Participants: Shakeela Yasuf
Series Code: DOA
Program Code: DOA000010
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00:41 As-Salaam-Alaikum
00:43 to our Muslim brothers and sisters, 00:45 shalom to our Hebrew cousins, 00:47 and peace be upon you to our Christian friends. 00:49 Welcome once again to "The Descendants of Abraham." 00:53 We're so blessed by your presence as always. 00:57 You know, today, we have invited 00:59 Brother Shahbaz back with us 01:01 as we discussed the subject of sin. 01:04 And what exactly is it, can we explain it? 01:10 Is there really an explanation? 01:12 Brother, Shahbaz, thank you for joining us 01:15 once again, salaam. Wa-salaam. 01:19 You know, when we were, 01:21 when you were giving us your story 01:24 about your journey with the God of Abraham, 01:26 you've mentioned about feeling 01:29 this need to bite your hand and so on because of the sin 01:33 that you felt you committed. 01:36 And you know, sometimes I don't think 01:38 our brothers and sisters truly understand what sin is. 01:41 We know the word as Muslims we hear it. 01:46 And we know we have to pay for our sin. 01:50 But we really don't understand what it is. 01:53 And you know, when the two of us 01:56 were discussing this subject, one of the two things, 01:59 that we discussed was Sharia law 02:03 and the law of God. 02:07 Are those similar? 02:09 Well, in fact, I see absolutely no similarity between the two. 02:17 Of course, the moral code the Ten Commandments 02:20 as we call the moral code within the Bible 02:24 which God gave to Moses. 02:27 A series of laws that have jurisdiction 02:32 over every dimension of a human beings life. 02:38 However, the Sharia law is not a law 02:42 that simply has jurisdiction over your moral behavior 02:45 in a sense. It does in some areas. 02:49 But it does not have jurisdiction 02:50 of every area of your life. 02:52 And it really comes short when you compare 02:56 the two laws together, it comes short 03:00 of what we do see in the Ten Commandments, 03:04 in the case of the Ten Commandments 03:05 that God gave to Moses. 03:08 So I personally see that the Sharia law 03:16 comes very short. 03:17 Although it is the highest law in Islam, 03:21 yet compared to the law that Moses gave 03:25 and God gave to Moses and Moses gave 03:26 to the children of Israel, 03:28 it comes, it comes far short of that. 03:31 So, so as Muslims we always felt Sharia law 03:36 is the law that we follow and we felt that, 03:39 that was the-- in a sense the laws of God. 03:45 But yet you're saying that the true law of God 03:50 is higher than Sharia law and supersedes Sharia law. 03:55 In fact when Jesus gave His favorite sermon 03:59 and He described the spirituality of the law 04:06 in a sense that up to that point 04:08 no Israelite had understood. 04:09 And He said, you have heard 04:12 that it was said you're not to commit adulatory. 04:16 Well, that's one of the commandments 04:17 in the Ten Commandments. 04:19 But Jesus said, I'll tell you that 04:21 if you look upon a woman to lust after her, 04:24 you've already committed adulatory within your heart. 04:27 So, Jesus basically gave His dimension 04:31 to the commandments that were not seen up to that point. 04:34 Not that it didn't exist before that. 04:37 But Israel went after keeping their law by their works. 04:42 They wanted to keep the law in their works, 04:44 in their lives and not through faith. 04:46 And Jesus told them that you did not even understand 04:49 the law has more jurisdiction, 04:52 deeper jurisdiction than you can imagine. 04:54 He said if-- it's been said that 04:57 "Thou shalt not commit murder." 05:00 But I'll tell you if you get angry in your heart, 05:02 you've already have committed murder in your heart. 05:05 So, so Jesus even made the commandments 05:10 more pertinent in a sense. 05:14 Right, so it's not just, you don't actually 05:16 just take the life of a person, 05:18 that's not murder but the principle 05:21 of destroying that person, 05:24 He took it to a higher-level then 05:27 and Sharia law is literally 05:31 taken the life of that person. Absolutely. 05:33 But it doesn't take the principle. No. 05:35 There is no spirituality with the Sharia law. 05:37 It doesn't cover to this spiritual dimension 05:39 that Jesus was pointing to which is really 05:41 the most important part of our existence. 05:45 And you know, the physical act really 05:50 is a reflection of the spiritual condition of the heart. 05:54 And Christ was going deep down 05:56 within the deepest part of the human being 05:58 and saying that, that it's not just your actions 06:02 that condemn you, 06:03 your very heart condemns you. That's right. 06:06 You know, one of my favorite Psalms. 06:10 I say it's even a prayer is by David 06:14 or as we say Dawood. You know, Dawood. 06:19 And I would like to read some verses. 06:23 You know, from Psalm 51, one of my favorite. 06:27 And what you're saying, here he is saying, 06:30 "Have mercy upon me, O God, 06:32 according to Your loving kindness, 06:35 according to the multitude of your tender mercies, 06:39 blot out my transgressions. 06:41 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, 06:44 and cleanse me from my sins." 06:48 And then he goes on to say, 06:50 "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity 06:55 and in sin my mother conceived me. 06:58 Behold, You desire truth." You being the God of Abraham. 07:03 "You desire truth in the inward parts, 07:07 and in the hidden part You will make me 07:09 to know wisdom." 07:11 Isn't that beautiful Psalm? 07:14 And when I was a Muslim and I can attest to this 07:17 even from my relatives and all. 07:20 We didn't see this. 07:22 We didn't understand what the problem of sin is. 07:26 Sin was always related to our actions. 07:28 Obviously, we always look upon the actions. 07:31 But David is saying that 07:33 "I was shaped within my mother's womb. 07:36 I was shaped with-- 07:38 you know, I was shaped in iniquity. 07:40 And I was conceived in sin." 07:42 I mean, what he is saying is that when he was born, 07:45 he was born with a fallen nature. 07:48 And this we did not understand as Muslims 07:51 that we are born with a fallen nature. 07:53 It's not simply being a Muslim 07:56 is not going to save me. 07:58 I'm fallen, with a fallen nature-- 08:01 being a Jew will not save a Jew. 08:04 But what we need is a deep understanding of that sin 08:08 that we are born with, 08:09 that fallen nature that separates us from our God. 08:12 That's right. Thank you. 08:14 You know there is-- if you can look at Isaiah. 08:18 The prophet Isaiah in chapter 1 08:25 chapter 1 verse 5 and 6 08:28 It says here, "Why should you be stricken again? 08:33 You will revolt more and more. 08:35 Your whole head is sick, and the whole heart faints. 08:40 From the soul of the foot even to the head, 08:43 there is no soundness in it. 08:45 But wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. 08:49 They have not been closed or bound up, 08:52 or soothed with ointment." How do you understand? 08:56 You know, I tell you. 08:57 If you recall when we talked about last week 09:00 about my experience 09:02 when I was asking for forgiveness 09:03 and I didn't know how to find that forgiveness. 09:05 So I proceeded to basically putting myself 09:10 in a position of inflicting pain upon my body. 09:14 Biting my hand, biting my tongue 09:16 because I didn't understand that that the dimension of sin 09:20 is such that human activity cannot atone for. 09:24 And I was trying to atone for my sins. 09:27 But God here is saying that you don't understand 09:29 that your whole head, your entire being, 09:32 when he says your head, he is talking about our heart-- 09:35 that what we are as a man or as a woman. 09:38 He's saying you're completely sick. 09:41 You haven't even been -- 09:45 you have putrefying sores, 09:46 you have wounds and you have not been healed. 09:49 And so this is a condition that as a Muslim 09:52 I didn't understand that that I have to take here. 09:56 This is a dimension that I need to take care off 09:58 and I didn't know how to take care of it. 10:01 What was the solution? What is the solution? 10:03 We don't know. We feel it, we feel it. 10:05 Absolutely. We feel, we do feel sick. 10:07 We do feel burdened. 10:09 We do feel all of those things 10:10 but we don't know. Yeah. 10:12 We don't know, where do you go. 10:13 As a Muslim we didn't know where to go. 10:14 How to find out the solution. 10:16 Therefore, inflict pain upon yourself or do this. 10:20 As you've said you use to pray kneeling on grains of rice. 10:23 Rice, raw rice. Raw rice. 10:26 Right. And that's how we knew. 10:28 But that did not take anything 10:30 where as you mentioned last week. Yes. 10:33 You never felt relief. No. 10:34 You never relief. 10:36 And one of the other verses right in this Book of Isaiah 10:41 which is a beautiful book and so much in there. 10:45 In Chapter 64: 6, 10:48 we read here it says, 10:54 "But we are all like an unclean thing, 10:58 and all our righteousness are like filthy rags. 11:02 We all fade as a leaf, and our inequities, 11:06 like the wind, have taken us away." 11:09 Isn't that beautiful. Is that powerful. 11:10 That's powerful. Powerful verse. 11:13 And God is speaking to the believing person here. 11:16 He is not talking to the infidel 11:18 or to the ones that are outside the church. 11:20 He is talking to the believers. 11:22 He said, don't think of yourself higher than you are. 11:25 Your very righteousness are as filthy rags. 11:28 And that you must go and study the original Hebrew 11:32 in that word filthy rag to understand the depth of filth 11:35 that God is talking about. 11:36 And it will be inappropriate for me 11:38 to explain that right now here on this television show. 11:42 But I would invite anyone to go and study that deeply 11:46 to see what God is talking about. 11:47 That's in Hebrew-- 11:48 Absolutely, the Hebrew word for that filthy rag. 11:50 And God is saying everything that you are is, 11:54 you're fading away like dry leaves. 11:56 You--the wind has taken you away. 11:59 Your righteousness is not even acceptable to me. 12:02 Because we need the righteousness 12:04 of someone else. That's true. 12:05 Someone who is much holy and higher 12:07 than any human being can ever attain to 12:10 because we cannot save ourselves by our works. 12:13 So you know, so far all these verses 12:16 we have read it talks about, we're unclean. We're sinful. 12:21 We're dirty and we're nothingness, 12:23 you know, because like it says here, 12:28 you know, you look at the leaves, 12:30 the autumn leaves and they're crumpling 12:32 and they die and they fall away. 12:34 The grass, it dies and it blows away. 12:39 And we see all that. 12:41 How do we explain 12:43 to our Muslim brothers and sisters 12:47 and our Hebrew cousins. 12:49 How do we explain this word sin? 12:54 How do we--they hear what we are saying here. 13:01 But how would you explain it to them. 13:05 You know, the Bible says that 13:08 sin is the transgression of the law. 13:12 And the Bible says also those who say that 13:15 they have not sinned, they're liars 13:17 and the truth is not in them. 13:19 For all, have sinned and have come short 13:22 of the glory of God. 13:24 All, and all inclusive of every human being 13:27 the child of Abraham, 13:28 everyone that has been born since Adam. 13:31 We all have, all have sinned 13:33 and come short of the glory of God. 13:35 So obeying Sharia law is not going to help. 13:40 It's not going to help. 13:41 Obeying a Sharia law will not save anyone. 13:45 In fact, obeying the Ten Commandments 13:48 will not save me. 13:50 Although, obedience to the ten commandment 13:54 is important and the Bible says so. 13:57 And Jesus Himself told people there on 14:00 when he was on the Mount of Blessing. 14:03 He was telling the people in the sermon. 14:06 He made sure that they understand that 14:08 He said I did not come to destroy 14:10 the law of the prophets. I came to fulfill. 14:13 Nevertheless, my all my trying 14:17 to obey the commandments and grinding my teeth 14:20 and being the cleanest person 14:23 and doing this and not cheating and not lying. 14:25 At the end of the day 14:26 I go back to Isaiah 64:6 and God says 14:30 "All your righteousness are as filthy rag." 14:32 The reason is that I was born with the fallen nature, 14:35 therefore, my good works cannot save me. 14:39 So under Sharia law, 14:42 we--I know that it's an eye for an eye, 14:45 a tooth for a tooth. 14:47 You know which, we read in the Torah. 14:51 An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. 14:52 Sharia law is following that principle. 14:56 But when we do that, 15:02 if you take my right arm but I'll take your right arm. 15:09 That does nothing, right. 15:11 All we do is compound the sin. Absolutely, absolutely. 15:16 It's like I steal from you 15:19 and you want to get even you steal from me. 15:22 Sin is added upon sin. 15:25 And you know, Jesus said Himself said that 15:27 you'd heard an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. 15:30 But then He said, well, I tell you love one another. 15:32 Love your neighbor. Love your enemies. 15:35 Do good on to them that despitefully use you. 15:39 Absolute brand new concept. Brand new concept. 15:41 Nobody had ever heard these things before. 15:44 And they are saying how could these things be. 15:46 That's right. 15:47 But the very one that spoke those precious words said 15:50 "that I will also empower you 15:52 to live that life through by His spirit." 15:55 Amen, amen. 15:56 You know, this is where, 15:59 you know, I think it's so important 16:01 that our brothers and sisters out there 16:03 hear this that it is a new concept. 16:08 This is a loving God. 16:10 He does not want us to take revenge. 16:12 He says, revenge is mine, 16:14 it is not yours, right. How do we? 16:18 How do we have our sins forgiven? 16:26 You're taught to pray 16:27 but what exactly forgives our sins. 16:30 What cleanses us? 16:32 Well, Shakeela, there is only one remedy for sin 16:38 and that remedy is the Lord Jesus Christ. 16:41 And as our Muslim brothers and sisters know 16:44 that Abraham was about to sacrifice his son 16:48 and God provided Himself a sacrifice. 16:52 And told Abraham don't lay your hand upon your child. 16:56 Now I know that you love me and that you will obey me. 16:59 And God provided the animal for sacrifice. 17:03 And but that animal was a representative, 17:06 a symbolic representation of the son of God 17:10 that would come and die for the world. 17:11 You see, Abraham's act in giving his son as a sacrifice 17:17 was symbolic of the act of the father in heaven 17:21 giving his son for the sins of the whole world. 17:25 And the blood of Jesus, 17:27 the Bible says cleanses us from all sins. 17:30 Let's look at a couple of verses here. Sure. 17:33 In the Injeel. In the Injeel. 17:36 And you know I know our Muslim brothers and sisters 17:39 think the Injeel has been corrupted. Yes. 17:41 And may be another time we can talk to them, 17:43 it has not been corrupted because one of the questions 17:46 I asked who corrupted the Injeel, 17:49 how was it corrupted. 17:50 You know, and we will get into that later. Absolutely. 17:53 But it is not corrupted. 17:54 So let's look at the Injeel, in 1 John 1:7. 18:00 And I'll read that here. 18:02 It says, "But if we walk in the light 18:05 as He is in the light, 18:06 we have fellowship with one another, 18:08 and the blood of Jesus Christ 18:11 His Son cleanses us from all sin." Amen. 18:15 You notice he doesn't say as we walk in the law 18:19 as he walked in the law, 18:20 although, Jesus fulfilled the law. 18:23 But we ought to walk in the light of the Son of God. 18:26 And He will empower us to live the same life of obedience 18:29 that He lived without the actual grinding of our teeth 18:34 and trying to be something that would save us by our works. 18:39 Suddenly we're saved. Cutting ourselves. 18:40 That's true, cutting ourselves 18:42 or trying to by the mere obedience 18:44 of the commandments apart from Jesus Christ 18:46 try to save ourselves, it's impossible. 18:49 We come to the Lord Jesus Christ 18:51 whose blood cleanses us from all sin. 18:53 And that same blood empowers us 18:56 to live the new life, the born again converted life. 18:59 See the born again converted life that we get 19:02 that I want all the viewers to understand, 19:04 when we come to Christ and He forgives us. 19:07 Then he gives us a new heart. He gives us a new spirit. 19:11 He takes over the old nature 19:14 and then He gives us a new nature. 19:16 He works with us and throughout the entire life 19:19 of a Christian, we grow in that grace 19:21 and we become new creatures. 19:23 And that's why I became a Christian. 19:25 My family was saying you're not the same, 19:28 what happened to you. 19:30 Where did you get these words from? 19:31 How come you pray this way now? 19:34 How come you're not saying bad words 19:36 anymore like you used to do before? 19:38 How come you don't lie anymore 19:39 like you used to lie before? 19:41 And I wasn't putting, I wasn't grinding my teeth. 19:43 I wasn't putting any effort in any of those things. 19:45 I was changed by the grace of God. 19:47 A new life was given to me. 19:49 And as long as I stay focused on Jesus, 19:52 that life continues to exist. 19:54 And that's the key, you stay in focus because, 19:57 because we can fall back. Yes. 20:00 We can fall back and I know 20:03 because with my life it's everyday, 20:07 everyday that you've to surrender. 20:10 You have to surrender to the God of Abraham. 20:13 You have to, you have to give your life. 20:16 So that He can take it 20:19 and do what He wants with it? Yes. 20:20 Or else that's what happened. 20:22 There's another Bible verse here 20:26 again in the Injeel in the Book of Ephesians. 20:30 I like to read that and it's Ephesians 1:7. 20:36 It says, "In Him we have redemption through His blood, 20:43 the forgiveness of sins, 20:45 according to the riches of His grace." 20:49 What does that say to you? 20:52 You know, many people will think that 20:54 they can go and find relief somewhere else. 20:59 People are searching, people are looking 21:03 for way out of this miserable life of sin. 21:07 You know, people who are honestly 21:08 seeking for truth like I was and yourself 21:11 and but there is only redemption in the blood of Jesus. 21:17 And the blood of Jesus really is the only solution 21:21 to the sin problem. 21:23 So when we are-- and I know, 21:26 you know, we still sacrifice animals 21:30 in some places in month of Ramadan, okay. 21:35 We self sacrifice the animals. 21:39 What is the blood of the animals 21:44 that we sacrifice and what does that represent 21:48 and why can't we see that. 21:52 We don't need to be doing that anymore. 21:56 You know, throughout the Old Testament 21:58 in the book of Torah, 21:59 we see that, the Israelites were commanded 22:03 by God to offer animal sacrifices. 22:06 And, but not that the animal sacrifices 22:09 were going to be paying for their sins 22:11 because that was a whole purpose. 22:12 They were to kill an animal 22:14 as a sin offering or peace offering 22:16 and but it was all symbolic. 22:19 The blood of that animal-- 22:21 they had no power to forgive sin. 22:23 But it was a symbolic act 22:25 and anyone that are participating in that act, 22:27 by faith they were saying that 22:29 I believe in the coming of the Messiah. 22:32 And the shedding of His blood one day 22:35 ultimately will cleanse me from all sins. 22:38 And through faith they were forgiven. 22:40 See, faith, existed way back then too. 22:46 All the Israelites by faith looked forward to the cross 22:49 and we by faith looked back to the cross. Looked back. 22:52 You know there is so much 22:56 that we can discuss on this subject 23:00 that we just don't have enough time. 23:02 But one question I'd like to like for you to explain 23:07 and from your heart is when we cut ourselves, 23:13 we bite ourselves and so on and we sacrifice the animals. 23:19 Why isn't our blood, 23:20 although the blood of the animal enough. 23:24 There is absolutely no merit to the blood of an animal 23:31 or to inflicting pain upon my body 23:34 in order to gain the favor of God. 23:36 God is not pleased, he said, "I'm not pleased 23:39 in the shedding of the blood of the animals." 23:41 All your sacrifices, all your oxen and your sheep 23:44 all these animals that you bring before 23:46 and you kill, that does not please me. 23:49 But the Bible says that God was pleased 23:51 with the sacrifice of his Son. 23:53 That is the only way, that's the only blood, 23:57 all the other sacrifices were symbolic. 24:00 None of our physical pain that we inflict upon ourselves 24:03 can ever repay for or even in iota in a small, 24:08 the smallest sin. 24:10 So our blood is-- 24:12 was it difference between the son of God, 24:17 His blood and our blood. 24:19 The blood of Jesus-- 24:20 Jesus Christ is the holy one of Israel. 24:23 He is the Messiah. 24:24 He is the one that was sent from the bosom of the Father. 24:28 He is holy, He had never sinned. 24:30 There was no sin in Him. 24:32 Never and that's why the blood of Jesus Christ 24:35 is able to cleanse us from all sin. 24:37 And He was not born with that 24:40 sinful nature like we were, right. 24:42 He was not born into sin. 24:44 He was born free from the stain of sin. 24:47 All though, He took human nature, 24:50 yet He did not have the propensities to evil 24:56 that we have by nature we're born with. 25:00 And I think that's something that our brothers and sisters 25:04 are confused about really 25:07 because as I understand it and you're telling me that 25:12 and I know we don't have much time here. 25:15 Like I'd said, we can take a whole-- 25:17 several programs for this 25:19 but they think that God 25:25 had relations with Mary 25:29 but God didn't have relations with Mary. 25:32 Jesus was came down from heaven as a baby 25:38 and placed into Mary 25:43 to go through what we would go through from birth. Yes. 25:46 So that He can understand 25:48 what we go through and who we are, right. 25:51 So He had, He did not have that sinful nature. No. 25:56 Not in the sense that we talk about. 25:57 So He had a nature that He could, 26:00 if you cut and He blood, 26:02 if you walk a mile, He would be tired, 26:04 He would get hungry. 26:05 And all of those things, He took upon Himself, 26:07 which He didn't have from beginning. 26:08 Right, He wept, He felt pain, He felt hurt. 26:13 Absolutely. Just like we do. 26:15 So He understands our nature, He understands us so much. 26:20 You know, well Brother Shahbaz, 26:21 you know, we're a little out of time 26:24 but I thank you so much. 26:25 And wished we had the time too to really explore this. 26:29 Because I want so much as you do to get this message 26:33 to our brothers and sisters of Islam. 26:38 Thank you for joining us today. My pleasure. 26:41 When you get to the Descendants of Abraham, 26:43 you can be sure that you're lighting the way for all 26:47 in search of the Creator God 26:49 and His message of love and forgiveness to all nations. 26:52 Thank you for your support and for your prayers. 26:56 All contributions are tax deductible. 26:58 Please visit us online today 27:00 at www.descendantsofabraham.org 27:04 or write to us at the address you see listed on your screen. 27:07 All correspondence will be kept confidential. 27:10 Brother Shahbaz this has been excellent. 27:13 And I'm sorry we're out of time 27:14 but can I ask you to please close this program out 27:18 with a prayer to the Most High. Of course, absolutely. 27:21 Oh, Father in Heaven, thank You so much, 27:24 for the opportunity to talk about 27:27 these important things today here. 27:29 I pray for every one who is watching this program, 27:33 all over the world, that they will except 27:36 the blood of Your Son tonight 27:38 and be saved for we ask this in Jesus' name, amen. 27:44 Friends, please don't forget. 27:46 Go to our website www.descendantsorabraham.org. 27:51 And send us your email, send us your prayer request 27:54 and we've had many prayer request 27:56 and we are praying for you. 27:58 So please go to the website 28:00 and send us your email, send us your prayer request. 28:02 Any questions you have we'd love to answer. 28:07 Until next week, God bless. |
Revised 2014-12-17