Declaring Doctrine | Part 12 | The Deity of Christ as Proven by his Personal Statements
Alright well we’re there in John Chapter 8. And of course we are going through a series on Sunday nights called “Declaring Doctrine”. And we are taking the major doctrines of the Bible and systematically preaching through them. And I think that we’re going to take this series in sections. I think it’ll be a series that we take a break from and come back to. We’ve been dealing with the Godhead and we’re going to continue to do that and preach some sermons on the humanity of Christ after we’re done with the deity of Christ. Then we’re going to look at the Holy Spirit and we’ll look at the trinity. We might take a break and come back to it later with another section on the major doctrines of the Bible.
But tonight I’m preaching on the subject of the deity of Christ. And I’m preaching on the subject of deity of the Jesus Christ as proven by his personal claims. We’ve already looked at the deity of Christ as proven by his moral attributes. And we’ve already looked at the deity of Christ as proven by the testimony of scripture. We saw where the Bible itself called Jesus God and that was clear. But I want to preach a sermon on the subject of the deity of Jesus Christ proven by his personal claims. There are those, and it’s often the cults, that will teach that Jesus was not God. And those that will make this claim will say “Well Jesus never even claimed to be God”. And you know that’s not true. Jesus claimed to be God. I’m going to prove that to you from scripture. I do want to say this there is no direct quote from Jesus where he says these words “I am God”, at least not that I’ve found. But Jesus did declare himself to be God. And I want to kind of explain this to you by way of introduction. Because sometimes people get hung up on this and say “Well show me the verse where he said ‘I am God.’”. And I’m going to show verses where he absolutely declared himself to be God.
But what you need to understand the context in which Jesus lived. He lived in a polytheistic roman culture which saw their emperors as deity, which thought that their Caesar was a God. Declaring himself God by just coming out and saying “I am God”, that statement would not have been very distinct or distinguishing or noticeable in the context in which he lived. Because in the ancient world, there were lots of people who declared themselves God. There were lots of people who thought they were God. It was very common for kings and those of royal blood to be considered gods. They in the Roman Empire thought Caesar was God. They thought Caesar was a God. So for him to come out and say “I am God” would really not have been very distinct in the sense that there were many leaders and rulers in those days that declared themselves a god. A god in this polytheistic Roman Culture or Greek culture of gods. There are many stories about demi-gods and all of those things. What Jesus did was more effective and more offensive in the sense that to his Jewish audience, which is where he ministered, he declared himself very clearly Jehovah God, the one true God. And I’m going to show this to you from scripture.
We’ll start right here in John Chapter 8. And of course I want to encourage you to take notes. On the back of your chorus of the week, you can write things down. This is really important if you are a soulwinner. I don’t think that you should go out and argue with people but you know some people do have a hang up on these things and it’s good for you to have some notes to be able to teach them about the deity of Christ. Where did Jesus declare himself to be God? I want to give you 4 thoughts tonight.
Number one. Jesus declares himself to be the self-existing one. Jesus declares himself to be the self-existing one. In John 8, Jesus is having a conversation with the Pharisees. I don’t know if you paid attention when we were reading the chapter but it’s a pretty heated conversation, a pretty heated argument. He’s calling them all sorts of names and saying things to them. In verse 56, the Bible says this “56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day:” Because they’re saying that they weren’t born of fornication and Abraham is their father. Jesus says okay, well “Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.”. He said when Abraham saw me, he was glad. Verse 57 “57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old,”. They’re saying that he isn’t even 50 years old. And of course they’re talking about his physical human life. They said “Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? 58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you,”. I want you to notice this statement. Because I think sometimes we read these statements, and it’s a famous statement in scripture, but we don’t really understand what he’s saying.
He says “Before Abraham was, I am.”. Now that phrase “I am” means it’s a present tense. Here’s what he’s saying. Because they bring up Abraham and he says that Abraham rejoiced to see his day. They said that you’re not even 50 years old so how have you seen Abraham? He says you know what, before Abraham was, before Abraham was even existed, before Abraham was ever born, he says I existed or I am. “Before Abraham was I am”. To us in the English world, we might look at that and say “Is that clear? Does that really mean that he’s claiming himself to be God?”. But again, he’s speaking to the Pharisees, to this Jewish audience culture. This would be extremely clear to them. What it is that he is saying? Go to Exodus 3:13.
If you remember in Exodus 3, we have Moses before Moses is out in the wilderness. And God is calling him to go and take the children of Israel out of Egypt, out of bondage, to create the nation of Israel. In the context, Moses is giving all his excuses and trying to get out of the deal. Exodus 3:13, the Bible says this “13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?”. Now this is really important because up to this point in the book of Genesis, God has just been referred to as God Almighty, as the Lord. This is the first time in the Bible that the question is asked of God. Moses is asking God “What’s your name? I’m going to go tell them that you’re God, that the God of your fathers has sent me. And they’re going to ask me what is his name. What shall I say unto them?”. And it’s really interesting because today you have a cult called the Jehovah’s Witnesses who teach that the name Jehovah is the most important name. And Jehovah is definitely the name of God but it’s interesting because the first time that God is asked about his name, he doesn’t say Jehovah.
He’s asked what his name is and verse 14 says “14 And God said unto Moses, I Am That I Am:”. And again that phrase there means the self-existing one. The term Jehovah means the same thing. What “I am that I am” means is the one who was never created, the one who will never die, the one that will never cease from being created. He says no one created me, no one gave me life. He said it’s not that I began, it’s not that I will end. He says I have always been. He’s saying that I am right now, yesterday I was and tomorrow I will be because he’s no human being. And when Moses asks God what to tell people when they ask for his name, “14 And God said unto Moses, I Am That I Am: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you.”. And the Pharisees and the Jews of Jesus’ day would be extremely familiar with this.
When Jesus says “I am”, sometimes people try to minimize this by saying “Well Jesus wasn’t saying I am that I am. He was just saying it like you would say ‘I am hungry’”. But look, if you look at the context in the way in which he said it, they’re talking about the fact that Abraham rejoiced to see his day. And the question is, how do you know Abraham? How have you seen Abraham? How has Abraham seen you? In that context, he’s saying that before Abraham was ever born, I have always existed. I am Jehovah God. I am the self-existing one.
And just to prove to you that they understood exactly what he meant, look at verse 59. “59 Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.”. This statement of “I am” by Jesus is one of 7 “I am” statements in the book of John. On a Sunday night, I’ll preach a series through the 7 “I am” statements. And we’ll look at some of them tonight. He makes a statement and it is a declaration of his deity. When he says “I am”, he’s saying that he’s always been, that he’s always existed. He makes this statement of his self-existence. He says “Before Abraham was, I am.”. God said “I am that I am”. And they understood exactly what he meant by that because they tried to stone him after he said it. So I want you to notice that Jesus declared himself to be the self-existing one when he declared himself the “I am”. And he said that phrase multiple times. We’re going to look at several of them tonight. We see here a clear statement from Jesus where he is personally declaring himself God.
Let me give you a second one. Number one, Jesus declares himself to be the self-existing one. Number two, Jesus declares himself to be the source of life. Now in the Bible it is very clear that God is the source of life. And there are a lot of passages we could look at on this. I’m not going to take the time to do that. But I’ll show you a couple passages. Genesis 2:7 “7 And the Lord God” And if you see that capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, that’s Jehovah. “7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”. The Bible clearly teaches in Genesis 2:7 that God is the source of life, that God breathed into the nostrils of Adam the breath of life and man became a living soul. Let me give you another example of this.
Notice Job 33:4 “4 The spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.”. And that goes exactly with what we just read in Genesis 2:7. So, the Bible is clear that God is the source of life. God is the one who gives life. Now notice what Jesus says. Go go John 6:34. I’m going to show you several things here from John but God is the one who gives life. He’s the source of life. And then Jesus not only declares himself to be the self-existing one, the “I am”, but he declares himself to be the source of life. John 6:34 “34 Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.”. And of course there’s an entire conversation going on about bread and Jesus fed the 5,000 with bread and they want bread. Notice verse 35. “35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.”. So I want to notice that in John 6 he says “I am the bread of life”. You say what does that mean? He means that he is the source of life. He is the bread from which life comes. He says you want physical bread to give you physical life but he said you don’t realize that I am the bread of life. I am the source of life.
John 14:6. One of the most famous verses in the Bible. “6 Jesus saith unto him, I am” Another one of the great “I am” statements. “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”. Jesus here says that he is the life, he is the source of life. “I am the bread of life” or “the source of life”. Go to John 11:20. This is Jesus at a funeral. Remember Lazarus died and Jesus shows up at the funeral with Lazarus. John 11:20 “20 Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house. 21 Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.”. Lazarus died because Jesus took too long to get there. And of course it’s all planned by Jesus because he was going to perform a miracle. Notice verse 22. “22 But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. 23 Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.”. He’s saying look, your brother is about to come back. Don’t worry about it. Verse 24 “24 Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”. She’s thinking that he’s talking about the final resurrection, the great resurrection, the rapture, when all believers are resurrected. Because he says “thy brother shall rise again”. He means like in a few minutes here, just hang tight. And she’s like well I know that he’s going to resurrect in the last day. And this prompts Jesus to say “No, you don’t understand. You’re not realizing that I am the source of life.”. He’s saying “You want him to be alive but you don’t realize you’re looking at the source of life”. He says “thy brother shall rise again”. She says “Yeah I know. One day.”.
Verse 25 “25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection,”. And look, you need to understand this. The gospel is the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we understand that Jesus died, was buried and he resurrected. But please understand something. He not only resurrected. We understand he resurrected. He resurrected as part of the gospel. But it’s more than that. He is the resurrection. He says “I am the resurrection, and the life:”. Because she has her hope in some future resurrection, the rapture of the last day. She says “Yeah, I know that he’s going to rise after the last day.”. And Jesus was looking at her and he said “No, you don’t understand. I am the resurrection”. He wasn’t saying that the resurrection was something that was going to happen. He said “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? 27 She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God,”. And notice how she equates the statement to deity. The Christ, the Son of God. “which should come into the world.”.
He declared himself the source of life. He said “I am the bread of life”. He says “I am the way, the truth and the life”. He says “I am the resurrection and the life”. These are all statements where Jesus is saying “Hey, I’m God”. Because God is the source of life. Life comes from God. And people will claim “This isn’t very clear. He’s not declaring himself God”. But think about this. I mean what if I just got up here on Sunday night and started preaching and saying “You know Abraham Lincoln. He met me 1 time and was really happy to meet me”. You would say, “You’re only 34 years old. How have you known Abraham?”. And i just looked at you and said “Before Abraham was I existed”. You would think I’m crazy. You would say “Who do you think you are? God?”. That’s what Jesus is saying. What if I just show up at a funeral and I’m talking about this dead man and I’m trying to comfort the sister. And she is like “One day we’re going to see him in heaven in the resurrection”. Then I respond “I am the resurrection”. You would say, “Who do you think you are? That’s sacrilegious. You think you’re God or something?”. Well Jesus did think he was God because he was God. And these statements are declaration of his deity. He declares himself to be the self-existing one. He declares himself to be the source of life.
Let me give you a third one. John 10:11. Here’s another one of those great “I am” statements. John 10:11 says “11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.”.
See, not only did Jesus declare himself to be the self-existing one, not only did Jesus declare himself to be the source of life, Jesus also declared himself to be the good shepherd. You say “Well how is this a claim to deity?”. Well let’s look at the most famous Psalm in the Bible. Psalm 23. And I know you know it but let’s just look at it. The Jewish audience would know this song and know exactly what he was talking about. If someone said the word shepherd, their mind would go to Psalm 23. I mean Psalm 23 is a very famous passage in our culture and it was definitely a famous passage in their culture. Jesus says “I am the good shepherd”.
Psalm 23:1 “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”. Here is one of the most famous passages in scripture where David, the sweet Psalmist of Israel, beings with these word the LORD. Capital L, Capital O, Capital R, Capital D. Jehovah God. I am the self-existing. “The Lord is my shepherd;”. And then just Jesus shows up and says “No, I’m the good shepherd.”. And they would realize this is a claim to deity. Because look, if the Lord is the shepherd and Jesus said “I am the shepherd” then what is he saying? He’s saying “I am the Lord. I am God.”. He says “I am the good shepherd.”. He says “I am the bread of life. I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am the resurrection and the life”. He says “Before Abraham was, I am”. I am the self-existing one.
Let me give you a last one here. Number one, Jesus declares himself to be the self-existing one. Number two, Jesus declares himself to be the source of life. Number three, Jesus declares himself to be the good shepherd. Let me give you the last one. In Isaiah 48:12, God is speaking to the children of Israel in the Old Testament. The Bible says this “12 Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last.”. And we don’t have time to cover this, but in the Book of Revelation, Jesus said “I am the first and last”. But here God says “I am he”. And you may have never noticed these three “I am” statements. It’s a theme throughout the Bible but you may have never really noticed this statement “I am he”. But the importance of this “I am he” statement and what makes this one a unique one is that it is declaring the fact that there is one God. There’s not multiple Gods. And obviously we believe in the trinity. That’s not multiple Gods. We believe that there’s one God that exists in three persons. But this “I am he” statement is a declaration of the singular God. Let me give you an example of that.
Isaiah 43:10 says “10 Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that” Notice these 3 words “I am he:”. This is God speaking. “I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.”. This “I am he” statement is a statement of the singular God, that there is no polytheism, that there are not multiple God. “I am he” is a reference to “before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.”. I’m the only God. I’ve always existed. He says “I am he”. And again this would have been very well known to the Jewish community, the Jewish culture that Jesus is preaching to. Go to John 8.
I said number one, Jesus declared himself to be the self-existing one. Number two, Jesus declared himself to be the source of life. Number three, Jesus declared himself to be the good shepherd. Here’s point number four. Jesus declares himself to be the singular God. Because in Isaiah 43 and 48, we see that the statement “I am he” is a statement that God makes about himself and it specifically is highlighting the fact that there is a singular God. “I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.”. In John 8:23, here’s what Jesus said. “23 And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that” Notice these 3 words “I am he,”. Now look, they would know that he is referring back to Isaiah 43:10 when God said “I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.”. In fact, he uses the same terminology. Because in verse 10 he says “ye are my witnesses saith the Lord”. Capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. Isaiah 43:10 “10 Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.”. And then Jesus in the New Testament says in John 8:24 “24 I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.”.
And people say “Oh, you don’t have to believe that Jesus is God in order to get saved.”. Oh really? Sounds like you do in John 8:24. “ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.”. Look at verse 28 of the same chapter. John 8:28. “28 Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.”. See, when Jesus said “I am he”, the Jews of his day knew Isaiah 43. They knew “I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.”. Look, Jesus declared himself to be the singular God. He says “if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.”.
Go to John Chapter 20. Today there are those who don’t want to disrespect Jesus and they end up disrespecting him anyway. But there are those who say “Well we don’t believe that he’s God. We just believe he was a good man. We don’t believe that he’s God. We just believe that he was a prophet. We don’t believe that he’s God. We just believe that he was a teacher. We don’t believe that he’s God. We just believe that he was a great leader, a man of great influence”. But here’s the problem with that. Jesus said too much about himself. Jesus showed up at funerals and said “I am the resurrection”. Jesus went around telling people “I am the source of life”. Jesus told people that he was the good shepherd. Jesus went around using the statement “I am he”. Jesus went around telling people “Before Abraham was”, who lived thousands of years before the New Testament. He says “Before Abraham was, I am”. See, Jesus said too much about himself. The option of “He’s not God but he was a good man”, that option is off the table.
There are only 2 options to the Lord Jesus Christ. Either you believe he was insane, either you believe he was crazy, either you believe he was a maniac, or you believe that he was God in the flesh. Those are the only choices. He said too much. He said “I am he”, the singular God. He said “I am the good shepherd”. He said “I am the source of life”. He said “I am the self-existing one”. And I just want you to understand this. I want you to get this. In the day in which Jesus lived, they understood it. There was no mincing of words. They understood exactly what Jesus was saying when he said “You’re going to die in your sins if you don’t believe that I am he”. They knew exactly what he was talking about and they crucified him. And I just want you to understand, so did his followers.
In John 20:24, the Bible says this “24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.”. By the way, this is why you don’t want to skip church services. “25 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.”. This is of course after the resurrection of Christ Jesus and his resurrected body. He shows up and appears to them. It is actually a Sunday night service they’re having. They’re having a meeting in the evening of the first day of the week. And Thomas wasn’t there. Jesus appears to them. They tell him about it. He says “Well, I won’t believe it unless I see it with my own hands”.
Notice verse 26 “26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.”. Then he says to Thomas, because Thomas is at this service “27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.”. And I want you to notice what Thomas says in verse 28. “28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.”. Why would he say that? Because that’s what he believed. He believed that Jesus was God. Because he said “before Abraham was, I am”. “If you don’t believe that I am, ye shall die in your sins”. “I am the good shepherd”. “I am the great shepherd”. “I am the source of life”.
And after his resurrection, Thomas would get on his knees and say “You are my Lord and my God”. Why? Because Jesus was God. And it’s proven by his moral attributes. It’s proven by the testimony of scripture. But it’s even proven by his personal claims. And the thing about his personal claims is that it does not allow for someone to say “Why I believe he’s a good man but I don’t believe he was God”. That option is off the table. You either believe he was God or you believe he was insane. Because he said too much about himself. I choose to believe like Thomas that he is my Lord and my God.
Let’s pray.