Jesus Christ Is Bigger Than Time! Series

Jesus Christ Is Bigger than Time!

John 8:46-58

Series: The Great I Am

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church -- Feb. 2, 2014

BACKGROUND:

*Today we continue focusing on the Lord's "I AM" statements from the Gospel of John. This name of God goes all the way back to Exodus 3 where the Lord appeared to Moses in the burning bush. There the Lord first revealed Himself as the great "I AM".

*In Exodus 3 Moses asked God,

13. . . "When I come to the children of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they say to me, 'What is His name?' what shall I say to them?"

14. And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And He said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"

*In Hebrew this name I AM was Jehovah or Yahweh. John Phillips tells us:

-"It is worth remembering that 'I AM' was the greatest name for God known to the Jews, and it was treated with the utmost reverence by them. This name for God was considered to be so holy that the Jews would not speak it. It is said that when a scribe was copying the Scriptures and came to this name for God, he would take a new pen just to write that name." (1)

*Yet Jesus boldly claimed to be the great I AM. So far we have heard Him say, "I AM the Bread of Life," and "I AM the Light of the world."

*Today we will go back to John 8 to look at another "I AM" statement from the Lord. It's John 8:58 where Jesus said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM." This statement came in the same discussion where Jesus said, "I AM the Light of the world."

*Here Jesus made crucial statements about His identity, about His unique relationship with the Father, and about our total dependence on Him for salvation. For example, look at vs. 23-24, where Jesus said:

23. "You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.

24. Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.''

*Now vs. 28&29:

28. Then Jesus said to them, "When you lift up the Son of Man (i.e. when you have lifted up Jesus on the cross), then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.

29. And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.''

*And vs. 31-32:

31. Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.

32. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.''

*With this background in mind, let's read vs. 46-58.

INTRODUCTION:

*Have you ever wished you could turn back time? Jesus can!

-In 2 Kings 20:8-11, when the Lord healed Hezekiah, the New Living Translation says:

8. Meanwhile, Hezekiah had said to Isaiah, "What sign will the Lord give to prove that he will heal me and that I will go to the Temple of the Lord three days from now?"

9. Isaiah replied, "This is the sign that the Lord will give you to prove he will do as he promised. Would you like the shadow on the sundial to go forward ten steps or backward ten steps?"

10. "The shadow always moves forward," Hezekiah replied. "Make it go backward instead."

11. So Isaiah asked the Lord to do this, and he caused the shadow to move ten steps backward on the sundial of Ahaz!

*Have you ever wished you could make time stand still? Jesus can!

-In Joshua 10:12-14:

12. On the day the Lord gave the Israelites victory over the Amorites, Joshua prayed to the Lord in front of all the people of Israel. He said, "Let the sun stand still over Gibeon, and the moon over the valley of Ajalon."

13. So the sun and moon stood still until the Israelites had defeated their enemies. Is this event not recorded in The Book of Jasher? The sun stopped in the middle of the sky, and it did not set as on a normal day.

14. The Lord fought for Israel that day. Never before or since has there been a day like that one, when the Lord answered such a request from a human being.

*John 6 tells the story of Jesus walking on the water, but there was another miracle not found in the other Gospels: