Pastor and author, Dr. Michael Yusuf, beginning this special Christmas week of Leading the Way Audio. Jesus and Jesus alone coexisted with the Father before all worlds, before Bethlehem's manger. He is. Before Mary and Joseph, he is. Before Abraham and Isaac, he is. Before Adam and Eve, he is.
Before the galaxies and the orbits ever existed, he did. He is matchless in his person. He is magnificent in his substance.
He is superior in his power. He alone can save you from sin and the condition of sin and the guilt of sin and the weight of condemnation of sin. Jesus alone. Dr. Yusuf was born into a believing home in Egypt, ultimately leaving his loving family to flee the oppressive government in his home nation and to follow God's call into gospel ministry. He attended Bible school in Australia, seminary in California, and settled in Atlanta, Georgia, where the ministry of Leading the Way was born and continues today. It's a reflection of God's grace and mercy. We hope that you'll take just a moment to learn more about Dr. Yusuf and Leading the Way by going to ltw.org.
Wait, though, until after today's message, because you'll not want to miss any portion of his timely message called The Reason for the Season. We're about to celebrate Christmas amidst of many challenges, just about every area of life. We're being challenged economically, socially, and we are being challenged also spiritually. Those of us who claim to know Christ as our Savior and Lord, those who love him with all of our hearts as Christians, and that's a very weighty word, probably one of the greatest challenges is the report that was released by the Pew Research Foundation that says that 54% of all Christians in America believe that there are many religions that lead to eternal life. If you break down those numbers, 75% of those in the mainline denominations are saying that other religions lead to eternal life. 85% of non-Hispanic Catholics say that other religions lead to eternal life. 34% of so-called evangelicals believe that other religions can lead to eternal life.
And I want to show you what an oxymoron or schizophrenia this is, because when you call yourself an evangelical, you are saying that you only can be saved through the angelion, or the evangel, or the gospel of Jesus Christ. And yet they say 34% of them say other religions can lead to eternal life. On the one hand we say that we only can be saved through the forgiveness of the Lord Jesus Christ from our sins and the punishment of sins and the consequences of sin, and yet they're confused about that very fact that they proclaimed. I want to show you that the sad statistics that I have just shared with you are due to either absolute utter ignorance of the facts or a deliberate denial and distortion of the facts.
In either case, it's not a very pretty picture. In the last message we saw how only Jesus, the sinless God, man, virgin born, can save us from our sins. None of the founders of the other religions could have saved themselves from their own sins, let alone us. And today I want to show you that only the God, man, virgin born, Son of God, Jesus Christ, is the full revelation of God the Father. That He is the only one who's a full revelation of the creator God. He is the only one who's a full revelation of the Almighty God.
Listen, the truth is no one can claim to be a Christian without believing this fundamental truth, this absolute core truth. For the Bible clearly said that Jesus came from heaven to reveal God the Father. And in the Hebrew culture, and that's where you need to understand the Bible, it is given within a Hebrew context, with a Hebrew mindset, with a Hebrew understanding. And in the Hebrew culture, a Father means everything to the Son. In that culture, a Son means everything to the Father. In that Hebrew mind, the Father and the Son do not only share the bloodline, they do not only share the origin of their descent, they do not only share the looks and features, they do not only share their thinking pattern, but they are in total unity.
Their hearts beat with the same concern. Their life goals are one and the same. What pleases the Father pleases the Son and vice versa. What hurts the Son hurts the Father and vice versa. Whoever honors the Son honors the Father and vice versa.
In fact, in the Semitic languages, if you listen to people, when the Father talks about his Son, he can refer to him at times as my heart or my liver. I mean, it's a very, very powerful imagery, but that's how they understood that relationship. And that is why when God chose to reveal himself to humanity, he chose the image of a Son.
Hear me out on this one. A lot of church-going folks confuse this. They think that Jesus was God, Jr.
He's not. He is God of very God, choosing that powerful image of a Son to reveal himself. Back then in the Hebrew mind and the Hebrew culture, there was no such thing as a deadbeat dad or an absentee father or a distant and aloof father, fathers who never really grew up. But no, no, no, that is all Western thought.
That's all Western culture, modern culture. But in case you think that people in the West cannot comprehend this, I want to tell you a true story. Dr. Philip Littleford, a few years ago, took his son, Mark, who's 12, and two other men into a fishing expedition in Alaska. In their quest for running salmon and catching running salmon, they flew a sea plane into a secluded bay. The fishing was everything they dreamed about. But because of the fluctuating tide, they left the sea plane on a dry ground about 23 feet from the water. And after they cooked their fish, the four of them slept on the sea plane. And when they walked, the tide had arisen and the plane was adrift in the water. So seeing what happened, they began to crank the engine and indeed they took off. But unbeknown to them, one of the pontoons was punctured and was actually filled with water, so the extra weight caused the plane to crash literally within minutes of taking off.
Everyone survived the crash, but they had no safety equipment on board. So they used their waders as a floating device. But the frigid water was so deadly and threatened their life.
The current was so strong for the 12-year-old Mark to swim against. The other two men fought their way against the tide and they swam ashore and barely made it ashore. And when they got to the shore, they turned around and there they looked and saw Dr. Littleford and his son Mark being swept to sea arm in arm.
Later, the Coast Guard told them and they discovered that Dr. Littleford could have made it ashore, but what it meant abandoning his son. So instead, he chose to die with his son arm in arm. Now, beloved, listen to me. On the cross, God the Father was reconciling us to himself through God the Son. And so when somebody tells you that all religions lead to God, then you need to ask them these questions. Did Buddha die for you? Did Mohammed die for you?
Did Krishna die for you? This is not being disrespectful. This is not being bigoted. This is not being intolerant as a word they like to use against us.
That is not at all. Ask the question, did any of these gentlemen claim to be God in human flesh? And the answer is no. Did any of these gentlemen claim that no one can come to the Father except through them? No. Did any one of them claim that they are the way, the truth and the life and no one can come to the Father through them?
The answer is no. None of them claimed that. You see, that is ignorance on the part of so many people within the church thinking that they just, religion is as good as ours. They must have a savior like ours and therefore they must be right. Ignorance. They've never studied the facts.
They never understood the facts. Did any of these gentlemen ever claim that they came from heaven to reveal the Father? No. God the Father and God the Son, God the Holy Spirit are one in substance, one in unity, one in consistency. And that is why Jesus said he who has seen me seen the Father.
Later on Jesus said I and the Father are one. Did Muhammad claim that? No. Did Buddha claim that? No.
Did Krishna claim? No. When somebody tells you that all religions have truth in common, you say what? No. They don't. When somebody tells you that all religions lead to heaven, you say what?
No. When somebody tells you that Muslims and Christians worship the same God, you say absolutely not. We don't.
Why? Because our God fully, completely, without hesitation revealed himself in Jesus Christ whom they only see as a prophet. The Bible said that Jesus is the image of the invisible God who is alone, the firstborn of all creation, who is alone and for whom all things were created, who is alone before all things, who is alone holds all creation together, who is alone the head of the body, who is alone the firstborn from among the dead, who is alone in his supremacy, he is alone in whom the Father was pleased to dwell bodily, through whom alone God reconciles and will reconcile everything to himself, through whom alone God makes peace through the blood of Christ that was shed on Calvary. Colossians chapter 2 verse 3 and 4 says, in whom are hidden all, how many? All.
Not some. All of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Verse 4, Paul said I tell you this for a reason, see he always gives you a reason.
He said I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine sounding arguments. Oh my goodness, do they have fine sounding arguments. They sound so good. They sound so loving. They sound so caring.
Ah, they sound so tolerant. But they're false. Don't let anyone deceive you with fine eloquent language.
Check the facts for yourself because your eternity could hinge on it. Jesus and Jesus alone coexisted with the Father before all worlds, before Bethlehem's manger he is, before Mary and Joseph he is, before Abraham and Isaac he is, before Adam and Eve he is, before the galaxies and the orbits ever existed he did. He is matchless in his person. He is magnificent in his substance. He is superior in his power. He alone can save you from sin and the condition of sin and the guilt of sin and the weight of condemnation of sin.
Jesus alone, no other way, no other name. For he came to show us what God the Father is like and that is why if you don't know him today, if you don't know him, I want to plead with you, come to know him. Come to him. He's longing for you to come to him. He's got open arms for you to come to him.
He loves you and he cares for you. He died on a cross for you. And for those of you who know him, you need to understand that we live in a time that we must lovingly and thoughtfully and caringly proclaim him boldly without an apology and without fear. You need to proclaim that Jesus is the only one who made humanity before he redeemed us. That he's the only one who made his mama before she conceived him.
That he's the only one who holds the world together and is going to fall apart only when he comes back and take his children up to heaven to rule and reign with him forever. Well, I better get to my sermon. I always get to my sermon, that's the thing. I can get carried away with the introduction but I always get to the sermon.
Two things I want to share with you very quickly. Jesus came to reveal the father by fulfilling the Old Testament. Secondly, Jesus came to reveal the father so that no one may come to the father except through him. Through the years and through the different places I lived, I've always heard these senseless, foolish, endless debates even among church people on whether Adam and Eve were real people or fictitious characters. On whether Jonah was really in a whale for three days or whether the flood was really universal flood or local flood. Whether really the Red Sea has parted so that Moses and the Israelites might cross over. You hear all these silly arguments. But the ultimate answer, the ultimate answer is Jesus. The ultimate answer is found in Jesus and I'm not just making a slogan here, I'm going to explain to you what I mean. Because you say, what does that mean? How come?
Yeah? When God the son took on a human flesh and walked the streets of what we call the Holy Land, he never once contradicted the Old Testament accounts. Never once he corrected the Old Testament account. Do you think Jesus with his blazing integrity wouldn't have said, you know, guys, let me explain to you. You know, you've heard about this Noah flood, but really it was not a big deal. You heard about Jonah.
Well, he really was not there for three days. And you heard he would have corrected this. He never did. He never quarreled with the Old Testament account. On the contrary, he affirmed the Old Testament account. He affirmed that it is his mighty hand working in these events, that he affirmed all these events of the Old Testament, that he fulfilled all of the Old Testament prophecies, that he is a fulfillment of the hopes and the dreams of every citizen of the Old Testament who longed for the day when God sends his anointed one, his Messiah, to be born in Bethlehem. He fulfilled all of the songs that are in the book of Psalms. He is the real thing who eclipsed his shadow, which loomed large in the Old Testament. But when he appeared, the shadow is not necessary.
He is the one who pointed to the inspired word of God of the Old Testament as authoritative, for he and he alone could say, he who has seen him has seen the Father. Never contradicted. Never corrected it. And that is enough for me. Amen?
Amen. Secondly, he came to reveal the Father so that only those who believe in him, only those who believe in the Son, will come to know the Father. You notice I didn't say come to know about the Father. A lot of people think they know about God.
They really are. Billions of them. They think they know about God. Those who receive Jesus and receive his forgiveness and receive his salvation, only they can know the Father intimately. Only they can know the Father personally. Only they can come to him and call him Abba and they know he's listening and answering their prayers. Listen again to the tone of disappointment in Jesus' voice when he spoke to Philip.
I have been with you so long and you don't know me, Philip. And yet today, so many people who claim to be Christians, that they don't know the Father. And the reason they don't know the Father is because they have never received the Son for who he is. Today, there are many preachers in the pulpit who don't know the Father.
Why? Because they are muddled about who the Son is. Philip followed Jesus enthusiastically for over three years. He actually was bringing people to Jesus. He brought Nathaniel, he brought the Greeks, he brought people to Jesus. Philip experienced and he saw firsthand the miracles with his eyes and with ears. He heard Jesus, he saw his power. And yet he still said, show us the Father.
But I'm not quick to condemn poor old Philip, those of us 2,000 years of Christian history. We know definitively who Jesus is. We still don't know him because we choose somebody's ideas and somebody's thought and not accept his gracious invitation and come to him and receive his loving forgiveness and assurance of eternal life.
You can do that today. You might have fallen in this mishmash of, you know, all you try to do is just be good or any religion will do. Just follow one religion or one as good as the other. Believe one truth is as good as the other.
And you have fallen into this and you think this is really what it's all about, but it isn't. Now you know that only one way and his name is Jesus. And if you come to him, he said, I will never let go of you. He will walk with you in the light and in the darkness. He'll walk with you in the joy and in the sorrow. Thank you for joining Pastor and International Evangelist, Dr. Michael Youssef, for leading the way and the message walking you toward Christmas Day with an increased passion for Christmas and the Savior.
Hi, this is Michael Youssef. In these troubled times, you're probably asking, where is the peace we sing about at Christmas time? Ah, but you can have peace. When you come to Jesus, the Prince of Peace, you will find true peace and joy. Will you come to him? If you'd like to talk with someone about any questions you have about Jesus or salvation or living out the Christian life, just go to ltw.org slash Jesus and fill out a quick form ltw.org slash Jesus.
Well, that's just about all we have time for today. But I would encourage you to learn more about leading the way and Dr. Youssef when you visit ltw.org. There are many ways to partner with him and the ministry, including extending the reach of the gospel into our hurting world through the Open Door Campaign, ltw.org, or call us 866-626-4356. You can also connect through the mail. Write to us at Leading the Way, Post Office, Box 20100, Atlanta, Georgia, 30325.
That's Post Office, Box 20100, Atlanta, Georgia, 30325. Through your partnership with Leading the Way, the gospel is touching hearts and transforming lives across our nation amid conflict in the Middle East and in the most remote areas on earth. Your partnership enables Leading the Way to minister to people's deepest needs across the world. For the month of December, generous partners have committed $1 million to Leading the Way and are challenging you to help match their gifts, turning $1 million into $2 million for God's kingdom work. Through a timely year-end gift challenge, you can double your impact, sharing the hope of Christ with more people in need. The greatest gift you can give is the gift of the gospel. Contact us and double your impact today. Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef is a listener-supported, gospel-centered ministry impacting the lives and eternities of people across six continents.
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This can easily be automated with an automatic gift with a credit card or bank account, generally each month. Or three, join the community of cornerstone partners who give in and through their estate. No matter how you express your generosity, you are impacting this generation and generations to come with the transforming power of the gospel. Learn more at ltw.org. This program is furnished by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef, passionately proclaiming uncompromising truth.
