Sorting Out Jesus
by Joey Carroll Corinth Missionary Baptist Church
Do you have Jesus sorted out? Do you know the One who saves sinners, or one of the many others who are meant to deceive?
We meet a man named Nicodemus in John 3. He came to Jesus late one night to figure it out for himself. It is certainly something we all have to sort out for ourselves, but let me warn you, it is not an easy thing to do. If you study history, you will find that before the Son of God was born a man and after He ascended into heaven, Satan produced imitation saviors. Satan is in the business of deceiving, and he is very good at it. Jesus did refer to him as the father of lies (see John 8:44), but the devil is not the only one producing false gods.
Cults have always been busy doing the same. They teach things contrary to what the Bible teaches about our Lord. Everyone of them either deny “who” Jesus really is or “what” He did for us on the cross. It should be an easy “catch” since all of them have founders who are “necessary” to follow. The founders all had some weird vision or experience and describe Jesus contrary to the teaching of the Bible.
But false saviors do not stop there. The heart of the fallen man has been rightly described as an idol making factory. We like the idea of an all-powerful and all-loving god who holds us in his favor, and so we create a god that thinks and acts in ways that we approve of. We fashion him to hate the things we hate and accept the things that we accept. In other words, we create a god and savior after our own image.
In the 60’s and 70’s, Jesus wore a tye-dye shirt and sandals. His desire then was that we live and let live, and so he held up a perpetual peace sign. In the 80’s and 90’s, Jesus wore a clean shaven face and a nice suit and tie; he was into the American dream. At other times, he was impassioned for social reform and marched with a sign in hand. Today, he is deeply concerned with political issues. We either picture him as a humanist promoting moral freedoms or a patriot draped in an American flag. It all depends on what we like because we want our god to be about the things that we are about.
As Nicodemus pondered who Jesus was in John 3, our Lord took him on a journey of revelation. It began with an understanding about salvation. Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God,” (John 3:3, NASB). That was so contrary to the understanding of Nicodemus. He thought salvation had to do with his national heritage and his ability to meet the requirements of the Law. He was certainly not alone in his wrong thinking. It seems that everyone has an opinion about how you can go to heaven. It comes from the same line of thinking as our idol making heart. Of course, we meet the requirements. If we did not, we would change the requirements.
Our Lord finished the conversation with Nicodemus that evening with these words, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life,” (John 3:14-15, NASB). The most essential understanding you need to have about the Jesus of the Bible is that He came to save sinners. And in order to save them, He had to be lifted up on the cross for them and die in their place.
According to church history, Nicodemus continued his thorough investigation into Jesus. And thankfully, he came to the right conclusions (see John 19:39). But everyone has to take the journey and come to a conclusion. Avoiding the subject is coming to the conclusion that who Jesus is and what He did is not worth knowing. But if you want to seriously undertake the task, there is only one source of reliable information. God has chosen to make Himself known clearly in the Bible. If you will read it for yourself, you will find the real Jesus – the One that the Father sent to be the Savior of the world (1 John 4:14).
