WHO IS JESUS CHRIST?

 “Who is Jesus Christ?”

But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 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 (2 Corinthians 11:3-4 KJV).

You see, there are many Jesus’ proclaimed today. There is Jesus the liberator and Jesus the revolutionary. There is Jesus the teacher and Jesus the example. There is Jesus the healer and Jesus the burden-bearer. Homosexuals, adulterers, and unrepentant sinners, point to “an unconditionally accepting Jesus,” seeking to show that Jesus is on their side. Even the demons are willing to accept certain aspects of our Lord’s identity, but not His authority.

We want to have “Jesus the way we like to think of Him.” We would rather conform Jesus to our views and values than have Him transform ours. In his early days as a centurion soldier, Paul believed in a coming Messiah, but he wanted nothing to do with Christ Jesus. The Jewish religious leaders, along with the nation Israel, also looked for the coming “Messiah.” But they rejected the true Jesus, because He was not their kind of

Messiah. He was the wrong Jesus, and they liked their kind of Messiah better.

The false teachers speak of “Jesus,” but it is a “Jesus” of their own making, a “Jesus” with whom sinful men feel comfortable and affirmed, one that accepts them in their sins, not one that turns them from their sins. They wish to follow and imitate such a person, but they deny the real Jesus, substituting a more palatable Jesus. So it is that false teachers gain a following by tickling the ears of those who will not have the real Jesus. “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:3-4 KJV).

There is a holy remnant who sigh and cry over the wickedness in the land. They yearn for the truth and will obey. Yet multitudes will not listen when the truth is brought forth! They will reject any message that touches their pet sins or idols!"

The Israelites had no intention of quitting their sinful ways. Instead, they wanted a soft, soothing word. The prophet Isaiah said of them: “This is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord; which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto

us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits” (Isaiah 30:9-10 KJV).

The Lord warns those who do not want to hear the true Word of God: ”Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein; but have walked after the imagination of their own heart... therefore... I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink” (Jeremiah 9:13-15 KJV).

God warns: “You can choose to sit under that kind of preaching—smooth, comforting, soft and easy. But it’s poison! You’re drinking in death!

But if you want to know who teaches the real Jesus, you can know who they are. There is only one way we will be able to spot false teachers that preach another “Jesus”: we must be knowledgeable concerning the truth of the Word of God. We dare not become lazy and expect others to do our studying and thinking for us (see 1 John 2:26-27).

Both Peter and Jude inform us as to how far these false teachers will go:

But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction (2 Peter 2:1 KJV).

For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ (Jude 4 KJV).

When false teachers “arise,” their heresies are “secretly introduced.” They “creep in unnoticed.” They won’t stand out. You have to know the real Jesus to see them. These false teachers are devious and deceptive, not wishing to be known for what they are. They are driven by their own lust rather than led by the Holy Ghost. In some cases, they do not even recognize their own condition. They not only deceive, they are themselves deceived (2 Timothy 3:13; see 2 Peter 2:13). They rely on slick methods rather than on the Spirit of God and appeal to the lusts of the flesh (compare 1 Corinthians 2; 2 Corinthians 2:17; 4:1-2). Jude says they pervert grace, twisting it so that it becomes a pretext for sin. Some might say that rather than seeing grace as an escape from our former lusts (see 1 Peter 1:14; 2:11; 2 Peter 1:4) it is an excuse for our lusts. The ultimate and most terrible error is that these false teachers go as far as to “deny the Master who bought them.”

False teachers certainly do not represent themselves as those who make a false profession of faith. They rise up as those who are one with us in Christ. As Jesus warned, they come as “wolves in sheep’s clothing”

(see Matthew 7:15). They carry out their ministry in Jesus’ name, and they are just as surprised at being called unbelievers, as we are when we realize they do not share a “like precious faith” with us. Jesus said, “You will know them by their fruits” (see Matthew 7:16-20).

You may believe in Jesus. You may believe in Him as the Son of God, as a great healer, or a great teacher. You may believe that He was a great leader and that He cared deeply for sinners. You may believe that He was the God-man who bore the penalty for your sins, and that, as the risen Savior, His resurrection is, for you, life from the dead. But to be saved, to receive eternal life, you must believe and be obedient to His gospel. The same gospel that Peter, Paul, and other disciples taught in the New Testament church. Jesus said you must be born again (see John 3:3-7). In order to be “born again” you must repent, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and receive the Holy Ghost (see Acts 2:38). Salvation does not stop there. The apostle Paul and other disciples of Christ taught in the New Testament church that we must overcome sin and lead holy and blameless lives (see Colossians 1:22-23). That still applies today to the lives of Christians who want to be saved and receive eternal life with our one and only Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then I will profess unto them, I never knew you; DEP ART FROM ME, YOU THAT WORK INIQUITY (LAWLESSNESS) (Matthew 7:22-23 KJV).

What a sad and terrible day for those who thought they knew Jesus, but did not.