Another Jesus - Pastor Stacey Shiflett

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Another Jesus

2 Corinthians 11:4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

Intro: The new virtue signaling phrase that I hear quite often whenever I start to point out different issues is this: “Just preach Jesus.”

That sounds good, on the surface. In fact, the Apostle Paul wrote to the church of Corinth in 1 Corinthians 2 that when he came unto them the first time, he determined not to know anything among them, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

But make no mistake about it – once they got saved; once they heard a clear presentation of the Gospel, and accepted Jesus, then he preached a whole lot more than just Jesus and Him crucified.

In fact, Paul told the Ephesian elders in Acts 20 that after three years of being there, that he had “kept back nothing that was profitable” (vs. 20) and then again confirmed in verse 27 that he had “not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.”

What the statement means today when they say, Preach Jesus, is simply they don’t want to hear anything else that the Bible has to say.

But the more I think about it, I started to wonder.

What Jesus do they want me to preach?

Do they want me to preach the one I know about and read about in the Bible, or the one they have fabricated in their mind?

Because even back in Paul’s day, there was more than one Jesus being preached.

Let’s notice what Paul was talking about when he made that statement. I preached from these verses back in February when we dealt with “The Simplicity of Christianity.”

• In verse 1, we see Paul’s Folly – no doubt Paul felt foolish having to state the obvious. He was God’s man.

• In verse 2, we see Paul’s Focus – “…that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.”

·       In verse 3, we see Paul’s Fear “But I fear…”

He was concerned about their loyalty to the truth that he had preached unto them.

Paul mentioned his concern that the people would be beguiled and corrupted by Satan.

That they would be receptive to “another Jesus” other than the one that he preached to them.

That is what I want to focus on this morning.

There has never been another like Jesus, and there never will be!

He was ONE OF A KIND!!!

He was unique because of:

A. His Beginning

He didn’t have one!

·       John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Jesus told the Pharisees,

John 8

·       56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.

·       57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?

·       58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

Hebrews 7

·       1 For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him;

·       2 To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace;

·       3 Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.

He was unique because of:

B. His Birth

He had an earthly mother, but He did not have an earthly father.

In fact, his mother had never even known a man.

There has never been another birth that was prophesied about by so many people in such great detail.

Jesus was the only One in the history of the world to be born of a virgin.

·       Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Luke 1

·       34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?

·       35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

He was unique because of:

C. His Body

He had a body of flesh just like yours and mine, but it was sinless and perfect.

He could get hungry. He could get thirsty.

He could get tired. He could have pain. He could bleed.

But He could not sin. His body was different because it was a perfect, sinless, spotless body.

He was unique because of:

D. His Burial

There’s never been a host of guards posted outside a dead man’s grave before, until Jesus.

There’s never been another man that was buried that conquered death, hell and the grave like Jesus.

There’s never been another that under His own power, raised up himself from the dead, until Jesus.

He was unique because of:

E. His Bride

When we think about a bride, we think about a beautiful, blushing bride at the marriage altar.

We think of a single, star-struck woman marrying a man til “death do us part.”

But the bride of Christ is far different from any other bride in the history of civilization.

Every person that has ever accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior make up the bride of Christ.

·       Revelation 21:9 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.

Every one of us will one day sit at the marriage supper of the Lamb as the glorious bride of Christ.

Ephesians 5

·       25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

·       26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

·       27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

Revelation 19

·       7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.

·       8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

·       9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.

I started thinking about the reality of a preacher or a church preaching “another Jesus.”

I realized that many of them are in fact preaching a Jesus that does not exist in Scripture.

They are preaching a customized, personalized, version that makes them feel warm and fuzzy.

I have to wonder what it does to the heart of God for people to falsify the Son of God.

Another Jesus is a Jesus that doesn’t:

I. Confront Sin

We live in a day where sinners want to be able to sin in peace and quiet without interference.

Jesus didn’t come to ignore people’s sin; He came to help them deal with it.

A favorite verse that people like to talk about is where it says that Jesus ate with sinners.

Let’s examine that passage, shall we?

Matthew 9

·       10 And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples.

·       11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?

·       12 But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.

·       13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

First of all, Jesus was eating in a house, and the publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. Jesus wasn’t hanging out in a bar.

Secondly, everybody is a sinner, including the Pharisees – they just didn’t see themselves as sinners. If Jesus ate with anybody other than Himself, He was eating with sinners!

Thirdly, Jesus wasn’t fellowshipping with the company of sinners; he was calling them unto repentance.

In other words, Jesus referred to the sinners as “they that are sick,” “they that are in need of mercy,” and “sinners in need of repentance.”

The other time we find the Pharisees getting upset over Jesus with sinners, this is what happened.

Luke 15

·       1 Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him.

·       2 And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.

·       3 And he spake this parable unto them, saying,

·       4 What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?

It is important to understand that Jesus came “to save his people from their sin.”

John the Baptist announced Jesus as “the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.”

If you find a Jesus that doesn’t confront and denounce sin, mark it down – it is “another Jesus!”

ILLUSTRATION: The other favorite story of this “another Jesus” crowd is found in John 8:11.

This is the story about the woman caught in adultery.

Their favorite statement is when Jesus looked at her and said, “neither do I condemn thee…”

Jesus said he didn’t come to condemn the world because it was condemned already.

But look at this passage in John 3.

·       17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

·       18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

·       19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

·       20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

·       21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

Does this sound like a Jesus that is OK with sin?

Does this sound like a Jesus that came to hang out with unbelievers and enjoy their company?

The Bible is clear in verse 19 – Jesus just BEING THERE was condemnation.

He is the Light; He is the Truth.

Jesus would never violate His own command to “have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.”

Another Jesus is a Jesus that doesn’t:

II. Cultivate Separation

The Jesus we read about in the Bible called His children out of the world.

John 17

·       14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

·       15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.

·       16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 

They are not of the world – EVEN AS I am not of the world. – He said it TWICE!

·       2 Corinthians 6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,

The Jesus that will save you, and let you keep living like you were living before you got saved is “another Jesus.”

The Jesus that will let you keep doing all the things you did and doesn’t reprove you is “another Jesus.”

“Another Jesus” is a Jesus that doesn’t:

III. Command Sacrifice

The Jesus of the Bible said this in Mark 8.

·       34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

·       35 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.

The Jesus of the Bible required every one of his followers to take up their cross.

·       A cross is a symbol of sacrifice.

·       A cross is a symbol of suffering.

·       A cross is a symbol of shame.

·       A cross is a symbol of great sorrow.

There are tears; there is pain; there is hours of agonizing loneliness and darkness

This Prosperity Gospel has spread across the globe misrepresenting the Jesus of the Bible.

This “Name It Claim It” “Blab It and Grab It” gospel is not found in the Bible.

This Word of Faith cult has permeated churches all over the world.

They are following another Jesus.

This crowd whose Christianity doesn’t cost them any friends, any family, anything; they are not a disciple of the Jesus of the Bible.

The Jesus of the Bible had a high criteria for those that would follow him.

It ALWAYS cost them something.

Luke 9

·       57 And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.

·       58 And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

·       59 And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.

·       60 Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.

·       61 And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house.

·       62 And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

These people that never suffer, never have a hard time, never have a bad day, never have their heart broken or their life turned upside down doesn’t follow the same Jesus that I follow.

These people that never have to give up anything or make any sacrifices in their life are following “another Jesus.”

Conclusion: Which Jesus are YOU following?