Romans 3:21-26 answers Islam, Secularism, and Roman Catholicism

Dr. John Piper applies Romans 3:21-26 to the secular mindset and to the Muslim mindset.  

To be more clear, Dr. Piper does not address Roman Catholicism.  I am making that application, since Roman Catholicism also rejects penal substitutionary atonement.  So, listen to the sermon and see how this passage also shows Roman Catholicism wrong.

Commentors must demonstrate they listened to the whole sermon.  This requires a lot of meditation on the text and deep thinking on the issues that Dr. Piper brought up; and furthermore, why Roman Catholicism rejects penal substitutionary atonement.

Addendum:
Dr. Piper mentions the wall of the 99 names of Allah that he was shown in Dubai and his translator translated one of the names as "capricious".  I think it may be "Al Jabbar", الجبار - from Jabr, جبر , which is the concept of fatalism and destiny.  Al Jabbar means "the irresistable one, the enforcer, the compeller", many times translated more softly to "The Almighty".  Algebra الجبر , Al -Jabr also is from this root.  The idea is, if you plug in the right number, you always get a certain result.  If you do good works for Allah, He rewards you"; but even that is, "Inshallah", "if God wills".  Even that is no guarantee, but Allah is more like an impersonal mathematical formula, but He can explode in anger on you any time He wants.   Combined with other attributes of deception and no standard of who He will forgive, the capriciousness and arbitrariness comes out in daily life in the Muslim world.  Many Muslims have said to me, "we have no standard, no rules; everyone breaks the rules; if you don't get caught, it is considered a high praise."  "Allah knows best"; "what can we do?  everything is decided beforehand by Allah", etc.  I have emailed Desiring God wanting to know which one of the Arabic words that was, for they usually don't translate any of them that way into English, even though  Allah's capriciousness is a practical outworking of Allah's sovereignty and His arbitrary and caprious nature of just forgiving who He wants to and sending to hell who He wants to.  The Christian God (The Holy Trinity) is so different, by giving Himself (the Son voluntarily coming, being incarnated, and voluntarily going to the cross to take our punishment), provides the righteousness/justice at the cross for sin, satisfies God's anger and justice against sin, and provides love for sinners who don't deserve grace. Romans 5:8.  The God of the Bible is both Justice and Love.  The cross and penal substitutionary atonement is the answer to the insecurity and lack of peace and lack of assurance in Islam's caprious Allah.
Here is an article that shows the capricious and deceptive nature of Allah in Islam's texts, the Qur'an and the Hadith and other sources.  See at the bottom of that article also, for more links to other articles on Allah's deceptive nature.  "Allah is the very best deceiver" - الله خیر المکارین Surah 3:54; 8:30: 10:21-22

See also, Allah, the greatest deceiver of them all. 

It is so wonderful that we have the true God, who cannot lie (Titus 1:2; Hebrews 6:18) and cannot sin (1 John 1:5; James 1:13-14; Habakkuk 1:13).  The true God cannot do anything that is against His nature.  At the cross, both His holiness and justice against sin is demonstrated and His love for sinners is demonstrated.  "that He might be both just and the justifier of those who have faith in Jesus"  Romans 3:25-26.  Amazing!

Addendum 2:

Romans 3:25 -

ὃν προέθετο ὁ θεὸς ἱλαστήριον διὰ τῆς πίστεως ἐν τῷ αὐτοῦ αἵματι εἰς ἔνδειξιν τῆς δικαιοσύνης αὐτοῦ διὰ τὴν πάρεσιν τῶν προγεγονότων ἁμαρτημάτων

"whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed;"
Romans 3:25 NASB

"Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; (KJV)

It is translated at the mercy seat in Hebrews 9:5, true; as OT historical background and context demands; but the mercy seat was the place from where mercy is given (from God, when He met with them in the holy of holies in the temple after the sacrifices were performed, after the sacrifice and blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat, etc. thus appeasing and satisfying God's anger against sin; after propitation took place - averting the wrath of God or satisfying the wrath of God or satisfying justice.

The Verb form of this root is used in Luke 18:13 - "O God, be propitious to me, the sinner!"  ("have mercy on me" is possible because God provided the propitiation in the temple sacrifices - context of 2 men going to the temple.)

Hebrews 2:17 - the incarnation and atonement were both necessary - "it was necessary for Him to become flesh and blood, in order that He might be a faithful and merciful high priest in making propitiation for the sins of the people."

related words in
1 John 2:2
1 John 4:10

Revelation 5:9 and 7:9 explains 1 John 2:2 "propitiation for the sins of the whole world"  - that some people from every nation, language, people group, and tribe have been purchased (Rev. 5:9 - "You were slain and did purchase/redeem" = Aorist past tense) by the blood of the lamb. )

Rev. 7:9 and 7:14 - they are clothed in white robes, washed in the blood of the lamb. This shows imputation of Christ's righteousness being counted/imputed to them by their faith in Christ and His atonement.  Romans 3:24-26 - "through faith, justified by the atonement/propitiation in His blood" 

Two Evils : Leftist secular Education by Government and Political Islam

David Horowitz hits a home run with this analysis. Thanks to David Wood at Answering Muslims for posting this.



Two Evils:
1. Leftist Secular Liberal Education run by government
2. Political Islam (stealth Islam, stealth Jihad, civilization Jihad, slow creeping Sharia law) along with the more violent Islamic Jihadist terrorism.

I would add that homosexual rights (rights to adoption and marriage) and laws and tribunals against "hate speech" (against calling homosexuality sin), abortion rights, pornography, and Darwin's theory of Evolution as pure dogmatic science, and relativism are also part of the secular liberal leftist government education.

Horowitz "nailed it". I am glad he investigated the details and has communicated it well here. This needs to be published far and wide. This is probably the best 12 minute summary of these issues I have ever heard.

Horowitz's phrase, "Political Islam" is somewhat redundant, because Islam by nature is political; but it is necessary for communication and emphasis so that people will see Islam for what it really is.

The Muslim brotherhood of Egypt founded by Hassan Al Banna and encouraged by Sayyid Qutb (who was executed by the Nasser government in Egypt and who wrote the books who inspired Osama Ben Laden and Ayman Al Zawahiri) spawned many Jihadist movements, including Al Qaedah and Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and they got their philosophy from the Qur'an, the Hadith, the Tarikh (history of Islam), the Sirat (the life of Muhammad), the Tafsirs ( the commentaries), and the Fiq (Islamic Jurisprudence) and the Ijtima (consensus of Islamic scholars). Sharia law comes from the application of all those things.

These modern Jihadist movements also want the Khalifate (office of the successor of the founder of Islam, Muhammad, a leader for all Sunni Muslims; kind of like a Roman Catholic Papal office) to be restored. The Khalif ( or Caliph is a person, the Khalifate is the office. It was abolished by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the secular founder of the modern state of Turkey, in 1924. [The Shiites believe in either 5 Imams (Zayidis) or seven Imams (Ismailis) or 12 Imams (The Iranian government, Hezbollah in Lebanon, most southern Iraqi Shias.)

It is amazing that so many people are so blind to the truth of where these violent and stealth political movements came from.