Sermon Central
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Jesus The Great I Am
Contributed by Mark Aarssen on Jun 19, 2018 (message contributor)
Summary: Many people have claimed that Jesus never claimed to be God. Those people are dead wrong. Jesus actually claimed to be God and He did so repeatedly. In fact that is why the Jewish religious leaders were so angry with Jesus. He wouldn’t stop doing it.
Jesus the Great I Am
Today I want to show you how you can prove that Jesus claimed to be God by using His own words from the Gospel of John. Using a highlighter you can become a witness for the Lord. This is the easiest witnessing you will ever do using a Bible. In fact all you really need is the Gospel of John.
In my experience people want to be shown the truth not just told the truth. So show them right from God’s word. You will not need to take a course to do this or go to seminary. Just turn the pages of the Gospel of John to the statements Jesus made about Himself. Many people have claimed that Jesus never claimed to be God. Those people are dead wrong. Let’s see why.
Jesus actually claimed to be God and He did so repeatedly. In fact that is why the Jewish religious leaders were so angry with Jesus. He wouldn’t stop making the claim. He had every right to make the claim and the Jews had a right to be angry because to claim to be God is blasphemy. A great sin against God worthy of death by Jewish law. But if it’s true that’s another matter.
The problem for these Jewish religious leaders is that they refused to accept the evidence that Jesus provided by His words and actions. Their refusal and rejection of Jesus is the same problem many people wrestle with today.
Jesus the Great I Am.
Defending our faith is something we all need to be able to do in this day and age. The Bible says; always be prepared to give an answer for the hope that is in you. “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,” 1 Peter 3:15
I want to show you how you can gently and respectfully defend what you believe by pointing people to a few scriptures in the Gospel of John where Jesus Himself claims to be God. Start at John Chapter 4:25-26 where Jesus openly claims to be the Messiah. Then take a highlighter and make your way through the Gospel of John marking the use of “I Am” by Jesus.
The key to this defense is in the divine name Jesus uses time and again to identify Himself. That name is the same name our Heavenly Father identified Himself with when Moses asked what He should call Him.
God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” Exodus 3:14 NIV
Throughout John’s Gospel Jesus was saying He was the “I Am” of Exodus. The same “I Am” who made Moses a deliverer was now present in the flesh to personally deliver those who would put their faith in Him as Jesus the Messiah.
This discovery had been made by Bible scholars many years ago and they had identified 7 key places where Jesus had used this name “I Am”.
They are:
I AM the Bread of Life; John 6:35, 41, 48, and 51 = 4 Times
Here Jesus compares Himself to the Mana that fell from Heaven that God provided for the Hebrews during their time of wandering in the desert.
I AM the Light of the World; John 8:12 = 1 Time
Here Jesus distinguished Himself as the true light, the only light that leads to spiritual truth. His is a light separate from the dark light of man.
I AM the Door of the Sheep; John 10:7, 9 = 2 Times
Here Jesus distinguishes Himself from the false Messiahs of the past. There can only be one true Messiah and Jesus is that person.
I AM the Good Shepherd; John 10:11, 14 = 2 Times
False teachers and false Messiahs are self-serving but Jesus is willing to give Himself for the lives of the sheep as a sacrifice for our sins.
I AM the Resurrection and the Life; John 11:25 = 1 Time
Here Jesus displays His power over life and death not just in the future resurrection of all the Saints but in the present resurrection of Lazarus. Jesus has eternal power over life and death in our here and now.
I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life; John 14:6 = 1 Time
Jesus is our gateway to all things eternal, the gateway to Heaven, the divine Truth of God and the Life eternal that we can begin to live not when we are dead but right now while we live in these bodies. Then when we move from mortal to immortal it will just be a single step in the same direction as Jesus continues to lead us.
