Sermon Tone Analysis

Who is Jesus?

Key Verse: “But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

For if he who comes preaches any other Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!” 2 Corinthians 11:3-4 (NKJV)

Purpose: The purpose of this lesson is to help the disciple gain a Scriptural understanding of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Introduction

Throughout history people have attempted to give the Jesus of the Bible a “makeover” to fit their own religious beliefs and personal biases.

Everyone seems to have an opinion about “Jesus”.

A search of the bookstores and internet reveals endless differing portrayals of Jesus.

Does it really matter what a person or a religious sect believes and teaches about Jesus if they claim to believe in “Jesus”?

The Way, Truth, and Life

In John 14:6, Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Jesus claimed to be the only way to the Father.

Regarding our salvation, we are never called upon to believe in a certain teaching, philosophy, worldview, religion, or cultural preference to obtain eternal life.

We are called to believe in a Person.

That Person is Jesus Christ.

Truth is not a teaching; Truth is a Person!

Once we receive Jesus as TRUTH Himself, then all that He teaches is truth by virtue of that reality.

Therefore, the question, “Who is Jesus?” is of utmost importance.

The identity of Jesus determines the framework from which to interpret all that He says.

If we get the Person and Work of Jesus wrong, then it matters not what else we get right.

It is important to believe in the REAL Jesus.

Many religions embrace a “Jesus” who is very different from the Jesus of the Bible.

Compare just a few common beliefs about Jesus held today [from a pamphlet entitled “Christianity, Cults, & Religions” (Rose Publishing, Torrance, CA)]:

Biblical Christianity: Jesus is God, the second Person of the Trinity.

He has always existed and was never created.

He is fully God and fully man.

As the second Person of the Trinity He is coequal with God the Father and the Holy Spirit.

As a man He was begotten by the Holy Spirit through the virgin Mary.

Jesus is the only way to the Father, salvation, and eternal life.

He died physically on the cross according to the plan of God.

He rose from the dead on the third day with a physical but immortal glorified body.

His disciples physically touched His wounds and He ate real food with them.

For the next 40 days He was seen by over 500 eyewitnesses.

He physically ascended to the right hand of the Father in Heaven from where He will come again visibly and physically at the end of the world to establish His kingdom and judge the world.

Mormonism: Jesus is a separate God from the Father (Elohim).

He was created as a spirit child by the Father and Mother in Heaven and is the “elder brother” of all men and spirit beings.

His body was created through a sexual union between Elohim and Mary.

Jesus was married.

Jehovah Witnesses: Jesus is not God.

Before he lived on earth, he was Michael, the archangel.

Jehovah made the universe through him.

On earth he was a man who lived a perfect life.

After dying on a stake (not a cross), he was resurrected as a spirit; his body was destroyed.

Jesus is not coming again; he “returned” invisibly in 1914 in spirit.

Very soon, he and the angels will destroy all non-Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Oneness Pentecostalism: The “Oneness Doctrine” (“modalism”) denies the doctrine of Christ in Biblical and early Christianity.

The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not “Persons” within the Godhead but are different “manifestations” of God.

Jesus is the Father and thus, the Father is Jesus.

The “Son of God” has not always existed, refers to the flesh body of Jesus on the earth, and is not eternal.

As the Father, Jesus sent himself as the Son, prayed to himself as the Father, was obedient to himself as the Father, died on the cross as the Son, was exalted back to himself as the Father, and sent Himself again as the Holy Spirit.

To be saved one must believe that Jesus is the Father, be water baptized specifically “in the name of Jesus”, and “receive the Holy Ghost” with the evidence of speaking in other tongues.

Christian Science: Jesus was not the Christ, but a man who displayed the Christ idea.

(“Christ” means perfection, not a person.)

Jesus was not God, and God can never become man or flesh.

He did not suffer and could not suffer for sins.

He did not die on the cross.

He was not resurrected physically.

He will not literally come back.

Scientology: Jesus is rarely mentioned in Scientology.

Jesus was not the Creator, and not an “operating thetan” (in control of supernatural powers, cleared from mental defects).

Jesus did not die for sins.

New Age: Jesus is not the one true God.

He is not a savior but a spiritual model, and guru, and is now an “ascended master.”

He was a New Ager who tapped into divine power in the same way that anyone can.

Many believe he went east to India or Tibet and learned mystical truths.

He did not rise physically, but “rose” into a higher spiritual realm.

Judaism: Jesus is seen either as an extremist false messiah or a good but martyred Jewish rabbi (teacher).

Judaism does not recognize Jesus to the be the Messiah, the Son of God, and they do not believe that he rose from the dead.

Hinduism: Jesus is a teacher, a guru, or an incarnation of Vishnu.

He is a son of God as are others.

His death does not atone for sins and he did not rise from the dead.

Hare Krishna: Jesus is not important.

He is usually thought of as an enlightened vegetarian teacher who taught meditation.

He is not an incarnation of God.

Some hold that Christ is Krishna.

Transcendental Meditation (T.M.): Jesus is not uniquely God.

Like all persons, Jesus had a divine essence.

Unlike most, he discovered it.

Christ didn’t suffer and couldn’t suffer for people’s sins.

Buddhism: Jesus is not part of this belief.

Buddhists in the West generally view Jesus as an enlightened man.

Islam: Jesus is one of up to 124,000 prophets sent by God to various cultures.

Abraham, Moses, and Muhammad are others.

Jesus was born of a virgin but is not the Son of God.

He was sinless but was not divine or God Himself.

He was not crucified (he ascended to heaven without dying).

He is referred to as messiah and ayatollah.

Jesus will return in the future to live and die.

Baha’i World Faith: Jesus is one of many manifestations of God.

Each manifestation supersedes the previous, giving new teaching about God.

Jesus, who superseded Moses, was superseded by Muhammad, and most recently by the greatest, Baha’u’llah (“Glory of Allah”).

Jesus is not God and did not rise from the dead.

He is not the only way to God.

Jesus has returned to earth in the form of Baha’u’llah.

The Bible teaches that there is only ONE God.

Deuteronomy 6:4 (Shema) “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!”

(This is the creed of Judaism.

The Lord is a translation of the Hebrew “Yahweh”, but later the Jews substituted the word “Adonai”(“my Lord”) since they considered Yahwehtoo sacred to be pronounced.

The word God here is used in its plural form (“Elohim”) in the Hebrew text.

Thus, “The Lord our God, the Lord is one!” could be translated “Yahweh our Elohim (plural form), Yahweh is one!”