Whether it is a sweet grandma who doesn’t know Jesus, a devout Muslim who doesn’t know Jesus, or an evil drug lord who doesn’t know Jesus, everyone is at war with God. The moral mother and corrupt criminal are both desperately prideful and in need of humbling themselves before their Creator.

War. There is hardly a more universal phenomenon. It is said that the world has had peace for just 268 out of the last 3,400 years and that more than 4 billion people have died as a result of war. Ever since Cain first went to war against Abel, the world has never known a time without killing.

A lot of ink has been spilled over whether Islam is a religion of peace, whether radical extremists are reading the Quran correctly or not. I don’t want to answer that question. I want to convince you of something far worse. I want to convince you that there is no such thing as a peaceful human being. Every human being is at war. And every human being desperately needs to come to peace terms with God.

Whether it is a sweet grandma who doesn’t know Jesus, a devout Muslim who doesn’t know Jesus, or an evil drug lord who doesn’t know Jesus, everyone is at war with God. The moral mother and corrupt criminal are both desperately prideful and in need of humbling themselves before their Creator.

Therefore, based off of Rom 3:23-24, in order for our Muslims, and anyone else, to have peace with God, the following four declarations are necessary.

Romans 3:23-24 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. And all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

1) I am a Sinner

A Muslim finds his entire identity in his religion. It controls what he wears, what he eats, when he eats, what he does, when he prays. Everything.

What’s his issue? That he prays to the wrong God? That he believes Muhammad was a prophet? No. None of that is his biggest and ultimate problem. The issue he must come to terms with is that he doesn’t realize his identity is tha of a sinner, and he doesn’t realize what that means. He doesn’t realize that the purity of God will consume every impure thing.

To be a sinner isn’t just a provisional conduct, it is a permanent condition. It isn’t a temporary title it is an incessant identity. The Bible calls it slavery. Slavery is not something you can get out of. Rom 3:10-17 graphically displays the horrible, sinful condition of all humanity. We must help our Muslims friends see the wretchedness of sin and the vileness of their sinful condition. It is because of their sin that they are enemies of God, no matter how much they pray, no matter how much they ask for forgiveness.

2) God is the Standard

Any accurate Gospel presentation has to begin with God. You simply can’t explain sin without starting with God. Sin is only sin because it is a lie of who God is. For example, it’s incomplete to say adultery is sinful because God says not to do it. Why does God say don’t do it? It’s not because he’s some angry God who wants to keep us from having fun. Adultery is sinful because God is always faithful. He’s loyal. Adultery is ultimately wrong because it is unfaithfulness to the eternally faithful God.

It wasn’t too long ago that I was at a university and a Muslim told me that on judgment day God would bring out a scale to measure our good and bad deeds. Consider the following verses from the Quran:

“Then those whose balance (of good deeds) is heavy, they will be successful. But those whose balance is light, will be those who have lost their souls; in hell will they abide,” (23:102-103).

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