Dr. Michael Yousef explains how the uniqueness of Jesus sets Christianity apart. The heart and the soul of Christianity is not a religious system, is not ethical standards.
It is not even a set of doctrine. That's what how the world perceive Christianity. But the heart and soul of Christianity is Jesus Christ.
Christianity without Jesus Christ is a dead corpse. And the uniqueness of Jesus Christ sets him apart from all the other religions and all the founders of the other religions. Thank you for making time for pastor and author Dr. Michael Yousef as he passionately proclaims the uncompromising truth of the Gospel on Leading the Way Audio. Universalism is the belief that there are many ways to God. Each person walks the unique chosen path, some through Islam, others through Judaism, others chasing God, little g, through wherever life leads. Today, a look at the uniqueness of Jesus. Three biblical distinctions clearly declaring him as the only way, the only truth, and the only life.
Here now is Dr. Michael Yousef to begin this transformational episode of Leading the Way. I wonder how many of you would be able to give a defense of Christianity. I wonder how many of you when somebody asks you, how come Christianity is so special to you? What would you want to say? What can you say? Well, I want to answer that question very quickly. I'm not going to keep you in suspense. I want you to hear me and hear me carefully because first of all, I hope that you'll never fall in the trap of answering a foolish question like that.
Why? For starter, the questioner may have a different concept of Christianity than you do. The questioner might be thinking of Bosnia.
He might be thinking of Lebanon. He might be thinking of Northern Ireland and you thinking of biblical Christianity. So you totally get off the mark with him or her. For we are not supposed to get bogged down in defending Christianity. Why? Because Christianity has a variety of institutional and cultural forms.
I want to give you an illustration and now you'll get the point. Sadhu Sandra Singh, Sadhu as a matter of fact is an Indian word means holy man. This man was a mystic evangelist Christian in India who traveled from village to village preaching the gospel. He grew up as a Sikh and then he became a Christian and his whole life was turned around for Jesus Christ. And one day he was speaking to a Hindu college and at the end a professor of comparative religion in that college asked him the question. He said, what did you find in Christianity that is so unique, that is so special that you could not find in your former religion? The man didn't take him seconds to respond and he said, I found Christ. And the professor said again irritantly, he said, I know, I know, I understand but what I'm asking is what particular principles or doctrine have you found in Christianity that you did not find before?
He said, the particular thing that I have found, he replied, is Christ. Because the only uniqueness that is worth defending and even dying for is Jesus Christ. The heart and the soul of Christianity is not a religious system, is not ethical standards, it is not even a set of doctrine. That's what how the world perceived Christianity. But the heart and soul of Christianity is Jesus Christ.
Christianity without Jesus Christ is a dead corpse and the uniqueness of Jesus Christ sets him apart from all the other religions and all the founders of the other religions. What he said about God is not the same as what the others have said. What he claimed about himself was never claimed by anybody in the founders of the other religions. What he demanded of his followers was never demanded from by any of the other founders of other religions. And we must say to those who call him great teacher, implying he's like Alexander the Great or Napoleon the Great, that we must insist and say no, Jesus was not the great. Jesus was the only.
Jesus is unique. He has no peer. He has no equal.
He has no rival. He has no predecessor and he has no successor. Even Jesus Christ himself as a person has been misinterpreted through the ages in 2000 years. In the early 500s when the monastic movement started they would call him Jesus the ascetic. It was called through the years the pale Galilean, the cosmic Christ, the teacher of common sense.
He was the clown of God's spill. Jesus superstar. Jesus the founder of modern business. George Bernard Shaw called him Jesus the economist. Jesus the capitalist.
Jesus the socialist. Fidel Castro called him Jesus the revolutionary. Jesus the freedom fighter. Jesus the urban guerrilla fighter.
All this to show you is that in every generation as it is in our generation there are those who are hell-bent, those who are determined to have a Jesus that conform to their image of what they want rather than the divine eternal Son of God that the Bible reveals. And the Bible gives us three basic distinctions that sets Jesus Christ apart from all the founders of other religions. First, he is the Lord. Second, he is the Savior.
Thirdly, he is ours. Every one of those three are very distinctively related to Jesus Christ, nobody else. He is the Lord. The word Lord in Greek, kyrios, was a word that during the Old Testament time had three different usages.
It was used to refer as a form of respect as sir or it can be referring to somebody who's a landlord or an owner or somebody who's a ruler. And then there was a third usage and it was referred to the Greek gods because the Greeks believed that their gods are in control of nature, they're in control of the weather and therefore they referred to their gods as kyrios, Lord. And when the Bible was translated from the Hebrew language into the Greek, they took that word kyrios, Lord and referred to Yahweh, the God of heaven and earth. So every time you see the Hebrew word Yahweh, it was translated kyrios.
And in the New Testament, that word came to be specifically applying and used distinctly in referring to the risen Lord Jesus Christ. The followers of Jesus Christ, please hear me carefully, the followers of Jesus Christ were fanatically monotheistic. They were fiercely committed to the worship of one true God. They recited it every morning, the Shammah, hear you Israel, the Lord your God is one Lord.
Hear you Israel, the Lord your God is one God. And yet the Jewish followers of Jesus Christ worshiped the risen Christ as their God. Unlike many of their Jewish ancestors today who reject his divinity, they received his divinity. They worshiped his divinity.
They accepted it and they believed it. Now the first aspect of the uniqueness of Jesus Christ is that he is the Lord. He is God's eternal personal word. He is God's full expression. He is God's personal son who became human being. Consequently, Colossians 2, 9, that all the fullness of the Godhead, that all the fullness of the deity dwelt in him bodily. He is the sovereign ruler of the universe.
He is the head of the church. And he alone is the Lord. But secondly he is the Savior.
The divine Lord is the divine Savior. Now I have some people going around asking the question, are you saved? Are you saved? Are you saved? Now I have no problem with the statement or with the question but the problem is most people that we ask if they were saved or not, don't know what you're talking about. Saved from what? Salvation from what? Now to be sure the language of salvation is not very popular today. And yet as John Stott said and I quote, Christianity is a rescue religion. End of the quote. Christianity announced the good news of salvation. Salvation from what? You see we're all born with the inheritance of Adam's sin in our life.
Every one of us. Every baby that is born in this world is not innocent. He or she is not innocent. Just believe me. If you don't have children, you have to believe me.
If you have children, you do believe me. We are all born alienated from God. We are born with our backs to God. We are born to say no to God. We are born with a sentence already pronounced upon us. The wages of sin is death. We are born written all over our foreheads heading for hell and for destruction.
Heading for eternal punishment. We are born enslaved to self. We are born enslaved to self-centeredness.
And when you see somebody self-centered, don't be surprised because that's the way we all are. Only when Jesus Christ comes makes a difference. Changes the thing around. And when God became man and he died on the cross and rose again, he became man to save us from all of this. He came to save us from our guilty conscience into a new relationship with the Father. He came to save us from the judgment of God that is already pronounced on us even before we were born upon our sins. He came to save us from bitter bondage of meaningless in life into the true sins of fulfillment.
He came to save us and free us and to break us away from the dark prison of self-centeredness into the new life of self-fulfillment through self-giving. That's salvation. And oh God, one day I pray soon our salvation will be fully completed when we will be freed from the aches and the pains, when we will be freed from death, when we will be freed from disillusion and disappointment in the new world of immortality in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in beauty and joy. All of this and more is salvation. That's what salvation is all about. Now I can ask you, are you saved? Do you know the Savior?
The Bible said that the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost. And that means all of us without exception. Every one of us.
Every human being that's alive. You see, God in Christ took our place. God in Christ bore our sins. God in Christ assumed our guilt. God in Christ paid our penalty. God in Christ died our death so that we might be forgiven. And by rising again, He said, you can rise too with me. And that is why He is the Savior.
Tell me who in the world has done that? Tell me who in the other religions has done that? In His incarnation, He is unique. In His atoning death, He is unique. In His historical resurrection, He is unique. He has no parallel in other faiths.
He has no equal with the other religious systems. Buddhism, well Buddhism sees the human predicament and suffering as due to the desire, which they see as the root of suffering. They don't comprehend that suffering is a direct result of sin. In Buddhism, deliverance from suffering, do you know what deliverance from suffering comes from? It comes only through the abolition of desire. Who of you, don't raise your hand, have tried to abolish your desires in your heart, especially the things you don't like and you succeeded?
And He said, you can do that by self-effort. Listen to the very last words of the Buddha, He said to His disciples as He was dying, He said, strain without ceasing. What a miserable religion. What about Hinduism? They've got Hollywood stars on their knees.
They're now impacting the directors and the movie makers. If you build it, I'll come. That's Hinduism to the core. Philosophical Hinduism located the problem in the Maya, that is the illusion of space time experience. Popular Hinduism said that your karma or that is the consequences of the wrong things that you do, that your karma will take you into endless rebirth and reincarnations from which there is no escape, from which there is no forgiveness. The only release that you will get is in the nirvana, where you finally be extinct into impersonal divine reality into the court. What comfort is that?
What comfort can any man, any woman can get from that? Judaism offers a possibility of forgiveness for the penitent in an Old Testament fashion, but never the assurance of the forgiveness that became possible only through the death and the resurrection of the Messiah. Islam proclaimed that Allah is merciful and compassionate, but Allah cannot disclose a costly historic display of his mercy as we see in the cross. In Islam, there is no message for sinners who deserve punishment and judgment.
There is no message. Islam says God is God and man is man and the two can never have a relationship. There is no assurance of forgiveness.
There is no possibility with intimacy with God. No wonder the Apostle Paul said that really the stumbling block is the cross. It is the stumbling block to all these groups, to all these religions is the cross of Jesus Christ.
Why? Because it humbles all pride, because it dashes all hope of self-salvation, because it reveals the incalculable generosity of the love of God, because it provides the only way for salvation. You see, Buddha, Krishna, Confucius, Muhammad, all of them wanted forgiveness for their sins.
They prayed for forgiveness of their sins, but Jesus Christ, the Lord and the Savior, not only that he did not need forgiveness because the Bible said he was without sin, but he was the only one who can give forgiveness to others. He is the only one who can forgive our sins. Further and quickly, I come that he is ours. He is the Savior. He is the Lord, but that is not where it stops.
If that is where it stops and you do not have a personal salvation. There are a lot of people who believe that he is the Savior and he is the Lord, but the Bible said that he is ours. He is our Savior. He is our Lord. He has to be your Savior. He has to be your Lord and the Savior of your life.
Now hear me out, please. The Jesus who was born in this world and lived and died in the first century Palestine, who also rose again from the dead physically and bodily. He is now alive forever and ever and now he is available and accessible to all people. He is you, Jesus. He is my Jesus.
Jesus Christ is not to be relegated that other religious leaders to history and history books. He is not dead and gone. He is not finished and fossilized. He is alive and active and he calls us to follow him and he offers to dwell in us.
That is the miracle that God is willing to perform to every heart that comes to him asking, requesting, seeking. Is he yours? You might believe that he is the God. He is the Lord of heaven and earth. You might believe he is the Savior, but is he your Savior?
Is he your Lord? The Buddhists can never claim that he knows Buddha. The Hindu cannot claim that he knows Krishna. The Confucius cannot claim that he knows Confucius. The Muslim cannot claim that he knows Mohammed.
The Marxist cannot claim that he knows Karl Marx. They are all dead and gone, but we know Jesus because he is alive and he dwells in us. Jesus is unique, not in the sense that every snowflake is unique or every human being is unique or every blade of grass is unique.
No. He is unique in the sense of his exclusiveness. He is unique because God has super exalted Jesus and he has given him a unique name, the Lord and Savior. He is unique because his name towers above all the other names. He is unique because he is the only Savior. He is the only one who has authority that is given to him over all the world, of all the nations of the world, whether they like it or not, whether they acknowledge it or not, he has the power, he has the authority and that is why he is unique. Don't ever be tempted to relegate him with all the others and think that all religions will lead there. Be prepared to give a defense for the gospel.
I want to conclude with this. There was a Chinese Christian, he was a scholar in Buddhism, Confucianism and then the Lord converted him so soundly and he was asked, he said, just compare Buddha and Confucius with Jesus Christ, just give us a simple comparison that we can understand. He said, the only way I can answer that question is by giving you an example and he said the following words. He said, a man wandered from the road and had fallen into a hole.
A hole was so deep and slippery that made escape from that hole impossible. So he cried out for help. He said, help. And soon Buddha came and appeared and gazed down and looked at this helpless man in the pit. And after a time of contemplation, Buddha said, my poor man, such is the trickery of fate.
Resign yourself to your doom. And with a shake of his head, he departed. Confucius came and then seeing the man and his plight, he broke into a tirade. He said, fool, why are you in this pit? Why did you stray from the road?
Take my advice. If you ever get out of the pit, walk only in the center of the road where there are no pits. And then he left. And that woeful cry, but began again, that helpless cry, that seeking for help started again. And then someone came at the edge of the pit, looking down at this pitiful man in a pitiful sight with an outstretched hands calling for help.
This one stripping the rich cloak off his back, he leaped into the pit. And the son of God lifted the helpless man on his shoulders and he sat him on the ground. And when the man scrambled to safety, the Savior said, now my son, take my cloak and go home.
And so the Chinese Christians conclude with the following words. He said, so it was the love of God that stooped down in our misery and not only gave his life to save us from the pit of sin, but he also gave us the garment of his righteousness as well. And he sent us home on our way home to heaven.
That is the only way he said, I can describe to you the difference. Do you know him? Is he your savior? Did you call out to him from the pit of sin and rebellion from the pit of agony?
He is only too willing to come down, pick you up, give you his righteousness. Thank you for joining pastor and author Dr. Michael Youssef for Leading the Way audio. You know, you can learn more about Dr. Youssef and the worldwide ministry of Leading the Way at our website, ltw.org, or call us, speak to a representative, call 866-626-4356. Leading the Way has been effectively and efficiently ministering all around the world for more than 35 years. And during that time, Dr. Youssef has fully maintained his commitment to passionately proclaim the uncompromising truth of the gospel.
It's not just on radio. Jesus is proclaimed across six continents and in 28 of the world's most spoken and most understood languages through multiple technologies. Local Leading the Way teams and partner organizations maximize the impact of solid gospel centered teaching and reaching the unreached at home and in remote villages all over the world. Remember Jesus' words to the disciples before he ascended into heaven.
He told them, he said, Go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And that is what Leading the Way is all about, using technology and passionate team members to make and grow disciples literally all around the world. In addition, partnerships with local churches and ministries allow even more to be discipled, to grow and share their faith. There are so many ways for you to partner with Dr. Youssef in Leading the Way.
And you can find out more when you give us a call, 1-866-626-4356. And online, we're at ltw.org, ltw.org. Our five-year vision to come is following in the footsteps of Jesus, his great commission. And so we're focusing on bringing the 96% of Americans who do not have a Christian worldview to come and understand the gospel of Jesus Christ. We're reaching out to the rest of the world through the Navigators, through Kingdom Sets, through many, many opportunities. And that is God's vision for us. And I pray that you're going to be part of this vision. If you'd like to learn how to support Leading the Way's ministry, the number to call to reach the ministry call center is 866-626-4356. Or you can visit ltw.org. This program is furnished by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef, passionately proclaiming uncompromising truth around the world.
