Well, again, this morning, I
join with Mark welcoming everybody here. Like he said, we do have
quite a few out this morning. But this morning, I'm going to deal
with a subject that from time to time, I think about it and
think about how to explain it. I heard a sermon by Brother Gary
Shepherd a few years back dealing with this same subject here,
and it's been on my mind, and I thought I would go ahead and
try to present this message this morning. This message is entitled,
Which Jesus? You know, all of us, as we're
coming up, I know I, as I was a young boy coming up, I always
thought I believed in Jesus. And I tell you, even as a youngster
coming up, and I never did attend church. Back, I was probably
in my 20s before I started. But I was still religious by
nature, and I loved to watch those stories about the Ten Commandments
and all those stories about the Bible. And I thought I believed
in this Jesus, the Jesus that came to this earth. He's born
of a virgin. And he lived a perfect life and
went to the cross and he died on the cross. And I believed
all this historical things that I'd been told by my grandparents
and parents. And you couldn't convince me
that I didn't at that time believe and the Jesus of Scripture. But
this morning, I'm gonna deal with this. Which Jesus? Look with me at 2 Corinthians,
in chapter 11, and I'm gonna just read the first four verses
here. The Apostle Paul writing to the Corinthians, said, Would
the God ye could bear with me a little in my folly, and indeed
bear with me, for I'm jealous over you with a godly jealousy.
For I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you
as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear less by any means,
as the serpent beguile thee through his subtlety, so your mind should
be corrupted from the simplicity that's in Christ. For if he that
cometh preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or
if you receive another spirit, which you have not received,
or another gospel, which you have not accepted, you might
well bear with him." Young's literal translation of this says,
well, were you bearing it or were you putting up with it?
I believe without a doubt that salvation is in a person. It's
in the Savior. And I believe that, and I confess the same
thing that Simeon did, as Mark read that about this old man
Simeon. When Mary and Joseph brought
the child Jesus to the temple, this old man Simeon He took the
child up in his arms and blessed God and said, Lord, now let us
allow thy servant depart from peace according to thy word.
And that's key, according to thy word. For mine eyes have
seen thy salvation. But my sermon this morning is
this. Which Jesus? Most of modern day
Christianity would be quick to respond by saying, well, Jesus. And to that I would say again,
which Jesus? And I have a fear like the one
that the Apostle Paul speaks of here in 2 Corinthians. A fear
concerning the deceptions of our day. And the Apostle Paul
as well as myself see a need to distinguish these things. Which Jesus? Well, it's obvious
that this name that is so often used in our day by so many is
a different person to different people. This name spoken to men
and women is a different person to each and every one that hears
it. And we cannot use the name and
then let each individual believe what they will about this Jesus
that comes to their mind. Everybody has a Jesus, either
from their traditions from a few pointed out places in the Bible,
their family environment. They have a Jesus from all the
various preachers that they've heard. Therefore, we cannot simply
use the name and leave it to each one to believe what they
will about the Jesus of the Bible. Paul says here in 2 Corinthians
11, for if he that cometh preaches another Jesus, whom we have not
preached. Here's some examples of another
Jesus that you've probably heard early on in your life. A Jesus
that came to this earth to die for all mankind without exception. Now, he shed his blood for all
mankind, every individual person. He died for them. Now, and then
there's a Jesus that died for you, won't save you unless you
let him or unless you accept him. And then there's a Jesus
that died and paid your sin debt. He came here and died on that
cross and paid for sins. Remember what I said up here,
there's something that says he died for every individual. He
paid their sin debt, but still, but you still owe that debt.
I could go on and on, but you see where I'm going with this. Look at verse 2, 2 Corinthians
11. The apostle Paul says, I have
espoused you to one husband, and I may present you as a chaste
virgin to Christ. Just to one husband, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And Paul's desire and goal was
to present Christ to them in truth, and to present them to
Christ in truth. And if you notice here in verse
3, he says, Satan didn't come right up to Eve and say, now
I'm the devil, if you believe me, you won't die, and so you
must obey what I say. He didn't do that. He beguiled
her. He tricked her. He deceived her. And it says the serpent, Begali,
by telling her that God really didn't mean what he said. Therefore,
he casts doubt on God's word and God's truth. And when Paul
says that he fears for these that he writes to here as the
Corinthians here, these believers, or at least professed believers,
he said he feared lest they be corrupted from the simplicity
that's in Christ. I have sometimes heard people
use that word simplicity to almost express that you really don't
have to know anything or understand anything about Christ. But what
that word, simplicity, means is singleness. He says, I fear
lest the devil deceive you by his subtlety like he did Eve
and corrupt you from the singleness or the oneness that's in the
Lord Jesus Christ. There's not but one Christ. Paul
says in 1 Timothy, for there is one God, one mediator between
God and man, the man, Christ Jesus. not simply a man, he said
the man. That is what I want us to be
concerned with, the singleness that's in Christ, the mediatorial
work of that one man, the man Christ Jesus. In salvation, we
don't simply see a physical person as such. We see, by faith, this
person as he set forth in the word of God. Listen to what the
Apostle Paul says in Hebrews 11. Now faith is the substance
of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. There's no
salvation apart from faith in Christ. Somebody says, well,
you show me and I'll believe. That's not faith. There was a
sense in which Simeon, this old man, saw that person, saw that
little child, saw that baby, and it wasn't faith. But he saw
him by faith. He had an evidence of that which
was not seen. He believed because God's Spirit
and that alone. He believed that word, that testimony
of God concerning Christ, the Christ of the Scriptures. Faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. I like what
Peter says here. Peter speaks of Christ in 1 Peter
1.8. According to this verse, you
mean to tell me that Christ can be loved by some who have not
seen him according to the flesh. He says, whom having not seen,
you love, in whom though Now you see Him not, believing, you
rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. You've not
seen Christ physically. You've not touched Him. You don't
know what He looks like after the flesh. I don't care how many
pictures that you might have seen of Him. And neither does
anybody else in our day. But though you have not seen
Him, you love Him. How do you love him? By believing.
Do you just believe that he is? Well, the devil believes that. Do you just believe a few generalized
things about him as far as that historical record is connected,
concerned? First Peter says believing is
a believing of the word of truth of the gospel. because you cannot
separate the living word from the written word. Now look at
2 Corinthians 4.18. If you can see it with your natural
eye, that's not the kingdom of Christ. It's not what it's about. It says, while we look not at
the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.
For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things
which are not seen are eternal. You can't see eternal things
with the natural eye. The things that are not seen
are the things that the Lord's people are unable to see by the
eye of God-given faith. Though things are eternal, those
things are eternal and lasting and are all based on God's word.
Christ himself in John 20 says this, to Thomas. He says, Jesus
said unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast
believed. Blessed are they that have not
seen, and yet they believe. And then Paul shows the danger
in verse 4 of there being preachers that preach another Jesus. He
says in 2 Corinthians 11 For if he that cometh preacheth another
Jesus. Now Paul's clear on this, that
there are preachers that preach another Jesus. You mean that
there are religions under the big banner of Christianity that
actually preach and believe another Jesus? Absolutely. Turn back to Galatians. and the
first chapter, and listen to Paul here in Galatians 1. It says, I marvel that you are so
soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ
and to another gospel, which is not another, but there be
some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
But though we are an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel
until you then that which we have preached unto you, let him
be accursed. As we said before, so say I now
again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you, then that
you have received, let him be accursed. Another gospel is another
Jesus. You see, it actually comes down
to this. Salvation is not really in a
person. Salvation is in the person of
Christ. It is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And yet, unlike Simeon that we're talking about, in this world
today, we will not see Jesus in the flesh, face to face. That is, unless we're here when
he returns. Now, that being the case, you
show me how you know this person without a good description of
this person. So how are we to distinguish
the person from all the impersonators that are out there? Well, three
things. The first thing is who Christ is. Secondly, there has
to be a clear declaration of what he has done. Thirdly, there
has to be a clear revelation by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit
of God. Now the first thing here having to do with who Christ
is, who are we talking about? Let's look back at Romans 10.
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved. Did you know that in our day, this verse has been reduced
to nothing more than uttering the name Jesus? The preacher
says, I call on Jesus' name. Then the preacher says, I'm saved. Are you saved? Well, to start
with, to call upon the name of the Lord means to approach him
and to worship him. And that one way, which is true,
that one sacrifice, of blood that was ordained by God before
the world began. This is the one way of righteousness.
The one way of our being accepted by Him. In the Old Testament
it says that Abraham built an altar and he called upon the
name of the Lord. He didn't just utter a name.
Abraham didn't even know the name Jesus at that time. But he sought to stand before
God. He sought to be accepted by God and he sought to be righteous
in the sight of God who told him he would send the one who
would bring in an everlasting righteousness. He looked to the
Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, that would come in time. This
is what God's Word is talking about here when it says, for
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
Now, I had a friend that posted something on Facebook. You know
how they have little boxes and they posted this statement there
in 1013, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved. Well, I couldn't let that stand. I had to post as a reply the
following verses here. in 14 and 15. It says, how then
shall they call on him in whom they've not believed? And how
shall they believe in him in whom they've not heard? And how
shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring
glad tidings of good things. A preacher once said, you can't
believe the one or one of whom you've never heard any more than
you can come back from where you've never been. And that's
true. You've never physically seen
Jesus. I've never seen him. How do we know which one is the
real Jesus of scripture? How do we know which person?
Well, first of all, by a clear declaration of who he is. He's
the son of God. He's really man, and he is really
God. He is Emmanuel, which being interpreted
as God with us. He is the word that John says
in John 1 that was with God and was God, and he said that word
that was with God was made flesh and dwelt among us. It's not
enough to say that he was a good man or a great man. He is the
God-man. It's not enough to say that he
was this great man and everything. Paul says, 1 Timothy, and without
controversy, grates the mystery of godliness. God was manifested
in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached
unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up
in the glory. Now this is something that has
to be maintained and declared having to do with who this Jesus
is. He has to be distinguished as
the eternal son of God because the deity of Christ infinitely
exalted and secured and made sure the success of the work
of Christ. He could do what he did because
of who he is. and because only God can satisfy
God. Now, not only that, it has to
be said again and again that he was absolutely sinlessness. He didn't sin, he was perfect
in every way. Because right until he draws
his last breath, he's speaking words that show his blessed sinlessness. He's not railing on God, hanging
on that cross. He's not casting against his
enemies at the foot of the cross. He is saying, Father, forgive
them. He knew no sin. And he is the one who's described
as holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. He
was never polluted in any way because the Lamb of God had to
be the one typified and pictured by all those Passover lambs in
the Old Testament. He had to be the lamb without
spot and without blemish. He is the one who is tempted
as we are in all points, yet without sin. This is why the
teaching that Christ was made sin in some other way than by
the imputation of sin to his account is so damaging. to the
true gospel of Christ. Now, the second thing here, there
has to be a clear declaration of what he has done or what he's
accomplished. You see, that's really how men
find out who the real Jesus is, which person it is. You have
to see what he has done. Now, you look back at Romans
10, 5. It says, for Moses described it, the righteousness which is
of the law, that the man which doeth those things shall live
in them or by them. And then you have this in verse
six, which is totally different from that which is called the
righteousness of the law. The righteousness of the law,
which means the righteousness that a person attempts to obtain
by his keeping of the law. And then it says, in Romans 10.6,
but the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise,
say not in thine heart who shall ascend into heaven, that is to
bring Christ down from above, or who shall descend into the
deep, that is to bring up Christ again from the dead. But what
saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in
thy mouth and in thine heart, that is the word of faith which
we preach. Then it says here in verse 9,
that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and
shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from
the dead, that's something about that person, that God hath raised
him from the dead, which literally means something like this, that
God accepted and was satisfied with Christ's work on behalf
of all those that he died for. of all those that He represented
in His death and life. The Father's satisfaction with
Christ's sacrifice was revealed by the Father, raising Him from
the dead. It says in Romans 10, verse 10,
For when thine heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with
the mouth confession is made unto salvation. We don't just
believe who Christ is. No, we believe something about
him. You see, we can distinguish this person not only by who he
is, but what he's accomplished. Look at John 8. I said therefore
unto you that you shall die in your sins, for if you believe
not that I am he, you shall die in your sins. He didn't say if
you just believe on me. He said if you don't believe
that I am he. He's saying if you don't believe
that I am the Christ, the Messiah, the salvation of God, the Son
of God. If you don't believe that I am
He, actually it is if you don't believe that I am. If you don't
believe that I am God, if you don't believe that I am Jehovah
that's come in the flesh, you'll die in your sin. And I know you
know this verse concerning what was said of Mary. by the angel
that was concerning her son, Matthew 1.21. Angel, speaking
to him, says, And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call
his name Jesus. Well, how would we know that
this is the Christ? Look at Matthew 1.21, the next
part. For he shall save his people
from their sin. So what I'm saying to you this
morning is any Jesus, if that Jesus has not saved all his people
from their sins, he's the wrong Jesus. He's another Jesus. Paul
said this, we preach Christ crucified. He said, for I declare not to
know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified.
You see, scriptures identify the true Christ by a specific
particular work of obedience. They identify him by the work
that the Father gave him to do. They identify him by a work of
righteousness, the work he finished, and the work by which all his
people are saved. The scriptures distinguish him
by an obedience which is an obedience unto death, even the death of
the cross. His work is distinguished by
what he came to do, by what he actually did, and by the results
of what he did. What's the result of what Christ
did when He died on that cross? Well, all those that the Father
gave Him in eternity, His elect, He came to save and He saved
them. That's the results of them. When He died on the cross, when
He says, it's finished, that means it was finished, the salvation
of those sinners. Nothing left for them to do again.
He's accomplished it all for all those that He died for. He
didn't shed His blood in vain. It says, by what he actually
did and the results of it, God's Word, the Holy Scripture, identified
the true Jesus of Scripture. I didn't include this verse on
the screen, but it says in John 6.37, All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will no wise cast
out. Now, that needs some explaining. Let me go ahead and read verse
38. For I came down to heaven not to do mine own will, but
the will of Him that sent me. See, it says all that the Father
giveth me. This is Christ speaking. The Father giveth Him certain
individuals called His sheep, His elect, and that everlasting
covenant before the world was created. It says all that the
Father giveth me. He put Christ and Christ himself
obligated himself for these individuals to come to this earth, to live
a perfect life for them and to die and pay their sin debt on
the cross. It says in verse 28, for I came
down to heaven not to do my own will but for the will of him
that sent me. Do you realize that most people
in what is called Christianity today that supposedly believe
on Jesus, most of them believe that what Jesus did, the results
of what he did, is left in the hands of fallen sinners, whether
they make it effectual or successful. What they are actually believing
is that the results of Christ's work didn't really accomplish
anything. If he died for every individual
and multitudes suffer eternal torment, then for those individuals,
it didn't accomplish anything. And a multitude believed He died
for the whole, everybody without exception. But what does the
Bible say? What does the Bible say that
He came to do? It said He came to do the Father's will, which
was to die to death as a substitute of God's elect and display the
righteousness of God, who is a just God and a Savior. And
He did it by saving every one of those that the Father gave
Him. He came to save them, and He
did. He came to redeem them, and He did. Just as it was said
of Him in the Old Testament in Isaiah 42, He shall not fail
nor be discouraged till He have set judgment in the earth and
the isles shall wait for His law. He came to be the one sacrifice
for the sins of His elect forever. He came to purchase to redeem
the church with His own blood. He came to lay down His life
for the sheep. But a Savior whose work makes
things just possible or available to sinners is no Savior at all. It's another Jesus. And a Jesus
whose work is successful or effectual only to those who make it so
by their decision or their faith is another Jesus. And a Savior
whose work does not save every sinner that God desires to save
is no Savior, and it's another Jesus. And then lastly, in distinguishing
who the real Jesus is, there has to be a clear revelation
by the Spirit of God. Essential for anybody to know
who Christ is, for anybody to believe on Him and to trust and
to love Him, there must be an almighty work of grace and power
in their hearts. The Holy Spirit must come to
us, must come in us, dwell us, give us spiritual life, give
us faith to see Him and to believe on Him. If the Spirit does not
come because we're dead in sins and trespasses, we're totally
depraved by nature, we won't believe the true Jesus. That is what our Lord said and
the Holy Spirit would do. When He said in John 15, But
when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the
Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father,
he shall testify of man. And man may not have a great,
powerful speaking voice, he may never raise or lower his voice,
but if he's speaking the truth in Christ, if he's declaring
clearly who Christ is and what it is that he's accomplished,
even if he's a man of very little education, whatever differences
it may be, if the Spirit uses it to reveal Christ to one of
his sheep, now that's powerful preaching. During the time of
Christ, you reckon how many children, do you suppose, were brought
into that temple in a year's time? How did Simeon, this old
man, know that this was the one The Spirit of God revealed it
to him. The Spirit has to take the things of Christ and reveal
them to us. And our deadness and our ignorance
and our rebellion, and he has to reveal the Lord Jesus Christ. Like Christ says to Nicodemus,
John 3, Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say
unto you, except a man be born again, He cannot see the Kingdom
of God. That simply means we have to
be birthed from above, born again, not the natural birth that we
have on this earth. But Paul says to these Corinthians
in 1 Corinthians 2, But God hath revealed them unto us by his
Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things,
yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things
of man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so, the
things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God." Paul
says, neither can you know the things of God unless the Spirit
of God revealed them. He then says in 1 Corinthians
2, Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the
Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that
are freely given to us of God. It says, we have received the
Spirit of God that we might know. That has a two-fold meaning.
First of all, that we might know in the sense of having a knowledge
of this, and that we might know in a sense of having what loving
what He has made known to us. And secondly, that we might know
the things that are freely given of God. Now, I hear preachers
sometimes make fun of knowledge. Well, I want that knowledge.
That's the knowledge of truth. That's the knowledge of Christ.
That's the knowledge of God-given knowledge and the knowledge that
He gives through His Word and by which He reveals Christ to
us. We're all, by nature, bankrupt
sinners. We all need this knowledge. And it will be good news to you
if you find out something that's freely given to you of God in
Christ, a free salvation, a salvation by grace alone, not based on
your works, any works that you might do, but based entirely
on the shed blood and righteousness of God's dear Son. That's imputed. to our account, charged to our
account, just like our sins were charged to Christ's account.
And he had to suffer, bleed, and die. We get eternal life
based on righteousness being imputed to our account. Now, these things might be foolishness
to the natural man because they're spiritually discerned. It says
in Matthew, at the time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee,
O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid
these things from the wise and prudent and has revealed them
unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto
me of my Father. And no man knoweth the Son but
the Father. neither knoweth any man the Father
save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him." It
must be a revelation. On one occasion, Christ looked
at his disciples when he was speaking to these people in parable. And they said to Christ, Matthew
13. And disciples came and said unto him, Why do you speak in
parables? He answered and said unto them,
because it's given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom
of heaven, but to them it's not given. The unbelievers, those
that will not accept this gospel of Christ and Him alone, they're
left to think what they want to think, do what they want to
do, believe what they want to believe, and seek to stand before
God in their own righteousness. Christ told his disciples, the
Spirit is not given to them, it's given to you. Let's look
at Peter's confession here in Matthew 16, and then I'll close
here shortly. When Jesus came into the coast
of Caesarea of Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, whom do
men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And they said, some say that
thou art John the Baptist, some Elias, and others Jeremiah, or
one of the prophets. He said unto them, but whom say
ye that I am? Simon Peter answered and said,
thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus
answered and said unto him, blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for
flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto you, but my Father, which
is in heaven. Peter's confession is what the
New Birth is all about. It is a revelation from God,
a revelation from Heaven by the Spirit of God through the Gospel
as to who Jesus Christ truly is and what He has done for us. Look at what the Holy Ghost revealed
to Simeon concerning the coming Messiah, Luke 2.26. And it was revealed unto him
by the Holy Ghost. that he should not see death
before he had seen the Lord's Christ. Because there's so many
Christ being preached today, what we need to know is which
person, which Jesus, and to look only to him, to plead his shed
blood alone, which is the righteousness of God, and the only way We can
see this is by the Spirit of God through God's Word. Now, I would say this. If you don't know this, Jesus,
I wouldn't waste any time at all doing what you can to search
Him out through God's Word. That's where He's revealed, through
God's Word as the Holy Spirit uses God's Word to reveal Him
to us. May God grant us God-given faith
to look to the true Jesus, not a false Jesus, not another Jesus,
for all of salvation. Amen.