Rsbc
Sunday Morning
Feb 8th 2004
Subject: “And Jesus Said I Am He”
Text: Mark 14: 43-65
Intro: The many claims of Christ in the Bible give a christian great hope and confidence through faith in his word to rest on it. As you know when God came to Moses in the burning bush he made this self proclaimed name known...
Exodus 3:13‑14 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? 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.
John Calvin said of this verse: “ I am that I am. The verb in the Hebrew is in the future tense, "I will be what I will be;" but it is of the same force as the present, except that it designates the perpetual duration of time. This is very plain, that God attributes to himself alone divine glory, because he is self‑existent and therefore eternal; and thus gives being and existence to every creature”.
Christ used this term through out his public ministry... In these verses that I have read this morning.. I will show briefly what led to this claim of his and then move own to show the many claims of Christ uses this term..
1. His betrayal..43-45
2. His arrest.. Vs 46
3. His reply that is Christ..vs 48-49
4. His disciples all leave him..vs 50
5. Where they brought him...vs 55
6. His accusers.. Vs 56-59
7. His prosecutors.. Vs 60-61
Then we come to our text... “And Jesus said I am he” what an acknowledgment of who he was.. In there very midst the GOD OF GLORY stands and affirming by his word who he was and they did not see it, nor did they acknowledge it.
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In his genealogy it is said that he was Christ..which means that he was the true Messiah...Matthew 1:16 And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
I... “TO MAKE SUCH A CLAIM WAS TO INVITE MUCH TROUBLE”
1ST. It brought about untrue accusations... vs 64
Notice “ he has spoken blasphemy” This word meant in their eyes that Christ had spoken irreparable words against deity. I don’t know of any unkind words that Christ spoke, but especially against himself or his Father that had sent him into the world.
John 10:33 The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.
Hear me good this morning Christ was not capable of speaking blasphemy because this is a sin of the heart and he was incapable of sinning in thought or action.
Colossians 3:8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
2nd. It gave his enemies to show what was really in their hearts: vs 64: “they all condemned him to death”.
Through out his preaching ministry Christ told them these words, and not only them but all men: Matthew 15:19‑20 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: 20 These are [the things] which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.
After Jesus was crucified buried and rose again and ascended Paul said this about the enemies of Christ Php 3:18‑19 (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, [that they are] the enemies of the cross of Christ: 19 Whose end [is] destruction, whose God [is their] belly, and [whose] glory [is] in their shame, who mind earthly things.)
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II... “ TO MAKE SUCH A CLAIM GAVE HIS PEOPLE REASON TO BELIEVE AND HOPE IN HIM”...
We do not see this in this text but in other places of the Bible...
1st. John the Baptist...
John 1:27 He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose. Note the firmness of his confession..
He assures his hearers of his belief in the one that he is preaching about when he says... “ He it is” John has great hope and faith in his heart that Chirst is who he says he is...
A. He is preferred before me... this speaks of his eternal existence.
B. I am not worthy to untie his shoe strings.. This speaks of his worthiness.
John 3:28 Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him.
2nd. The woman at the well...
John 4:29 Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?
The conversation between Christ and this woman led her to believe that he was the one that she perhaps had heard them talking about coming. Maybe she read it in the word, but wherever she heard it she knew in her heart that CHRIST was come and the one she was talking to was he.
3rd. Andrew Simeon brother...
John 1:40‑41 One of the two which heard John [speak], and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. 41 He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.
4th. Philip...
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John 1:45 Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
The credibility of this confession was based upon the law and the prophets what they did write of Christ the messiah. Philip has great reason to believe and hope. Jesus Christ was born living among them and preaching and teaching things of his church and his kingdom. On one occasion Jesus said had they believed Moses they would believe him, for Moses wrote of him..
III... “ TO MAKE SUCH A CLAIM MEANT THAT THE GOD OF ALL GLORY HAD FINALLY MANIFESTED HIMSELF AMONG THEM”
John 2:11 This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.
In his great priestly prayer he said these words:
John 17:6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.
This great truth was carried own by the followers of Christ and written to his people.. John said 1 John 1:2‑3 (For the life was manifested, and we have seen [it], and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) 3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship [is] with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
1 Timothy 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. What a great verse to declare his coming among men.. The God of all glory now in their midst preaching and teaching and they rejected him and hated him ...
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IV... “ TO MAKE SUCH A CLAIM MEANT HE WOULD HAVE TO DIE TO SAVE AND BUILD UP HIS CHURCH AND KINGDOM ON THIS EARTH”...
Christ in his preaching indicated many times that he did not come to stay but to die and raise again...It is clear in his preaching that he was fully aware of his impending encounter with judgement and death..
John 18:37 Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.
1st. He came to call sinners ... Matthew 9:12 But when Jesus heard [that], he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. Matthew 9:13 But go ye and learn what [that] meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
2nd. He came to bring division: Matthew 10:34‑35 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. 35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
3rd. He came to save men’s life.. Luke 9:56 For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save [them]. And they went to another village.
Do you need to be saved today? Do you have a desire to be saved? Then you are saved because dead sinners have no desire for God and things of the LORD only sinners that have been given life in their inner self. Was Jesus who lived 2000 years ago the Christ? Was Jesus who walked on the water, turn it into wine, raise the dead, healed the sick, preached the gospel of the kingdom was he really the Christ? Was this great man of history and the word of God the Christ? Was this man that said come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy leaden and I will give you rest was he the Christ?