ability to give that payment because he is not under the curse of sin now is this a ransom that only tries to ransom or a ransom that actually succeeds obviously it is one that succeeds he gave himself as a ransom that means there was a transaction that took place elsewhere the apostle expressed it this way he who knew no sin became sin for us so that we might be made the righteousness of God in him the great transaction where the sins of God's people are laid upon Jesus he is made sin in their behalf he is treated as the criminal so that we might be set free he who knew no sin is made to be sin in our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him

I haven't fulfilled the righteousness of God I have sinned in thought and deed

I am unclean before a holy God and he who was clean before the father voluntarily gives himself his perfect righteousness the fact that he lived his entire life faultlessly he had a perfect righteousness he obeyed every commandment he loved the father perfectly

I've never loved God perfectly and neither have you he had a positive full righteousness which is imputed to me, it is given to me

I can't earn it, I can't purchase it I can't walk up with some pittance some filthy good works which are marked with my own failure and say here's something for you no, it only is the empty hand of faith that receives the hand of grace that is full of mercy and love and redemption and forgiveness and justification it is that empty hand of faith that receives all of this at the hand of the merciful triune

God and how can God be just because he who knew no sin gave himself in our behalf so that we might be made the righteousness of God in him, you see,

I already have my intercessor I am in him, in him

I have a relationship with him, I have been united with him so that I have his life and his righteousness, you will not be saved by standing in front of Jesus or behind Jesus or next to Jesus when the wrath of God comes the only place that will be safe will be in him and I say this not just to my

Muslim friends but to those who claim to be Christians simply knowing about Jesus is not enough, being raised in a church is not enough, you need to know him as your lord and savior, only in him do you have that righteousness which will avail before a holy

God and so it says he is a ransom for all, not just for Jews not just for white

Americans, there is no place in this world that we can go that we cannot proclaim

Jesus Christ and say to any man, any woman, any child, no matter what their color, no matter what their race if you will believe in Jesus Christ you will find him to be a perfect savior this message is for all the world but he is not a ransom for someone who rejects him you will not be able to stand upon the parapets of hell and say

I have frustrated the work of Christ no his death is sufficient and where does it say that, well if you have a bible, turn with me to Hebrews chapter 7 and there is a beautiful, beautiful text that is found here after talking about the the priests of the old covenant that cannot continue because of death

Jesus in verse 22, it says, so much the more also Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant, why is it a better covenant, well because the former priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing, so you had to have all these priests over and over again, but they could never bring about full salvation because they themselves needed salvation, they themselves died but verse 24, but Jesus on the other hand because he continues forever, holds his priesthood permanently, he does not have to have successors in the priesthood, he does not have to have priests to come after him, he holds his priesthood permanently because he is not subject to death and therefore look at verse 25 oh my

Muslim friend, hear these words which repent long before a man named Muhammad ever breathed on this earth therefore he is able also to save to the uttermost, forever pantales is the

Greek term, completely those who draw near to God through him why, since he always lives to make intercession for them hear those words again he is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through him since he always lives to make intercession for them do you hear these words?

you may have never heard them before, if you're a Muslim I understand you may have never heard these words before, but hear them now for they are life this is not what we just read in the

Hadith this is not one to whom the world comes and and says intercede for us and he goes before a law and has to be taught a new form of worship here is one who in and of himself is able to save he is able to save completely, he doesn't have to do it 3 or 4 times and his salvation is not out of the flames of hell itself the one who is saved by him is saved completely and never experiences the flames of hell praise

God ever he is able to save forever and completely a certain people and who is it?

those who draw near to God through him now you see the Hebrews to whom this was written they knew who that was they understood that on the day of atonement sometimes we call it the day of atonement

Yom Kippur, but when you look back at Leviticus it's actually Yom Kippur, the day of atonement because numerous atonements were made that day but the high priest, he had to make atonement for himself because he was a sinner he had to make atonement for the tabernacle because it was being carried around by sinful people and things like that, but then the last atonement he makes is he takes the blood of the sacrifice and he goes into the holiest place and he sprinkles that place, that place of atonement, that place of propitiation between the angels and he places the blood there that's what the high priest did but you see

Jesus, he doesn't go in with the blood of goats and bulls he enters into the holiest place in heaven of which the earthly tabernacle was but a picture and it's with his own blood that he makes final and perfect propitiation atonement for the sins of those who drew near because you see on the day of atonement when the offering was made the people of God had gathered in the courtyard and it was for them that the high priest interceded he wasn't interceding for the

Egyptians he wasn't interceding for the Babylonians there was a specific people for whom this intercession, the sacrifice was being made and in fact even those the people of Israel who had no faith had no part in this intercession and in this atonement but those who drew near had to believe the promises of God, they had to obey what

God had said my friends Mohammed has closed the door to you to draw near to God through Jesus you cannot seek from Mohammed what can only be found in Jesus think of the character of Jesus, think of who we are saying he was, he is the eternal son of God made flesh and he offers himself freely voluntarily, how can there be spot, how can there be anything imperfect about his atonement can there be something imperfect about Mohammed's atonement think of this man this man who saw his adopted son's wife and he clearly lusted for her and all of a sudden receives a revelation from Allah that now you can marry the divorced sons of your the divorced wives of your adopted sons you know that's there you know it's in the

Quran read your Hadith, read your stories read the histories his intercession is what you're going to trust for to get you out of the flames of hell when the incarnate son of God that even

Mohammed wouldn't accuse of sin his intercession will not be enough he says

I'm unworthy no, Jesus never said he was unworthy and the fact that he was raised from the dead proves that the father found him to be worthy and accepted his sacrifice what evidence do you have that Mohammed's intercession will ever be accepted, you have none you have none he saves a particular people those who draw near to God through him, why?

my friend the reason that I can come here this evening and I know my own sin, even my sin this own day, my need for forgiveness,

I claim no superiority to any of you I am the chief of sinners I know my own heart but the reason

I can come before you this evening and say that I know I have eternal life is not because I look to myself but because I look to a savior who is perfect, he is powerful and this very moment he the son appears in the presence of the father in my place and it is his intercession that saves me it's nothing of myself do you hear these words he is able to save perfectly since he always lives to make intercession for them what a beautiful phrase so many

Muslims talk about the Arabic of the Quran and Arabic is a beautiful language I understand but here is a beautiful word of life in their place for them he makes intercession and it's personal it's not just a general intercession it's personal you see if I was united with him in his death then his death becomes my death his burial, my burial his resurrection, my resurrection he presents that finished work before the father and he says to the father all those who are in me their debt is paid and the wrath of God finds no place in me only because I have fled for refuge to the perfect intercessor my

Muslim friend if you have heard the Hadith if you have heard this story of this intercession to come at the day of resurrection and you had never heard of these words you now have a choice to make you have a choice to make either you will accept what the

Injil had revealed long before Moses long before Muhammad ever came along and my friends you have no evidence that Muhammad had ever read these words these words had not been translated into Arabic at this point in time you have no reason to believe

Muhammad even knew these words and yet the Quran says look to the

Gospel judge by what is contained therein here's the words of the