John Bevere - How to Know If You're Following the Real Jesus

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Let’s face it: Jesus is not visible to our eyes, and we don’t hear Him audibly with our ears. Because of that, we could create a Jesus who isn’t the real Jesus at the right hand of God. You just read Chapter 30, and what I want to do now is dive a little deeper into this. This chapter is riveting because we’re talking about a different Jesus. Paul made this statement to the Corinthian Church: he said you happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus. He didn’t say a different God. I think it’s interesting that he said a different Jesus.

Let’s face it: Jesus is not visible to our eyes, and we don’t hear Him audibly with our ears, so because of that, we could create a Jesus who isn’t the real Jesus at the right hand of God. You know that story in the book? I’ll never forget it: when I sat down in a chair by the pool, a businesswoman at a different conference sat next to me. She heard that I was a minister and started telling me all about Jesus. Almost within 30 seconds, I knew this woman did not know Jesus. That’s when I said, «Do you see that guy across the pool?» I started describing him, saying, «He’s married to that girl over there.» She asked, «How do you know him so well?» I said, «I’ve never met him.» She was like, «What? Well, then how do you know him so well?» I responded, «That’s what I believe about him.» I said, «You just told me about a Jesus for the last five minutes that is not the Jesus revealed in Scripture.»

I remember it ended our conversation, but she was shaken. She was shaken, and yet I’ve been with ministers—not just churchgoers, but ministers—who don’t even know what the word of God says. In conversation, it comes up, and suddenly, you’re like, «Wait a minute, that’s a pretty clear truth in Scripture.» We must choose: are we going to really press in and obey God so that the real Jesus can be revealed, or are we going to create a fictitious Jesus that gives us what we want?

Now, that’s what Israel did. They saw God’s power in Egypt; they witnessed His miracles. But when they crossed the Red Sea and Moses—the man who kept bringing them under conviction—went up to the top of the mountain for 40 days, they created a Jehovah, a Yahweh, that was totally different from the one on the throne of heaven. They worshiped that Jehovah. They said, «Hey, Jehovah delivered us from Egypt.» He did, but the Jehovah they made up was a Jehovah who would give them wild parties, sexual immorality, and things that don’t please God. Let me tell you something: in the last days, Jesus said four times, just in one chapter alone, when the disciples asked Him about the return of the Lord, «Hey, tell us what it’s going to be like.» Four times He said, «Don’t be deceived.»

There is one problem with deception: the person who is deceived believes with all their heart they’re right when, in reality, they are not. How do we protect ourselves from that deception that Jesus said would run so rampantly in the final days? By the fear of the Lord, by loving His commandments, and by obeying them—instantly obeying them when it doesn’t make sense, obeying them when we don’t see a benefit, obeying them even if it hurts, and obeying them to completion. That is how we protect ourselves from the deception that will run so rampant in the coming days.