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Let me begin this Easter message by saying that this is a "Jesus' name church." I believe in the power of the name of Jesus. I don't use it as a by-word or to accent cursing. I treat it with respect because of who it represents and the power of that one on whom I'm calling. When a person calls upon the name of Jesus with faith, there is something that happens. Jesus said:

So Jesus shows up at the mention of His name! Jesus also told His disciples:

There's power when you ask something "in the name of Jesus!" He shows up! He responds to your request! God gets involved! Jesus told His disciples that if they truly believed, they would cast out devils in His name, they would speak with new tongues through the power of that name, they would baptize through that name, they would lay hands on the sick and they would recover in that name, and that there would be divine protection, all through the precious, holy name of Jesus Christ! So to be a church that is a true church of Jesus Christ, we must be a "Jesus' name church!" Paul wrote to the church in Colosse:

Do All in the name of Jesus! That's why when we bless our food, we do it in the name of Jesus. When we sing, we sing about Jesus! When we preach, we preach in the name of Jesus. When we pray or come together, we do it in the name of Jesus! When we repent, we do it calling on the name of the Lord which is Jesus! When we baptize.... well, if you want to follow the scriptural example then you will baptize in THE name, the name of Jesus! We worship Jesus! If we want to be the true church of God and for our lives to completely obey everything that God has asked us then everything we do, whether in word or deed, we must do ALL in the powerful, wonderful name of Jesus!

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Now that I have established that, let me teach to you what to some might seem shocking, but is truth from the Word of God. The Savior that you and I know as Jesus Christ was not the only person in the Bible named "Jesus." The name means "Jehovah has become salvation" and the Holy One born of Mary was not the only man in history so named. We get "Jesus" from the Greek form of the word but the Hebrew form is "Joshua, Jeshua, or Jehoshua." Therefore "Joshua" and "Jesus" are the same original name, but are different in our English language because we translate one from the Hebrew (the language that the Old Testament was originally written) and the other from Koine Greek (the language that the New Testament was originally written). When you read Acts 7:45 (New Testament), you will find that the writer referred to Joshua as "Jesus." The same thing happens in Hebrews 4:8. As weird as it sounds, the translations are correct because when you translate this name from the Greek you should say "Jesus" in English.

I could stop here and preach a whole message on the fact that Joshua and Jesus are the same essential name in their respective testaments. For instance, Joshua was the one who led the children of Israel into the promised land and helped them get victory over their enemies after the death of Moses. It was Jesus Christ, who died to bring an end to Moses' law, and then resurrected to lead the disciples to the outpouring of the promised Holy Ghost on the Day of Pentecost which helps us get the victory over our enemies! And we could go on and on. . . .! Obviously this correlation in scripture was no accident because God intended Joshua to be a type or a "shadow" to teach us about the work of Jesus Christ!

There are instances of people in the New Testament who were also named "Jesus." For example, in Colossians 4:11, Paul mentions a fellow preacher whose name was "Jesus" but "is called Justus." But I want to get to my point and my text that we read in Matthew 27 at the time of Jesus' crucifixion.

We read part of the story that we are celebrating on this Easter. Jesus was at His final trial under Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea. And the writer tells us that Pilate knew that Jesus was innocent of any wrongdoing. Pilate knew that Jesus had done nothing worthy of punishment, especially the horrible death of crucifixion. And yet Pilate also knew that if he did nothing, that the Jewish leaders and the mob of hate that they had incited would create a situation that would cause Caesar to dethrone Pilate. What most people don't realize about the story of Jesus' crucifixion is that Roman history tells us that Pilate had already had several bad situation occur in his reign over Judea with the Jews. So Pilate was already on the political "hot seat" and in danger of losing his position and prestige and power if another situation like the one developing in his courtyard this spring morning reoccurred.

To make matters worse, Pilate also had a direct word from the Lord about Jesus' innocence. Our text tells us that God had given Pilate's wife a dream about Jesus' innocence and she had sent word to Pilate setting up a decision that would forever reveal Pilate's character: would he sacrifice his political and financial prosperity and do the right thing by releasing an innocent man, or would he give in to the pressures and despite knowing that Jesus did not deserve to die, sacrifice Him to his greed and his ambition. The problem with freeing Jesus was that if he did not offer some consolation to the Jewish crowd, Pilate would be saying that he believed Jesus' words and then would be responsible for obeying ALL of them, not just what had been spoken in the judgment hall.

It's a decision that everyone of us that are here today still must make. Do we choose to obey ALL of God's Word even though it may cost us something!? Or does the things of this world mean so much to us that we will continue to live in sin and thus "crucify Him afresh?" Pilate did what this world tries to do even still today: he offered a compromise and tried to go with Jesus Christ and yet please the crowds at the same time! And Pilate eventually found out that you cannot do that. You must choose one or another.

There were over a million Jews in Jerusalem this time of year for the Passover and so the Romans had started a tradition of releasing one Jewish prisoner at this time in an effort to keep the Jewish people happy and avoid any uprising. In our text, Pilate stood before the angry Jewish leaders and reminded them of this practice and then tried his compromise. There was a "notable prisoner" called in our scripture "Barabbas." He was a Jewish man who was famous for the horrible deeds that he had done. We know from other scriptures that he had made his living as a robber, lying in wait and taking everything that a person had as they journeyed from city to city. We also know from scripture that Barabbas, as we call him, had joined himself to a rebellious mob and murdered innocents in his fanatical rage. This man that Pilate presented as an alternative was a liar, a thief, a robber, a life-long criminal, a murderer and deserved to die by both Roman and Jewish law. Understand that Pilate was wanting to get Jesus off the hook, so he offered the death of the worst person that he could find and this "Barabbas" was the one who was found.

The reason that I bring this story up, is that "Barabbas" was not this criminal's true name. "Bar" means "son of" and "Abbas" means "an esteemed father." "Barabbas" simply means "son of an esteemed father" and was a title. For instance when Peter first came to Christ, he was called "Simon Barjona." His name was Simon and "Barjona" simply meant "son of Jona" and was used as a title to distinguish him from the many other "Simons" of the time. I bring up this point about Barabbas because many of the Greek manuscripts of the New Testament gives his true name. The King James Version didn't include it in their English translation because the translators of the time thought it sac religious. The name given in the original Greek for this criminal was "Jesus Barabbas!"

The New King James Version doesn't include it in the text, but adds a foot note which tells you his full name as Jesus Barabbas. Other English versions also try to make their translation more closely to the original. For example, the New Revised Standard Version of our text reads:

The translators of the KJV could not believe that such a notorious criminal would be called the same name as our Lord and Savior so they left it out, but it's there in many of the Greek manuscripts. And I don't think that it was an accident that this prisoner who was offered as a choice with Jesus Christ was also named Jesus. In fact, it is almost ironic what Pilate was saying when you realize what the titles mean. Pilate was in effect saying to the crowd "who do you want released to you? This horrible and vile criminal, Jesus, the son of the esteemed father" or this innocent, miracle worker, Jesus who is called your Messiah?" "Do you want Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus Christ?" How clever of Pilate! He offered them "another Jesus" in trying to get out of his dilemma.

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I'm preaching to you today on this Easter Sunday that the world still wants you to compromise! And it does so by offering you "another Jesus." The name sounds right and they use all the right phrases. If you want to find a religion that will tickle your ears, there are enough of them in the world to choose from. And they all refer to Jesus in some way. But you better be careful because just as "all that glitters is not gold" so does just because someone has "church" on their sign, and the name "Jesus" on their lips, that doesn't mean that they have the real thing! In fact, this world has gotten clever at offering you "another Jesus!"

"How do I know the difference, preacher?" I want you to realize today that Jesus Christ had come and upset the Jewish people's comfort zone. He had bucked against man's tradition that had caused religion to become dry and stale. He had balked at their idolatry and merchandising of the house of God. They had been preaching "another Messiah" one that was going to come and kick out the Romans and solve all of their problems without demanding anything of them in return, and yet when Jesus Christ, the great savior of the world came, He ignored the Romans and concentrated on changing them! He preached that if any man wanted to follow Him, that they had to deny themselves and pick up their own cross! He preached that to follow Him, you had to go the extra mile and get beyond your human prejudices and your human inhibitions. He preached that you had to throw away man's traditions that were not based upon the solid foundation of God's Word and get idolatry of all kinds out of your life and heart. Jesus Christ preached that you must repent, and be baptized in His name, and that you must receive the power of the Holy Ghost to be saved! And so His one crime was that His preaching called for the Jewish leaders to stop depending upon religious ritual and little traditions that make them feel like they had fulfilled their duty, and yet does not change the inner man!

And so they chose "Jesus Barabbas." The name sounds right. "Jehovah has become salvation" and the "son of the esteemed Father." Sounds good doesn't it! But this Jesus Barabbas was thief and a destroyer and a liar and a robber! But yet the Jewish people chose him because he didn't require them to change anything! They were so stuck in their stubborn tradition and fear of change that they would rather allow their family to be ravaged by a robber and a destroyer than have to admit that they hadn't done everything right religiously all of their life!

And so I'm preaching to you today! You'd better beware of a church where you feel comfortable sitting upon it's pews and hearing it's sermons and hanging out with it's people and you don't have to change a thing! It may be a church, and they may sing good songs, and they may read from the Bible, but if it doesn't challenge areas of your life that need to change, then it is "another Jesus." If the true Word of God is being proclaimed and strived for, then you will never reach a place where you are totally comfortable in your spiritual level, because the Word of God is relevant to all of us. I've had the Holy Ghost since I was 9. I have my degree from a Bible institute and I can quote whole chapters of this precious book, but there are still areas that every week this sword cuts into me and shows me "you need to change." I'm not perfect yet and neither are you! Therefore I need the Word of God preached and taught straight. If I'm not completely like Jesus Christ, then I still need to change!

Today, preachers are more concerned with running a social club rather than a church. In the Old Testament, the church was a place of sacrifice and today it still is to be, only we don't offer up lambs and goats as a sacrifice but we offer up ourselves as a "living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God which is our reasonable service! (Romans 12:1-2)" Being apart of the true church of God is not convenient and still requires a sacrifice of time and effort! It still takes "not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together." (Hebrews 10:25) You can't sit at home and be a part of the true church of God! The true church of God gathers together in His name! The true church of God consists of believers who say "I need the Word of God and the Spirit of God to change me and I need a shepherd to feed me so much that I can't stay at home when it's time for service." In the book of Acts, you find them "daily" in the temple praising and serving God. Church was first and everything else: family, work, pleasure, everything else was distant seconds. It is true, you can find churches today and preachers today that will have a service once a week and take your money and pat you on the back and never preach about sin or about anything that we need to change. They'll even mention Jesus every once in a while, but it's another Jesus! They can't be serving the same Jesus that walked this earth as a miracle worker, because nothing in their lives are changing!

The sad thing about serving "another Jesus" is that it is a thief and a robber! I'm amazed at how stubborn people can be religiously. They'll say "no thanks preacher I'm ___________" and you can fill in the blank with whatever religious choice that people use. And yet their religion has robbed them of an intimate, close relationship with God! They don't feel the Spirit of God in their services or lives. They don't really understand or know His Word. Their families fall apart and their kid's marriages fall apart and sickness comes and yet they still choose their tradition that doesn't cost them anything over the real, vibrant, life-saving, hope-bringing Spirit of God moving in their life. Like the Jewish leaders on that fateful spring day, they would rather choose to expose their families and lives to danger and destruction than they would rather face the areas of their life that need to change in order to accept Jesus Christ!

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I'm preaching to you today! Paul wrote the church in Corinth in our other text and he said "I'm worried about some of you because just like the serpent tricked Eve so it seems that you would be deceived if someone else came preaching 'another Jesus.'" The serpent was able to trick Eve because she really wasn't sure of what God had said. Oh, she thought that she knew. When Satan asked her what God's word had said about the matter, she said He has said "you shall not eat of the tree, neither shall ye touch it lest ye die." Go back and look it up, God never said anything about touching the fruit bringing death. Eve had added her own slant to the commandments of God's Word. It was Adam who had heard the Word and Eve never bothered to make sure when God was around of what He had said. Eve got into trouble because she "took someone else's word for it!"

You can identify "another Jesus" when belief is reliant upon "this is the way that we've always believed." God has no grandchildren and only sons and daughters. You've got to get truth for yourself. You are not going to be judged into heaven or hell on what someone else said, but upon what the Word of God said and whether or not you obeyed it yourself!

"Oh preacher, I know what it takes to be saved." Really? How do you know that? Did you take a preacher's word for it, or did you check yourself? Have you ever read the Bible completely through? Have you ever allowed someone to teach you a Bible Study that took ALL of the scriptures on a subject and showed you what the scripture said!? I've known people who believed with all their heart something that scripture contradicted and they reply "well I know a lot of people who believe this." What does that mean? All that means is that a lot of people are taking somebody's word for it when it comes to spiritual things. If you can't take ALL of the scriptures on a subject and interpret them in such a way that they do not contradict each other, then you do not have truth! You are serving "another Jesus" if you are taking someone's word for it! That's why when I teach Bible Studies, I give handouts with the scriptures on them. That's I why I post my sermons word for word on the website so that people can read them and go back over them slowly and read the scriptures for themselves. I'm not perfect and my word can't save anybody. But the Word of God is and can!

The scriptures say to search out your own salvation with fear and trembling. That doesn't mean that you can pick and choose what you want to believe but rather that you'd better take your salvation seriously enough to check for yourself. You'd better make sure that what you believe is the whole truth. Many people today have this errant belief that if they don't know that it's in the Word of God then they are not responsible for it. That's a lie from the pits of hell. If that was true, then if we do not read the Word of God at all, then everybody's saved. What you don't know can hurt you, just ask Eve. The scriptures teach that you will be judged by the "whole council of God" whether you know it or not. If you stand before judgment and have obeyed every part of scripture that you knew and forgot something, then you WILL be held accountable for it. If you try to give an excuse, God is going to remind you of the hours that you spent watching television and neglecting the Word of God. He's going to remind you how much time you devoted to your work and pleasure and how that you could not even be faithful to the house of God for a few hours a week in order to learn the Word of God. The scriptures are clear: God may have one time winked at ignorance, but He now commands ALL men everywhere "to repent" (Acts 17:30).

Don't believe the lie that says you are okay because of who you are and because of who your parents were and because others consider you righteous. You can't live in sin and go to heaven. That's not the message of Jesus Christ, that's "another Jesus." When Jesus forgave the woman caught in the act of adultery, He told her "I don't condemn you, go and sin no more!" Grace is not a license to sin. True repentance it turning from sin not saying "I'm sorry and doing it again." The Holy Ghost comes to help us grow beyond that level. You can't stay at the level that you are and go to heaven. That's the message of "another Jesus" and "not the Christ."

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Can I preach to you? Miracles, signs, wonders, and healings are not a sign that you are serving the true Jesus. Jesus said:

So preaching pretty sermons about Jesus does not prove that we are saved. Casting out devils does not prove that I'm saved. Wonderful healings and miracles that are done in the "name of Jesus" do not prove that I'm saved. What proves that I am saved, is if I am obedient to the will of God. Go read the rest of that chapter and you will find that in the very next verse Jesus explains what is required to do the will of God: "obey His word."

In Acts chapter 19, we find that some sons of a local priest heard about the great wonders that Paul was doing in the name of Jesus and decided to go into the "ghost busting business." They found a real devil-possessed man and decided to cast the devil out of him. The plan backfired. The scriptures record that there were many people who would say "we adjure by Jesus whom Paul preacheth." For some this worked, but then these priest's sons tried it for themselves:

It then proceeded to jump upon the men, rob them of their clothes and dignity and chased them down the street. "What's the point, preacher?" I want to remind you that saying "in the name of Jesus" is not some magical formula. It does you no good unless you have a relationship with the one called Jesus. Just because God does a miracle in your life doesn't determine your salvation. Just because God uses you to perform a miracle in someone's life doesn't determine your salvation. What determines your salvation is whether or not you have a close relationship with Jesus Christ. Listen carefully to what I'm about to say: It's not whether or not you know Him. The devil spoke to the sons of Sceva and said "Jesus I know" and we know the devil's NOT saved. It's whether or not Jesus knows you! That's a scary scripture in Matthew because it proves that you can feel God's presence, see God's power, even minister in God's name and yet do it without a true relationship with Jesus Christ! It's not about me accepting Christ, it's about me being obedient to God's Word so that He can accept me!

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There are many more things that I could preach, and this is one of those sermons that could become a series of messages, but I want to close with this scripture:

Paul said beware of "another gospel" which is not the true "gospel of Christ." The word "gospel" simply means "good news" and we know from 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, that the "gospel of Jesus Christ" or the "good news of Jesus Christ" is His death, burial, and resurrection! And it's not enough that He died, was buried, and has risen, but 1 Thessalonians 1:8 tells us that to be saved we must "obey the gospel" of Jesus Christ.

Peter kicked off the church in the first message by telling us how to obey the gospel of Jesus Christ in Acts 2:

The three things that Peter commanded us to do perfectly corresponds to the gospel of Jesus Christ:

Repentance - death. We die to our sins by repenting and asking God to crucify our "old man" of sin.

Water Baptism - burial. We are buried in a watery grave when we are baptized in water. The book of Romans makes this clear:

Rom 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. (see also Colossians 2:11-12)

Holy Ghost - resurrection. We are raised to a new life in Christ Jesus by receiving the Holy Ghost. (see Titus 3:5 "regeneration" means "to bring back to life.")

That is the gospel of Jesus Christ. And we must guard against this world trying to present us "another Jesus," and "another gospel." I am amazed at how many denominations and preachers there are that preach "another gospel." They don't preach about the necessity of repentance, but instead have replaced it with a sinner's prayer. They don't preach about the necessity of water baptism in the name of Jesus but have either replaced it by saying that water baptism is not necessary or by changing the formula. The only way anyone was EVER baptized in the Bible was in the "name of the Lord Jesus Christ." see Acts 2:38; 8:16; 10:46-48; 19:1-6; 22:16 etc...). And instead of receiving the supernatural infilling of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gives the utterance like the original church of Acts did, many preachers have replaced it with just saying that you "accept Christ as your personal savior" even though there is not ONE recorded instance of someone being saved by doing this in scripture.

Too many people preach "another gospel." And by doing so they preach "another Jesus," because Jesus Himself preached a message of Repentance, water baptism in His name, and the infilling of the Holy Ghost. The following verses are the words of Jesus:

So to preach another salvational formula other than Repentance, Water Baptism, and infilling of the Holy Ghost, is to preach something that Jesus did not preach: it is to preach "another Jesus." And to leave any of that out causes you to "be accursed!" You are choosing death and destruction. By repeating a sinner's prayer and not really repenting to God yourself, you are not finding true repentance and so are still facing the same direction that you once were which was the "wrong way." By not having your sins washed away and buried by being baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, you have the guilt and the weight of your past sins hanging on you robbing you of happiness and freedom and true liberty! By not receiving the Holy Ghost, you are not receiving the power to overcome sin for the Holy Ghost is to "reprove us of sin." You are not going to be able to follow the commandments of the Bible. But when you get the Holy Ghost inside you, you receive power to overcome sin and power to help you obey God's Word and live righteously and thereby live under the blessings of God! Don't choose to live under the condemnation of "another Jesus" who is a robber and a thief, but choose Jesus Christ and His message!

(if needed go to Acts 19:1-6 and show how that Paul preached the same message as Jesus and Peter of Repentance, Water Baptism in the name of Jesus, and the infilling of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues as the Spirit of God gives the utterance.)